Derrick Z. Jackson is a journalist. In 2022, he won First Place for Sports commentary from both the National Society of Newspaper Columnists (NSNC) and the American Society of Journalists and Authors and for Best Column from the Outdoor Writers Association of America. In 2021, he won for Commentary in the Scripps Howard Awards, for both Social Justice and Sports writing from the NSNC, and for Teen Nonfiction from the Independent Book Publishers Association for co-writing and photographing "The Puffin Plan: Restoring Seabirds Back to Egg Rock and Beyond (Tumblehome Press 2020)." In his woark for Newsday, the Boston Globe, the Union of Concerned Scientists, Grist, The American Prospect and ESPN's Andscape, Jackson is a Pulitzer Prize finalist, a 10-time award winner from the National Asoociation of Black Journalists and won awards from the Education Writers Association, the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and Columbia University.