From Our Archive
March 7, 2008
Scripps Howard Foundation Announces National Journalism Awards Winners
CINCINNATI – The Scripps Howard Foundation today announced the winners of its annual National Journalism Awards, honoring the best in print, Web and electronic journalism and journalism education for 2007.
The awards, open to all U.S. news organizations and college journalism educators, recognize excellence in 17 categories, including editorial writing, human interest writing, environment, investigative, business/economics, Washington and public service reporting, commentary, photojournalism, radio and television reporting, Web reporting, college cartooning, editorial cartooning and journalism education.
The awards also honor distinguished service to the First Amendment.
Cash awards totaling $195,000 will be presented April 18 during a dinner at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
"These awards celebrate the role of journalism in a democratic society and we are proud to recognize the nation's best writers, photographers, cartoonists, editors and teachers," said Mike Philipps, the Foundation’s president and chief executive officer. "Our country and our communities are better places because of the work honored by these awards.”
The Scripps Howard Foundation is the philanthropic arm of The E. W. Scripps Company.
The National Journalism Awards winners are:
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
Walt Bogdanich and Jake Hooker of The New York Times receive the $25,000 Ursula and Gilbert Farfel prize, given in cooperation with the Ohio University Scripps College of Communication and the Farfel endowment, for the series “A Toxic Pipeline,” which traced the deaths of 100 people in Panama to a deadly China export found in medicine and toothpaste.
Finalists: Matthew Jones and Meghan Hoyer, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va., “Cashing in on Blight,” and Ray Ring, High Country News, Paonia, Colo., “Death in the Energy Fields”
PUBLIC SERVICE REPORTING
Chicago Tribune receives $10,000 and the Roy W. Howard award for “Hidden Hazards,” a series exposing serious flaws in the management of child product recalls.
Finalists: Charles Duhigg, The New York Times, and The Washington Post (Anne Hull and Dana Priest), “The Other Walter Reed” and “Walter Reed and Beyond”
EDITORIAL WRITING
Sonni Efron of the Los Angeles Times receives $10,000 and the Walker Stone award for her forward-thinking editorials on U.S. foreign policy.
Finalists: Tom Condon, The Hartford (Conn.) Courant, and Bonnie Williams, Anderson (S.C.) Independent-Mail
COMMENTARY
Jason Whitlock of The Kansas City (Mo.) Star receives $10,000 and a trophy for his ability to seamlessly integrate sports commentary with social commentary and to challenge widely held assumptions along the racial divide.
Finalists: John Kass, Chicago Tribune, and Ana Menendez, The Miami Herald
HUMAN INTEREST WRITING
Julia O’Malley of the Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News receives $10,000 and the Ernie Pyle award for finding untold stories in often-overlooked places – living rooms, courtrooms and homeless shelters, a Buddhist temple and a university’s computer lab.
Finalists: John Barry, St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, and Ken Fuson, The Des Moines (Iowa) Register
WEB REPORTING
Washingtonpost.com receives $10,000 and a trophy for “Fixing D.C.’s Schools,” (www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/interactives/dcschools), a site that uses multimedia narratives, still photos, videos, print stories, an interactive map database, and a question-and-answer section to examine why public schools in D.C. remain among the most troubled in the nation.
Finalists: The Roanoke (Va.) Times and roanoke.com
(www.roanoke.com/vtshootings/wb/xp-index), and The Wall Street Journal Online (http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/retro-MORTGAGE0807.html)
ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTING
Seth Borenstein of the Associated Press receives $10,000 and the Edward J. Meeman award for “Climate Changes,” which helped bring the issue of global warming to the forefront of public attention.
Finalists: Beth Daley, The Boston Globe, “The 45th Parallel: Warming Where We Live,” and The New York Times, “Choking on Growth”
WASHINGTON REPORTING
McClatchy Washington Bureau receives $10,000 and the Raymond Clapper award for its work linking the unexplained firings of nine U.S. attorneys to interventions by top officials in the White House and U.S. Justice Department.
Finalists: Peter Baker, The Washington Post, “The Imperiled Presidency,” and The Boston Globe (Bryan Bender and Kevin Baron), “The Army’s Cheating Scandal”
EDITORIAL CARTOONING
Steve Kelley of The Times-Picayune in New Orleans receives $10,000 and a trophy for his ability to weave words and imagery and for his use of irony to satirize some of the year’s headlines, such as the war in Iraq, dog fighting and alleged steroid use by Major League Baseball players.
Finalists: Mike Lester, Rome (Ga.) News-Tribune, and Michael Ramirez, Investor’s Business Daily
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE TO THE FIRST AMENDMENT
Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel receives $10,000 and the Edward Willis Scripps award for exposing an abuse of Tennessee’s Open Meetings Act and successfully challenging that violation in the courts.
Finalist: Phoenix New Times
PHOTOJOURNALISM
Matt McClain of the Rocky Mountain News in Denver receives $10,000 and a trophy for his portfolio of complex and memorable images, which chronicled the story of a town devastated by a tornado and helped make Colorado’s energy rush real to readers.
Finalists: Sam Dean, The Roanoke (Va.) Times, and John Moore, Getty Images
BUSINESS/ECONOMICS REPORTING
The Wall Street Journal receives $10,000 and the William Brewster Styles award for its series “Debt Bomb,” which explained and analyzed the housing crisis for readers, telling the mortgage-market crash story from all sides.
Finalists: Bloomberg News (David Evans and Richard Tomlinson), "Toxic Debt," and Jason Method, Asbury (N.J.) Park Press, “Home Roulette: Gambling with your house”
EXCELLENCE IN ELECTRONIC MEDIA/RADIO
Alix Spiegel of National Public Radio receives $10,000 and the Jack R. Howard award for “Stuck and Suicidal in a Post Katrina Trailer Park,” an exposé of the lives of some of Katrina’s forgotten: families living in FEMA trailer parks who, with no hope of a way out, find themselves on the brink of insanity and suicide.
Finalists: Chris Arnold, National Public Radio, and American Public Media (Stephen Smith and Mary Beth Kirchner), “Battles of Belief in World War Two”
EXCELLENCE IN ELECTRONIC MEDIA/TV-CABLE
WJLA-TV, Arlington, Va., receives $10,000 and the Jack R. Howard award for “Drilling for Dollars,” a five-month investigation into abuse by the leading chain of Medicaid-funded dental clinics for children.
Finalists: Richard Engel, MSNBC, “War Zone Diary,” and Byron Harris, WFAA-TV, Dallas, “Television Justice”
COLLEGE CARTOONING
William Warren, Old Gold & Black, Wake Forest University, receives $10,000 and the Charles M. Schulz award for his comic strip, “Lummox” (http://warrentoons.com).
Finalists: Isaac Klunk, Savannah College of Art and Design, and Bill Richards, University of Georgia
JOURNALISM TEACHER OF THE YEAR
Dr. Elinor Kelley Grusin, professor, Department of Journalism, The University of Memphis, receives $10,000 and the Charles E. Scripps award. Her school also receives a $5,000 grant. The award is given in cooperation with the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
JOURNALISM ADMINISTRATOR OF THE YEAR
David M. Rubin, dean, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University, receives $10,000 and the Charles E. Scripps award. His school also receives a $5,000 grant. The award is given in cooperation with the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
An awards program book featuring the winners and their work and videos of the winners’ work will be available online at www.scripps.com/foundation after the April 18 dinner. A printed copy may also be requested.
Dedicated to excellence in journalism, the Scripps Howard Foundation is a leader in industry efforts in journalism education, scholarships, internships, literacy, minority recruitment/development and First Amendment causes.
Contact for more
information: Colleen Weinkam, Scripps Howard Foundation,
513-977-3763, colleen.weinkam@scripps.com