Congratulations to our Lisagor winners!

Chicago Headline Club Announces Winners

of Peter Lisagor Awards


Felicia Middlebrooks awards the Lifetime Achievement Award to Roger Ebert, whose wife Chaz is on the right (Photo thanks to John J. Kim, Chicago Sun-Times). More photos follow the list of Lisagor winners.

The Chicago Headline Club the largest local chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists in the country announced the winners of its 34th annual Peter Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism on May 6 at the Hotel Allegro in Chicago.

 

You may read about it in the Chicago Sun-Times, WGN, SouthtownStar, Herald-News, Daily Herald and Northwest Herald

Highlighting the awards ceremony were the Lifetime Achievement Awards and Watchdog Award.

Three veteran journalists received Lifetime Achievement Awards. Since 2002, the Headline Club’s Lifetime Achievement Awards have honored special journalists for their extraordinary work in Chicago journalism. This year’s awardees exemplify journalism at its best. They are:

•   Roger Ebert Roger has been the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times since 1967, and his reviews are syndicated in more than 200 newspapers around the world. He won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 1975. He and his wife Chaz currently produce “Ebert Presents at the Movies,” which is syndicated on PBS stations nationwide. Ebert is the only film critic honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. See http://rogerebert.suntimes.com for more info about his work and career.


•   Richard C. Longworth Richard is a veteran of the City News Bureau, UPI both in Chicago and abroad and the Chicago Tribune where he spent nearly 30 years as an economics reporter, business editor, chief European correspondent and senior writer. Twice a Pulitzer Prize finalist, Longworth has reported from 80 countries and covered such historic events such as the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, all European revolutions of 1989, plus wars in the Mideast, Somalia and Kosovo. He is currently a senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. See http://richardclongworth.com for more info about his work and career.

•   Elizabeth Brackett Elizabeth currently serves as correspondent and substitute host for WTTW11’s flagship nightly public affairs program Chicago Tonight. During her tenure, she has covered presidential, mayoral and gubernatorial races, Chicago financial exchanges, the Chicago Bulls and genetic research, to name a few. Since 1984, she has also served as local correspondent for the PBS program The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. In that role she has covered national and international stories on an in-depth basis.

In addition, the 2010 Watchdog Award for Excellence in Public Interest Reporting goes to Sam Roe and Jared S. Hopkins of the Chicago Tribune for their “Deadly Neglect” series. This Tribune investigation, published in 2010, uncovered a pattern of harmful care at the Alden Village North, a home for children and adults with developmental disabilities. Thirteen times in the last decade, residents have died under circumstances that led to state citations for neglect or failure to investigate. In response to the series, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and three state agencies took swift action to safeguard the facility’s children, including placing a monitoring team in the home and removing the state wards who were living there. And state officials began drafting legislation to improve care at all 300 Illinois facilities for people with developmental disabilities — the first significant move in a generation to reform care for that population.


The award is presented in partnership with the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation and the Chicago Headline Club Foundation. The Driehaus Foundation encourages investigative journalism by, among other activities, providing financial support for the Headline Club’s Watchdog Award and our Watchdog Fund, which provides grants for investigative reporting.

 

Kern Tells Lisagor Audience: Investigate!

 

“Investigative reporting is the most valuable service we can provide,” Chicago Tribune Editor Gerould Kern told an audience of almost 300 in the keynote speech. 

 

The future of journalism will be discovering inequity and seeking to correct it, he said. “The future lies in our public service mission.” 

 

Kern also predicted:

• News will be consumer driven.

• Nothing is free. 

 

He expects that the future holds a highly personalized media that will be tailored to individuals. 

 

Kern also warned against relying on technology too heavily. “Let’s not mistake technology as the ends to our work. It is only the means.”


LISAGOR AWARD WINNERS

Print, online and broadcast reporters and editors from SPJ chapters in other cities across the country judged this year’s Lisagor Award entries. Winners were selected for such attributes as enterprise, accuracy, scope, style and impact.

MULTIMEDIA COLLABORATION

Kelly Virella, Kimbriell Kelly and Natalie Moore, The Chicago Reporter and WBEZ-FM, “Taser timeout”


EDITORIAL CARTOON

Roger Schillerstrom, Crain’s Chicago Business

FEATURE WRITING

Radio

Linda Lutton, Sarah Karp and Cate Cahan, WBEZ-FM, “Charter Schools”

Specialty/Trade

Gregg Blesch, Modern Healthcare, “Putting hospitals on notice”

Non-daily, circulation more than 20,000

Bryan Smith, Chicago magazine, “Mighty Mouth”

Non-daily, circulation less than 20,000

Irv Leavitt, Pioneer Press, “The Unemployee”

Online

Linda Paul and Richard Cahan, WBEZ-FM, “Public Housing Sprouts Organic Farm”


Television

Mark Saxenmeyer, D Gresham and Lou Hinkhouse, WFLD-TV, “All the world’s a stage”

Daily newspaper, circulation 250,000 or more

Sharon Cohen, The Associated Press, “The 100 Percenters”

Daily newspaper, circulation 250,000 or less

Lauren FitzPatrick, SouthtownStar, “Faces of freedom”

FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY, DAILY

Daily newspaper, circulation more than 250,000

John J. Kim, Chicago Sun-Times, “Sleeping boys”

Daily newspaper, circulation less than 250,000

John Starks, Daily Herald, “Stars and stripes forever”

PHOTOGRAPHY, NON-DAILY

Non-daily publication, circulation more than 20,000

Alberto Treviño, Extra, “Latino Fashion Week 2010”

Non-daily publication, circulation less than 20,000

Joe Gallo, Jon Lowenstein and Mark Abramson, The Chicago Reporter, “Juvenile justice”

NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY, DAILY

Daily newspaper, circulation more than 250,000

E. Jason Wambsgans, Chicago Tribune, “Fatal fire”


Daily newspaper, circulation less that 250,000

George LeClaire, Daily Herald, “When Elvis was alive”

DEADLINE REPORTING

Daily newspaper, circulation more than 250,000

Staff, Chicago Tribune, “Firefighter deaths”

Daily newspaper, circulation less than 250,000

Kevin Craver, Dan McCaleb, Brett Rowland and Susan Sutschek, Northwest Herald, “Embattled Metra chief kills himself”

Non-daily publication

Modern Healthcare staff, Modern Healthcare, “Healthcare reform vote”

BREAKING NEWS

Online

Dawn Reiss, Time.com, “The Blagojevich case: Like the Ali-Frazier rivalry?”

Television

Joe Kolina and Jennifer Lay-Riske, WMAQ NBC5, “Blagojevich verdict”

Radio
WBBM Newsradio 780, “Firefighters Down”

NEWSCAST

Radio

WGN

Television

Late Newscast

Joe Kolina and Jennifer-Lay Riske, WMAQ NBC5

NEWS WEB SITE

chicagotribune.com

GENERAL EXCELLENCE, NON-ENGLISH

Daily newspaper

Dziennik Zwiazkowy, Polish Daily News

Non-daily publication

Extra

NEIGBORHOOD/COMMUNITY NEWS, ONLINE

wellesparkbulldog.com

DESIGN

Daily newspaper, circulation more than 250,000

James Smith, Chicago Sun-Times

Daily newspaper, circulation less than 250,000

Scott Helmchen, Northwest Herald

Non-daily publication, circulation more than 20,000
Cristela Tschumy, Playboy


Non-daily publication, circulation less than 20,000

Douglas Wertheimer, Chicago Jewish Star

GRAPHICS

Daily newspaper, circulation more than 250,000

Greg Good, Chicago Sun-Times


Daily newspaper, circulation less than 250,000

Brian Delaney, The Herald News


Non-daily publication, circulation more than 20,000

Jason McGregor, Crain’s Chicago Business

Non-daily publication, circulation less than 20,000
Christine Wachter, The Chicago Reporter

ILLUSTRATION

Daily newspaper, circulation more than 250,000

Bryan Barker, Chicago Sun-Times


Daily newspaper, circulation less than 250,000

Chad Merda, SouthtownStar

Non-daily publication, circulation more than 20,000

Cody Tilson, Playboy

EDUCATION REPORTING

Daily newspaper, circulation more than 250,000

Rosalind Rossi and Art Golab, Chicago Sun-Times, “Grade Shame”


Daily newspaper, circulation less than 250,000

Staff, SouthtownStar, “School spending”

SCIENCE, HEALTH, TECHNOLOGY, ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTING

Radio

Lynette Kalsnes/Sally Eisele, WBEZ-FM, “Row”

Television

Mark Saxenmeyer, D Gresham and Lou Hinkhouse, WFLD-TV, “Bomb beach”

Daily newspaper, circulation more than 250,000

Michael Hawthorne, Chicago Tribune, “Ticket to toxic air”


Daily newspaper, circulation less than 250,000

Marni Pyke, Daily Herald, “Haste makes toxic waste”


MULTIMEDIA FEATURE PRESENTATION

David Jackson, Gary Marx, Nancy Stone, Christopher Groskopf, Danielle Gordon, Ryan Mark, Meg Theno, Robin Daughtridge and George Papajohn, Chicago Tribune, “Walking into Danger”

USE OF VIDEO

Heather Charles, Chicago Tribune, “Faces of HIV”

USE OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

Staff, Chicago Tribune, “Pictures of the Day — Dec. 22, 2010”

SPORTS STORY

Radio

Jason Marck, Katie O’Brien and Aurora Aguilar, WBEZ-FM, “’85 Bears”

Daily newspaper, circulation more than 250,000

Rick Telander, Chicago Sun-Times, “The team”


Daily newspaper, circulation less than 250,000

Ashok Selvam, Chuck Keeshan and Russell Lissau, Daily Herald, “Unanswered Questions”


Non-daily publication, circulation more than 20,000

Shane Tritsch, Chicago magazine; “Sammy Agonistes”

SPORTS COMMENTARY

Daily newspaper, circulation more that 250,000

David Haugh, Chicago Tribune


Daily newspaper, circulation less than 250,000

Barry Rozner, Daily Herald


SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY

Daily newspaper, circulation more than 250,000

Scott Strazzante, Chicago Tribune, “Summer with Stanley”


Daily newspaper, circulation less than 250,000

Rick West, Daily Herald, “Game saving catch”

BUSINESS REPORTING

Daily newspaper, circulation more than 250,000

Tim Novak, Art Golab and Mary Wisniewski, Chicago Sun-Times, “Illegal cabs on Chicago’s streets”

Daily newspaper, circulation less than 250,000

Keith Benman, The Times of Northwest Indiana; “Indiana Playing A Game Of Hold ‘Em”

Television

Mark Saxenmeyer, D Gresham and Lou Hinkhouse, WFLD-TV, “The emergency room emergency”

Non-daily publication, circulation more than 20,000

Paul Merrion, Greg Hinz and Steven R. Strahler, Crain’s Chicago Business, “The State of Insolvency”

Specialty/Trade

Rebecca Vesely, Modern Healthcare, “For good behavior”

Radio

Ashley Gross and Cate Cahan, WBEZ-FM, “Bad Developers”


ARTS REPORTING AND CRITICISM

Non-daily publication, circulation more than 20,000

David Bernstein, Chicago magazine, “Broadway bound”

Non-daily publication, circulation less than 20,000

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Jewish Star, “Front Row”

Daily newspaper, circulation more than 250,000

Blair Kamin, Chicago Tribune, “World’s tallest building opens in Dubai”

Daily newspaper, circulation less than 250,000

Dann Gire, Daily Herald

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING

Online

Reporting team, WBEZ-FM, “Inside and Out”

Daily newspaper, circulation more than 250,000

Megan Twohey, Chicago Tribune, “Dangerous doctors”

Daily newspaper, circulation less than 250,000

Matt Arado, John Patterson and Bob McCoppin, Daily Herald, “Public pension time bomb”

Radio
Linda Paul and Cate Cahan, WBEZ-FM, ” ‘Confidential’ records can haunt kids later”

IN-DEPTH REPORTING, NON-DAILY PUBLICATION

General-interest publication, circulation more than 20,000

Dave Glowacz and Ben Joravsky, Chicago Reader, “Filed Away?”

Community newspaper, circulation less than 20,000

Charles Berman and Matt Kiefer, Highland Park News, “Mooney Cemetery investigation”

Business magazine or newspaper, circulation more than 20,000

John Lippert and Mario Parker, Bloomberg Markets, “New king coal; shale games

Magazine or magazine section, circulation more than 20,000

Hillel Levin and John Conroy, Playboy, “Area two”

Magazine or magazine section, circulation less than 20,000

Angela Caputo, Kimbriell Kelly and Alissa Groeninger, The Chicago Reporter, “17”

POLITICAL AND GOVERNMENT REPORTING

Daily newspaper, circulation more than 250,000

Lisa Lerer and John McCormick, Bloomberg News, “Tea Party’s Principles Too Inflexible for Many Business Leaders”


Daily newspaper, circulation less than 250,000

Mick Dumke and Dan Mihalopoulos, Chicago News Cooperative; “City’s restrictive gun laws are rarely enforced”


IN-DEPTH NEWS STORY OR SERIES

Radio

Felicia Middlebrooks and staff, WBBM Newsradio 780, “Haiti At Ground Zero”

Television

Mark Saxenmeyer, D Gresham and Lou Hinkhouse, WFLD-TV, “There was a long line, Mommy”

Specialty/Trade

Sarah Karp, Lorraine Forte and Linda Lenz, Catalyst Chicago, “Setting the agenda: Advice for the next mayor”

PUBLIC AFFAIRS PROGRAMMING

Radio

Staff, WBEZ-FM, “Inside and Out”

Television

Barbara E. Allen, Daniel Andries, Gail F. Baker, Ph.D., WTTW11, “DuSable to Obama: Chicago’s black metropolis”

BEST REPORTER, BROADCAST

Radio

Robert Wildeboer, WBEZ-FM

Television

Paula Gomez, Univision Chicago WGBO

NEWS COLUMN OR COMMENTARY

Specialty/Trade

Neil McLaughlin, Modern Healthcare

Non-daily publication, circulation more than 20,000

Greg Hinz, Crain’s Chicago Business

Non-daily publication, circulation less than 20,000

Jerry Moore, Wheaton Leader, St. Charles Republican, Westmont Progress and Carol Stream Press

Daily newspaper, circulation more than 250,000

John W. Fountain, Chicago Sun-Times


Daily newspaper, circulation less than 250,000

Guy Tridgell, SouthtownStar

EDITORIAL WRITING

Daily newspaper, circulation more than 250,000

Staff, Chicago Sun-Times


Daily newspaper, circulation less than 250,000

Jim Slusher and Editorial Board, Daily Herald


Non-daily publication, circulation less than 20,000

Jerry Moore, Lemont Reporter/Met

BLOG

Independent

Stan Zoller

Affiliated

Roger Ebert, Roger Ebert’s Journal, Chicago Sun-Times

START-UP

Patrick Boylan, Jane Rickard and Emily Lonigro, wellesparkbulldog.com

 

Lifetime Achievement Award winners Richard C. Longworth, Roger Ebert and Elizabeth Brackett. (Photo thanks to John J. Kim, Chicago Sun-Times)

 

Tribune Editor Gerould Kern delivers the keynote address. (Photo by Susan Stevens, Chicago Headline Club)

 

Roger Ebert gives thumbs-up to winning Lifetime Achievement Award. His wife, Chaz, delivered his acceptance speech. (Photo thanks to John J. Kim, Chicago Sun-Times)