Chicago Headline Club Announces Lisagor Award Winners
CHICAGO, May 8, 2015 – The Chicago Headline Club, the largest Society of Professional Journalists chapter in the country, presented the winners of its 2014 Lisagor Awards at its annual awards dinner tonight before more than 300 people at the Union League Club of Chicago. The awards recognize the best of Chicago journalism and are named for Peter Lisagor, the Chicago Daily News’ Washington bureau chief from 1959 to 1976.
Veteran journalists Felicia Middlebrooks and Greg Hinz received Lifetime Achievement Awards. Middlebrooks has co-anchored CBS Radio/WBBM Newsradio’s morning drive news since October 1984. Hinz, who has covered city politics for 40 years, is chief political reporter, blogger and columnist for Crain’s Chicago Business.
The 2015 Anne Keegan Award was awarded to Maureen O’Donnell of the Chicago Sun-Times. The Keegan Award was founded in 2012 to honor journalists “who tell stories of ordinary people in extraordinarily well-reported and well-written prose.” The judging committee praised O’Donnell’s obituary writing in the Sun-Times for its careful research and for her “gifts of inquisitiveness and an eye for the perfect anecdote.” Through “grace of execution,” the judges wrote, her pieces suggest “it was a pleasure for O’Donnell to spend time in her subjects’ company.”
The 2014 Watchdog Award for Excellence in Public Interest Reporting goes to Tim Novak, Chris Fusco and Carol Marin of the Chicago Sun-Times for their series, “A Little Justice for David.” David Koschman died in 2004 after a single punch by Richard “R.J.” Vanecko, the nephew of former longtime Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, during a late-night drunken encounter. The Sun-Times’ dogged pursuit of the story prompted officials to re-open the case, ultimately leading to Vanecko’s conviction nearly 10 years after Koschman’s death.
Robin Robinson, the veteran Chicago broadcast journalist, served as master of ceremonies at the dinner.
The winners in more than 100 categories, including newspapers, magazines, television, radio and digital media, were:
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST DEADLINE REPORTING (D1)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Staff, Chicago Tribune, “New archbishop named”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST DEADLINE REPORTING (D2)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Madhu Krishnamurthy, Lee Filas and Christopher Placek, Daily Herald, “Cops shot in Holiday Hills”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST NON-DEADLINE REPORTING (D3)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Bryan Gruley, Bloomberg, “Can a wife with dementia say yes to sex?”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST NON-DEADLINE REPORTING (D4)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Marie Wilson and Jessica Cilella, Daily Herald, “Heroin in the suburbs/Through their eyes”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING (D5)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
David Jackson, Gary Marx and Duaa Eldeib, Chicago Tribune, “Harsh treatment”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING (D6)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Marisa Kwiatkowski, The Times Media Co., “A different kind of war”
DAILY NEWSPAPER:BEST POLITICAL AND GOVERNMENT REPORTING (D7)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Jason Grotto and Heather Gillers, Chicago Tribune, “Borrowing trouble”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST POLITICAL AND GOVERNMENT REPORTING (D8)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Marc Chase, The Times Media Co., “Lake County solid waste district wastes taxpayers’ money”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST EDUCATION REPORTING (D9)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Jodi S. Cohen, Chicago Tribune, “U. of I.’s Chinese influx”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST EDUCATION REPORTING (D10)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Carmen McCollum, The Times Media Co., “Schools, students struggle with suicides”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST SCIENCE, HEALTH, TECHNOLOGY OR ENVIRONMENT REPORTING (D11)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Michael Hawthorne, Chicago Tribune, “Environment beat exclusives”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST SCIENCE, HEALTH, TECHNOLOGY OR ENVIRONMENT REPORTING (D12)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000.
Marc Chase, The Times Media Co., “What’s killing the Region? What’s killing Region youth?”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST NEWS COLUMN OR COMMENTARY (D13)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Peter Nickeas, Chicago Tribune, “They shoot out here every day”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST NEWS COLUMN OR COMMENTARY (D14)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Jim Slusher, Daily Herald, “Jim Slusher’s letter to readers”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST EDITORIAL WRITING (D15)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
John McCormick, Chicago Tribune, “Is Chicago helpless to stop the violence? No, actually”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST EDITORIAL WRITING (D16)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Doug Ross, The Times Media Co., “Agency’s purse strings need tight control”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST BUSINESS OR CONSUMER REPORTING (D17)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Becky Yerak, Chicago Tribune, “How some big Illinois companies cut their taxes”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST BUSINESS OR CONSUMER REPORTING (D18)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Keith Benman, The Times Media Co., “Looking to Kenosha to guide Indiana on luring jobs”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST FEATURE STORY OR SERIES (D19)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Frank Main, Chicago Sun-Times, “The most dangerous block in Chicago”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST FEATURE STORY OR SERIES (D20)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Mike Riopell, Daily Herald, “We were almost home”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST ARTS REPORTING AND CRITICISM (D21)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Blair Kamin, Chicago Tribune, “Designed in Chicago, made in China”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST ARTS REPORTING AND CRITICISM (D22)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Barbara Vitello, Daily Herald, “Barbara Vitello reviews”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST SPORTS STORY (D23)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Jared Hopkins, Chicago Tribune, “Jose Abreu’s mysterious journey”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST SPORTS STORY (D24)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Bill McLean, Kevin Reiterman, David Sweet and John Conatser, The North Shore Weekend, “Crohn’s disease can’t tackle football star”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST SPORTS COMMENTARY (D25)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
David Haugh, Chicago Tribune, “Pride of South side; NU wrong place for Union battle; I woke up on a stretcher”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST SPORTS COMMENTARY (D26)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Barry Rozner, Daily Herald, “Barry Rozner columns”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST NEWS PHOTO (D27)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Anthony Souffle, Chicago Tribune, “Violence and chaos at residential treatment centers”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST NEWS PHOTO (D28)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
John Watkins, John Luke and Jonathan Miano, The Times Media Co., “Photos of Gary Officer Jeffery Westerfield’s funeral”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST FEATURE PHOTO (D29)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Brian Cassella, Chicago Tribune, “The prom send-off”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST FEATURE PHOTO (D30)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Laura Stoecker, Daily Herald, “Football fireworks”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST SPORTS PHOTO (D32)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Mark Black, Daily Herald, “High Jumper”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST DESIGN (D33)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Brian MacQueen, Chicago Tribune, “Designed in Chicago, built in China”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST DESIGN (D34)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Brian Shamie, Daily Herald, “Designs”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST TECHNOLOGY REPORTING (D35)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Kathy Bergen, Chicago Tribune, “Chicago’s high-tech inspiration? Tel Aviv”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST ILLUSTRATION (D37)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Jonathon Berlin, Chicago Tribune, “Illustrations”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: BEST ILLUSTRATION (D38)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Scott Helmchen, Shaw Media, “FDA to review safety (marijuana); Can social media pinpoint where virus strike?; Dollar disparities”
DAILY NEWSPAPER: GENERAL EXCELLENCE IN PRINT JOURNALISM (D39)
Staff, The Times Media Co.
NON-DAILY: BEST IN-DEPTH REPORTING IN A GENERAL-INTEREST PUBLICATION
(N1)
Staff, Chicago Magazine, “The Truth about Crime in Chicago; Dead Wrong; Getting Washed”
NON-DAILY: BEST IN-DEPTH REPORTING IN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER (N2)
Gretchen Rachel Hammond, Windy City Times, “Series on transgender women targeted on Chicago’s West Side”
NON-DAILY:BEST IN-DEPTH REPORTING IN BUSINESS MAGAZINE OR NEWSPAPER (N3)
Ryan Ori and John Pletz, Crain’s Chicago Business, “Chicago 2.0”
NON-DAILY: BEST IN-DEPTH REPORTING IN A MAGAZINE OR MAGAZINE SECTION (N4)
Andrew Schroedter, Patrick Rehkamp and Cassie Walker Burke, Better Government Association/Chicago Magazine, “The ABCs of UNO”
NON-DAILY: BEST NEWS COLUMN OR COMMENTARY (N5)
Joe Cahill, Crain’s Chicago Business, “Cahill on CEO pay”
NON-DAILY: BEST EDITORIAL WRITING (N6)
Ann Dwyer and Steve Reiss, Crain’s Chicago Business, “Dwyer/Reiss Editorial”
NON-DAILY: BEST BUSINESS REPORTING (N7)
Bryan Gruley, Bloomberg, “Twilight of the Pizza Barons”
NON-DAILY: BEST FEATURE STORY OR SERIES (N8)
Bryan Smith, Chicago Magazine, “The Voices in Josh Marks’ Head”
NON-DAILY: BEST NON-DEADLINE REPORTING IN NEWSPAPER OR MAGAZINE(N9)
Staff, Chicago Magazine, “The Truth about Crime in Chicago; Dead Wrong and Getting Washed”
NON-DAILY: BEST POLITICAL REPORTING IN NEWSPAPER OR MAGAZINE (N10)
Andrew Schroedter and Cassie Walker Burke, Better Government Association/Chicago Magazine, “The ABCs of UNO”
NON-DAILY: BEST EDUCATION REPORTING IN NEWSPAPER OR MAGAZINE (N11)
Andrew Schroedter and Cassie Walker Burke, Better Government Association/Chicago Magazine, “The ABCs of UNO”
NON-DAILY: BEST ARTS REPORTING AND CRITICISM (N12)
Bryan Smith, Chicago Magazine, “Mike Nussbaum is 90 and can do more pushups than you”
NON-DAILY: BEST SPORTS STORY (N13)
Bryan Smith, Chicago Magazine, “The long rebound”
NON-DAILY: BEST PHOTOGRAPHY (N14)
Art Shay, Chicago Magazine, “Life through a Leica”
NON-DAILY: BEST DESIGN (N15)
Bryan Erickson, Chicago Magazine, “Chicagoans of the Year 2014”
NON-DAILY: GENERAL EXCELLENCE IN PRINT JOURNALISM (N17)
Staff, Crain’s Chicago Business, “Agents of change; Tech real estate; Special Report: What comes first”
BROADCAST RADIO: BEST IN-DEPTH NEWS STORY OR SERIES (R2)
David Schaper, NPR, “Gun violence in Chicago up close”
BROADCAST RADIO: BEST INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING (R3)
Robert Wildeboer and Cate Cahan, WBEZ, “Chicago police failing to register sex offenders”
BROADCAST RADIO: BEST REPORTER (R4)
Chip Mitchell, WBEZ
BROADCAST RADIO: BEST NEWSCAST (R5)
James VanOsdol, Rivet Radio, “Three morning Rivet newscasts”
BROADCAST RADIO: BEST FEATURE REPORTING (R6)
Linda Paul, Cate Cahan and Ken Davis, WBEZ, “Rules of the Ramps: Bud’s story”
BROADCAST RADIO: BEST PUBLIC AFFAIRS PROGRAMMING (R7)
Robert Wildeboer and Cate Cahan, WBEZ, “Of Natural Causes: Death in Illinois Prisons”
BROADCAST RADIO: BEST BUSINESS OR CONSUMER REPORTING (R8)
Charles Meyerson, Rivet Radio, “CTA Ventra card deadline: Guide to switching”
BROADCAST RADIO: BEST HEALTH OR SCIENCE REPORTING (R9)
Shawn Allee, Jennifer Brandel, Logan Jaffe and Erik Nelson Rodriguez, WBEZ, “Curious City: Where do Chicago’s bats hang out?”
BROADCAST RADIO: BEST SPORTS STORY (R10)
Patrick Smith and Cate Cahan, “WBEZ, “Open Tryouts and ‘indie blue balls’ in Indiana”
SPECIALTY/TRADE: BEST DEADLINE REPORT (S1)
Tim Jones, Toluse Olorunnipa, Elizabeth Campbell and Andrew Harris, Bloomberg, “Ferguson Unrest”
SPECIALTY/TRADE: BEST IN-DEPTH REPORT OR SERIES (S2)
Angela Caputo, The Chicago Reporter, “Reclaiming the avenue”
SPECIALTY/TRADE: BEST COMMENTARY (S3)
William T. McGrath, Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, “Professor William McGrath-The John Marshall Law School”
SPECIALTY/TRADE: BEST BUSINESS OR CONSUMER REPORTING (S4)
John Lippert, Jeffery McCracken and David de Jong, Bloomberg, “Power network draws rich families to Chicago banker Byron Trott”
SPECIALTY/TRADE: BEST FEATURE STORY OR SERIES (S5)
Joe Carroll, Bloomberg, “Murder on the Pipelines: Drug cartels turn Texas oil routes into killing zones”
BROADCAST TELEVISION: BEST SPOT NEWS STORY (T1)
Rob Elgas, Curtis Sweat, Joe Kolina, Jennifer Lay-Riske and Stephanie Streff, WMAQ-TV/NBC5 Chicago, “Marching with the protesters”
BROADCAST TELEVISION: BEST IN-DEPTH NEWS STORY OR SERIES (T2)
Tammy Leitner, Lisa Capitanini, Mark Ringo, Julio Martinez, Rich Moy and Tony Vitale, NBC5 Chicago, “NBC5 Investigates: The new hacking threat”
BROADCAST TELEVISION: BEST INVESTIGATIVE REPORT (T3)
Pam Zekman, Patrick Rehkamp and Dan Blom, Better Government Association/CBS2 Chicago, “Fire suppression”
BROADCAST TELEVISION: BEST FEATURE NEWS REPORT (T8)
John Owens, Zbigniew Bzdak and Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune/WYCC-TV 20, “Kenwood’s Journey”
BROADCAST TELEVISION: BEST PUBLIC AFFAIRS PROGRAMMING (T9)
Staff, NBC5 Chicago, “NBC5 Investigates: Inside the frontlines”
BROADCAST TELEVISION: BEST BUSINESS OR CONSUMER REPORTING (T10)
Brett Chase, Pam Zekman and Dan Blom, Better Government Association/CBS2 Chicago, “Illinois public hospitals pay $180 Million for wrongful death cases”
BROADCAST TELEVISION: BEST HEALTH OR SCIENCE REPORTING (T11)
Pam Zekman, Patrick Rehkamp and Dan Blom, Better Government Association/CBS2 Chicago, “Fire suppression”
BROADCAST TELEVISION: BEST SPORTS STORY/SINGLE NEWS STORY OR FEATURE
(T12)
Martha Irvine, Associated Press, “Teen shines on paralympic hockey”
BROADCAST TELEVISION: BEST NEWS SPECIALTY/EDUCATION/SCHOOLS NEWS
(T20)
Staff, NBC5 Chicago, “NBC5 Investigates: The School Data Investigations”
BROADCAST TELEVISION: BEST NEWS SPECIALTY/ENVIRONMENT NEWS
(T21)
Chris Coffey, Katy Smyser, Rich Moy, Mark Ringo, Julio Martinez and Mike Adams, NBC5 Chicago, “NBC5 Investigates: Beach Ready?”
BROADCAST TELEVISION: BEST NEWS SPECIALTY/HEALTH/SCIENCE (T22)
Martha Irvine and Lindsey Tanner, Associated Press, “Baby-Cuddling grandma holds unexpected patient”
BROADCAST TELEVISION: BEST NEWS SPECIALTY/HUMAN INTEREST (T23)
Martha Irvine, Associated Press, “Paying it forward, church gives out money”
BROADCAST TELEVISION: BEST NEWS
SPECIALTY/POLITICS/GOVERERNMENT
(T24)
Phil Rogers, Katy Smyser, Richard Moy, Zach Christman, Mark Ringo and Julio Martinez, NBC5 Chicago, “NBC5 Investigates: Leadership PACs”
BROADCAST TELEVISION: BEST NEWS SPECIALTY/RELIGIOUS (T25)
Robert Herguth, Patrick Rehkamp, Phil Rogers and Katy Smyser, Better Government Association/ NBC5 Chicago, “Nuns and Strippers”
ONLINE: BEST MULTIMEDIA FEATURE PRESENTATION (X1)
Alex Bordens, Alex Richards, David Kidwell, Ryan Mark, David Eads and Ryan Nagle, Chicago Tribune, “Were you caught in a red light camera ticket spike?”
ONLINE: BEST NEWS WEBSITE (X2)
Staff, Chicago Tribune
ONLINE: BEST INDIVIDUAL BLOG POST, INDEPENDENT (X3)
Jacob Huebert and Bryant Jackson-Green, Illinois Policy.org, “Illinois general assembly revives recording ban”
ONLINE: BEST INDIVIDUAL BLOG, AFFILIATED (X4)
Christopher Benson, The Chicago Reporter, “Blogs by Christopher Benson”
ONLINE: BEST CONTINUING BLOG, INDEPENDENT (X5)
Casey Bukro and Stephen Rynkiewicz, Ethicsadvicelineforjournalists.org, “Ethics in Journalism”
ONLINE: BEST CONTINUING BLOG, AFFILIATED (X6)
Patty Wetli, DNAinfo.com Chicago, “Hortus in Urbe”
ONLINE: BEST DEADLINE REPORTING ONLINE (X7)
Carlos Sadovi, Jeremy Gorner, Gregory Pratt, Marwa Eltagouri and Rosemary Sobol, Chicago Tribune, “Black Friday shooting at Nordstrom”
ONLINE: BEST NON-DEADLINE REPORTING ONLINE (X8)
Jeff Kelly Lowenstein, Jon Lowenstein and Alden Loury, The Center for Public Integrity, “Understaffed and Underserved: A look Inside America’s Nursing Homes”
ONLINE: BEST BREAKING NEWS STORY (X9)
Tanveer Ali and Darryl Holliday, DNAinfo.com Chicago, “CTA Operator Who crashed Train was ‘Very Tired,’ possibly nodded off: Union”
ONLINE: BEST NEIGHBORHOOD/COMMUNITY NEWS (X10)
Staff, The Red Line Project, “selection from The Red Line Project”
ONLINE: BEST BUSINESS OR CONSUMER REPORTING (X11)
Julie Johnsson and Britton Staniar, Bloomberg, “As other Paparazzi Chase Kardashians, these guys stalk 787s”
ONLINE: BEST FEATURE STORY OR SERIES (X12)
Staff, The Medill Justice Project, “Wrongful Convictions”
ONLINE: BEST INVESTIGATIVE/PUBLIC SERVICE REPORTING (X13)
Mark Konkol, DNAinfo.com Chicago, “Jackie Robinson West Little League team boundary dispute”
ONLINE: BEST USE OF NEWS VIDEO (X14)
Craig Duff, Stephen Franklin, Clancy Calkins and Jon Groat, MSNBC.com Chicago, “Ricochet: Life in a City under seige from guns”
ONLINE: BEST USE OF FEATURES VIDEO (X15)
Chris Walker and Erin Mystkowski, Chicago Tribune, “So Chicago”
ONLINE: BEST USE OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY (X16)
Staff, Chicago Tribune, “Chicago crime series”
ONLINE: GENERAL EXCELLENCE IN ONLINE JOURNALISM (X18)
Staff, Chicago Tribune, “Selection of online Journalism”
ONLINE: BEST PHOTO (X19)
Ratko Radojcic, Chicago Magazine, “Last Call: 22 Shots of Chicago Bars at the night’s end”
BEST ALL MEDIA: BEST DEADLINE REPORTING (AM1)
Staff, The Medill Justice Project, “Del Prete released from prison”
BEST ALL MEDIA: BEST INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING (AM2)
Staff, The Medill Justice Project, “Wrongful Convictions”
BEST ALL MEDIA: BEST FEATURE STORY OR SERIES (AM3)
Staff, Chicago Tribune, “Chicago Crime series”
BEST ALL MEDIA: BEST SHORT FILM DOCUMENTARY (AM4)
Stephen Franklin and Craig Duff, MSNBC.com Chicago, “Ricochet: Life in a City under siege from guns”
BEST ALL MEDIA: BEST PHOTOGRAPHY (AM5)
Anthony Souffle, Chicago Tribune, “Violence and chaos at residential treatment centers”
BEST ALL MEDIA: BEST MULTIMEDIA COLLABORATION (AM6)
Staff, Chicago Tribune/Mash/True Star Media, “Lost Friends”
BEST ALL MEDIA: BEST EDITORIAL CARTOON (AM7)
Scott Stantis, Chicago Tribune, “Scott Stantis editorial cartoons”
BEST ALL MEDIA: BEST GRAPHICS (AM8)
Jason McGregor, Allison Riggio and Cassie Walker Burke, Crain’s Chicago Business, “Market Intel”
BEST ALL MEDIA: BEST ILLUSTRATION (AM9)
Thomas J. Linden, John Ueland and Danny Ecker, Crain’s Chicago Business, “Da Pitchman”
***
The Chicago Headline Club, the largest Society of Professional Journalists chapter in the country, established the Peter Lisagor Awards in 1977 to inspire Chicago-area journalists to follow Lisagor’s outstanding example and to recognize truly superior contributions to journalism. Lisagor, the Chicago Daily News’ Washington bureau chief from 1959 to 1976, was one of the nation’s most respected and best-known journalists.