Here are the winners of the 2020 Peter Lisagor Awards, representing some of the best journalism made across the Chicago region over the past year in more than 100 categories, including newspapers, magazines, television, radio and digital media.
Entries were judged by an impartial SPJ chapter outside Illinois. Thank you to all who submitted.
Since we couldn’t host our annual banquet this year, we decided to do the awards presentation virtually — you can watch it in the player above.
Congratulations to all our winners, who are listed below (you can click on the links to skip to a specific section). Any winners who would like multiple plaques can order them here.
BEST ALL MEDIAGENERAL INTEREST DAILY NEWSPAPER, NEWS SERVICE OR BUREAU
NON-DAILY NEWSPAPER, MAGAZINE OR NEWSPAPER MAGAZINE SECTION
BROADCAST: TELEVISION
BROADCAST: RADIO
SPECIALTY/TRADE
ONLINE
ALL MEDIA
Best Deadline Reporting
Kiran Misra, Chicago Reader, “Most of the people arrested at the protests were Black”
Best Investigative Reporting
Staff, Invisible Institute, The Intercept, Topic Studios and iHeartRadio, “Somebody”
Best Feature Story
Melissa Sanchez, ProPublica Illinois, “Inside the lives of immigrant teens working dangerous night shifts in suburban factories”
Best Feature Series
Staff, Invisible Institute, The Intercept, Topic Studios and iHeartRadio, “Somebody”
Best Short Film Documentary
Martha Irvine, Bram Janssen, Gillian Flaccus, Dmitry Vlasov, Paolo Santalucia and Themis Hakizimana, The Associated Press, “Global Pandemic: Through the Eyes of Children”
Best Photography
Staff, Chicago Tribune, COVID-19 pandemic
Best Multimedia Collaboration
Linda Lutton, Andrew Fan, Alden Loury, Paula Friedrich, Aaron Allen, Ashish Valentine and Cate Cahan, City Bureau and WBEZ, “Where banks don’t lend”
Best Graphics
Jason McGregor, Crain’s Chicago Business, Interactive CTA ridership map and other graphics
Best Illustration
Christie Tirado, Gaby Hurtado-Ramos, ProPublica Illinois, “Inside the lives of immigrant teens working dangerous night shifts in suburban factories”
Best Data Journalism
Casey Toner, Jared Rutecki, Emily Hoerner, Bea Malsky, Forest Gregg and Jean Cochrane, BGA, Injustice Watch, Chicago Reporter, DataMade, “The Circuit”
GENERAL INTEREST DAILY NEWSPAPERS, NEWS SERVICE OR BUREAU
Best Deadline Reporting – Circulation more than 100,000
Staff, Chicago Tribune, George Floyd fallout
Best Deadline Reporting – Circulation less than 100,000
Megan Jones, Sarah Freishtat, Stacy St. Clair, Steve Lord, Aurora Beacon-News, “Fire, looting, tear gas in downtown Aurora; mayor imposes curfew after protest turns violent”
Best Investigative Reporting – Circulation more than 100,000
Todd Lighty, Gary Marx, David Jackson, Chicago Tribune, “Crime and bond reform in Cook County”
Best Investigative Reporting – Circulation less than 100,000
Jake Griffin, Daily Herald, “Religious institutions got $166M in PPP loans”
Best Political and Government Reporting – Circulation more than 100,000
Frank Main, Andy Grimm, Chicago Sun-Times, “Long delays for justice”
Best Political and Government Reporting – Circulation less than 100,000
Lauren Rohr, Katlyn Smith, Daily Herald, Election 2020: Voting by mail
Best Education Reporting – Circulation more than 100,000
Jennifer Smith Richards, Chicago Tribune, Jodi Cohen, Chicago Tribune, and ProPublica Illinois, “Outbreaks and a digital divide: How Illinois schools struggled with COVID-19”
Best Education Reporting – Circulation less than 100,000
Madhu Krishnamurthy, Daily Herald, “Pandemic decisions for schools, parents”
Best Science, Health, Technology or Environment Reporting – Circulation more than 100,000
Tony Briscoe, Patrick O’Connell, Chicago Tribune, “Climate Change: Great Lakes, High Stakes”
Best Science, Health, Technology or Environment Reporting – Circulation less than 100,000
Staff, Daily Herald, Covering COVID-19 in the suburbs
Best News Column or Commentary – Circulation more than 100,000
Ismael Perez, Chicago Sun-Times, “Mexican mother raised American children”; “Remote learning bilingual students challenges Chicago public schools”; “Non-voting Latino ballot box”
Best News Column or Commentary – Circulation less than 100,000
Burt Constable, Daily Herald, Suburban stories
Best Editorial Writing – Circulation more than 100,000
Lee Bey, Chicago Sun-Times, “Keep Mercy Hospital open” editorials
Best Editorial Writing – Circulation less than 100,000
Diane Dungey, Daily Herald, Diane Dungey editorials
Best Business or Consumer Reporting – Circulation more than 100,000
Tim Novak, Robert Herguth, Chicago Sun-Times, What Chicago’s COVID hospital cost
Best Business or Consumer Reporting – Circulation less than 100,000
Rick West, Daily Herald, Tiny office demand surges
Best Feature Story or Series – Circulation more than 100,000
Angie Leventis Lourgos, Chicago Tribune, COVID-19: Stories of survivors
Best Feature Story or Series – Circulation less than 100,000
Jerry Davich, Post-Tribune, Series on grieving during the pandemic
Best Arts Reporting and Criticism – Circulation more than 100,000
Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, ‘Bug’ Steppenwolf review and others
Best Arts Reporting and Criticism – Circulation less than 100,000
Barbara Vitello, Daily Herald, The making of a musical
Best Sports Story – Circulation more than 100,000
Ben Pope, Chicago Sun-Times, “Last fan standing”
Best Sports Story – Circulation less than 100,000
Joseph S. Pete, The Times of Northwest Indiana, “White Sox fan killed in crash attends game with her family – ‘in spirit, one last time’ “
Best Sports Commentary – Circulation more than 100,000
Shannon Ryan, Chicago Tribune, “Not my coach. Notre Dame icon Lou Holtz risks estrangement from the university and his former players with his tone-deaf RNC speech”
Best Sports Commentary – Circulation less than 100,000
Barry Rozner, Daily Herald, “Marc Silverman collects the biggest win of his life”; “We’ll not see the likes of Theo Epstein again”; “The story behind Len Kaspers’ bold decision”
Best News Photo – Circulation more than 100,000
Ashlee Rezin Garcia, Chicago Sun-Times, Burning rage
Best News Photo – Circulation less than 100,000
Brian Hill, Daily Herald, Centenarian’s COVID birthday
Best Feature Photo – Circulation more than 100,000
Armando L. Sanchez, Chicago Tribune, Election Celebration
Best Feature Photo – Circulation less than 100,000
Karie Angell Luc, Elgin Courier-News, Halloween trick-or-treaters just as fun to watch from the windows at senior complex in Elgin
Best Sports Photo – Circulation more than 100,000
Jose M. Osorio, Chicago Tribune, Missed opportunity
Best Sports Photo – Circulation less than 100,000
Mark Welsh, Daily Herald, Championship hug
Best Design (no circulation restriction)
Eric White, Chicago Sun-Times, White hot
Best Technology Reporting (no circulation restriction)
John Pletz, Crain’s Chicago Business, “What COVID-19 means for Chicago’s tech sector”
Best Special News Section (no circulation restriction)
Staff, Chicago Sun-Times, The year in review
NON-DAILY NEWSPAPER, MAGAZINE OR NEWSPAPER MAGAZINE SECTION
Best In-depth Reporting
Stephanie Goldberg, Crain’s Chicago Business, “Critical conditions”
Best In-depth Reporting in a Community Newspaper
F. Amanda Tugade, Grace Del Vecchio, Kelly Garcia, Corli Jay, City Bureau and Austin Weekly News, “Chicago’s heated 2021 budget season”
Best In-depth Reporting in a Business Magazine or Newspaper
Danny Ecker, Crain’s Chicago Business, “Missing pieces”
Best News Column or Commentary
Georgia Garvey, Pioneer Press, “Why are we in quarantine? We’re saving lives of people we will never meet”; “First Christmas present”; “Five elephants”
Best Editorial Writing
Ann Dwyer, Crain’s Chicago Business, “A reason for optimism; The face of public corruption is all smiles; The door to change is now open”
Best Business Reporting
Peter Waldman, Lydia Mulvany, Polly Mosendz, Bloomberg News, “Cold, crowded, deadly: How U.S. meat plants became a virus breeding ground”
Best Feature Story
Kate Silver, Chicago Health Magazine, “Learning from the dead: The enduring gift of donating a body to science”
Best Feature Series
Staff and Sujay Kumar, Chicago Reader, Pandemic personal essays
Best Non-deadline Reporting
Maya Dukmasova, Sujay Kumar, Chicago Reader, “That lockout you witnessed? It didn’t happen”
Best Political Reporting
Kiran Misra, South Side Weekly, “The contradictions of a progressive police chief”
Best Education Reporting
Staff, Crain’s Chicago Business, Crain’s Forum on education
Best Arts Reporting and Criticism
Irene Hsiao, Kerry Reid, Chicago Reader, “Dancing alone together”
Best Sports Story
S. Nicole Lane, Brianna Wellen, Chicago Reader, “Bound to the point”
Best Photography
John R. Boehm, Zac Osgood, Crain’s Chicago Business, “40 under 40” photos
Best Design
Jason McGregor, Crain’s Chicago Business, Jason McGregor designs for Crain’s Forum
Best Special News Section
Staff, South Side Weekly, “Chicago reacts to the police murder of George Floyd”
Best Illustration
Keith J. Taylor, Chicago Public Square
General Excellence
Staff, Crain’s Chicago Business
BROADCAST: TELEVISION
Best Spot News Story
Jennifer Lay-Riske, Joe Kolina, Rob Stafford, Allison Rosati, Lexi Sutter, Chris Coffey, Natalie Martinez and Brant Miller, NBC 5 Chicago, WMAQ, “Chicago safety”
Best In-depth News Story or Series
Daniel Andries, WTTW, “Making sense of 2020”
Best Investigative Report
Douglas Wolfe, Andy Barker, WAND TV, “Unauthorized business”
Best On-Camera Talent
Christian Farr, NBCChicago.com and WMAQ TV
Best Feature News Report
Tonya Francisco, Brad Piper, WGN-TV, “Policy kings”
Best Public Affairs Programming
Staff, WTTW, “Peace & Justice: a WTTW news special”
Business or Consumer Reporting
Kane Farabaugh, Voice of America TV, “Producing in a Pandemic”
Best Health or Science Reporting
Kane Farabaugh, Voice of America TV, High-tech fight against COVID-19
Best News Specialty/Arts/Culture/Entertainment News/Feature or Series
Tonya Francisco, Brad Piper, WGN-TV, “Vee Jay records”
Best News Specialty/Business/Consumer News Feature or Series
Kane Farabaugh, Voice of America TV, “Between Trump and Trade”
Best News Specialty/Crime News
Christian Farr, Mike McGovern, NBCChicago.com and WMAQ TV, “The death of Eric Lurry”
Best News Specialty/Education/Schools News
Roz Varon, Joseph Imbrogno, WLS-TV, “Bus driver celebration”
Best News Specialty/Health/Science News
Kane Farabaugh, Voice of America TV, “50 years ago, Apollo 13 moon mission became NASA’s ‘successful failure’ “
Best News Specialty/Human Interest
Douglas Wolfe, Steve Nichols, WAND TV, “Justice walk”
Best News Specialty/Politics/Government News
Douglas Wolfe, Andy Barker, WAND TV, “I-TEAM: Self dealing”
Best Video Journalist
Kane Farabaugh, Voice of America TV
BROADCAST: RADIO
Best Breaking News Story
Staff, WBEZ Chicago, “2020 election results”
Best In-depth News Story or Series
Patrick Smith, Rob Wildeboer, WBEZ Chicago, “Chicago’s antiviolence workers press on despite pandemic”
Best Investigative Reporting
Linda Lutton, Andrew Fan, Alden Loury, Paula Friedrich, Aaron Allen, Ashish Valentine, Cate Cahan, City Bureau and WBEZ, “Where banks don’t lend”
Best Reporter
Michael Puente, WBEZ
Best Feature Reporting
Staff, WBEZ, “A most unusual school year”
Best Business or Consumer Reporting
David Schaper, NPR, “Boeing’s 737 Max crisis”
Best Health or Science Reporting
Kristen Schorsch, WBEZ, “Women have few options for giving birth on the South Side. 2 midwives want to change that.”
SPECIALTY/TRADE
Best Deadline Report
John Gregory, Theme Park Tribune, “COVID-19 suggestions for Orlando theme parks leave gaps in guest, employee safety”
Best In-depth Report or Series
Tom Polansek, Reuters, “Meatpacking and COVID-19”
Best Commentary
David Greising, Better Government Association, David Greising columns about state government
Best Business or Consumer Reporting
Kim Chipman, Bloomberg News, “California water futures begin trading amid fear of scarcity”
Best Feature Story or Series
Staff, ABA Journal, “COVID-19 and the legal profession”
Best Design
Thomas Gaulkin, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Thomas Gaulkin designs
ONLINE
Best Multimedia Feature Presentation
Natalie Castaneda, Martha Irvine, Bram Janssen, Gillian Flaccus, Dmitry Vlasov, Associated Press Staff, The Associated Press, “Pandemic through kids’ eyes”
Best News Web Site
Staff, Chicago Sun-Times
Best Individual Blog Post – Independent
Derrick Clifton, them.us (Conde Nast), Derrick Clifton on race, LGBTQ+ rights and politics
Best Individual Blog Post – Affiliated
Logan Jaffe, ProPublica Illinois, “A sundown town sees its first Black Lives Matter protest”
Best Continuing Blog – Independent
Derrick Clifton, NBC News THINK, Derrick Clifton on entertainment and online culture
Best Continuing Blog – Affiliated
Mark Konkol, Patch.com, “Emails, secret report show politics of science guiding Pritzker; “More than a protest: Chicagoans fight city’s knee on their necks”; “How to talk to your stubborn parents about coronavirus precaution”
Best Email Newsletter
Staff, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Sun-Times coronavirus newsletter
Best Deadline Reporting
Mauricio Pena, Block Club Chicago, “Planned explosion covered Little Village in dust during respiratory pandemic. Why did the city let it happen?”
Best Non-deadline Reporting
Jodi S. Cohen, ProPublica Illinois, co-published with Detroit Free Press, Bridge Michigan and Bridge Detroit, “A teenager didn’t do her online schoolwork so a judge sent her to juvenile detention”
Best Series — Non-deadline Reporting
Casey Toner, Jared Rutecki, Emily Hoerner, Bea Malsky, Forest Gregg, Abby Blachman, Better Government Association, Injustice Watch, Chicago Reporter, DataMade, “The Circuit”
Best Breaking News Story
Tom Schuba, Rachel Hinton, Ashlee Rezin Garcia, Jake Wittich, Brian Ernst, Brian Rich, Chicago Sun-Times, “Customers turned away as recreational weed sales wrap up historic first day in Illinois”
Best Neighborhood/Community News
Larry Gavin, Mary Gavin, Victoria Scott, Robert Seidenberg, Heidi Randhava, Karen Young, Evanston RoundTable, Evanston RoundTable Community News Online
Best Business or Consumer Reporting
John Lippert, Natalie Moore, Better Government Association, WBEZ, “Amazon’s massive Chicago-area expansion fueled by $741 million from taxpayers”
Best Feature Story or Series
Melissa Sanchez, ProPublica Illinois, ProPublica Illinois, “Inside the lives of immigrant teens working dangerous night shifts in suburban factories”
Best Food Coverage
Mike Sula, Karen Hawkins, Chicago Reader, Mike Sula on Chicago’s restaurant scene and “The year in pivots”
Best Music Coverage
Staff, Block Club Chicago, “Coronavirus hurting Chicago’s indie music venues”
Best Theater Coverage
Kerry Reid, Chicago Reader, “The founder of Pride Films and Plays is gone. What happened? What’s next?”
Best Literary Coverage
Lee Rawles, ABA Journal, Modern Law Library podcast
Best Investigative/Public Service Reporting
Casey Toner, Jared Rutecki, Emily Hoerner, Bea Malsky, Forest Gregg, Abby Blachman, Better Government Association, Injustice Watch, Chicago Reporter, DataMade, “The Circuit”
Best Use of News Video
Zbigniew Bzdak, Chicago Tribune, “Lockdown empties Chicago parks and streets”
Best Use of Features Video
Martha Irvine, Bram Janssen, Gillian Flaccus, Dmitry Vlasov, Paolo Santalucia, The Associated Press Staff, The Associated Press, “Virus journals: Anxiety, loneliness, hope”
Best Use of Digital Technology
Staffs, The TRiiBE and South Side Weekly, “The people rose up: a Black summer 2020 timeline”
Best Start-Up
Joe Coughlin, Megan Bernard, Martin Carlino, The Record North Shore
General Excellence in Online Journalism
Staff, Chicago Sun-Times
Best Photo
Brian Cassella, Chicago Tribune, Faces on the front lines of the pandemic
Best New Podcast
Staff, The Invisible Institute, The Intercept, Topic Studios and iHeartRadio, “Somebody”
Best Podcast
Staff, The Invisible Institute, The Intercept, Topic Studios and iHeartRadio, “Somebody”
Best Podcast Single Episode
Staff, The Invisible Institute, The Intercept, Topic Studios and iHeartRadio, “Somebody, Episode 3: The police”