Chicago Headline Club Honors City’s Best Journalism in Peter Lisagor Awards
CHICAGO, April 21 — The Chicago Headline Club chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists has named the winners of its annual Peter Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism.
The Chicago Tribune received 12 honors, including awards to its Sunday magazine, Web site and video production unit. Chicago Public Radio and the Daily Southtown were each presented 5 awards. The Associated Press received 4.
These are the Chicago Headline Club’s 29th annual awards to area journalists. The competition’s categories range from in-depth reporting and photography to business, commentary and feature reporting.
Miami Herald syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. was the featured speaker in the April 21 awards banquet at the Holiday Inn Mart Plaza.
The awards are named for Peter Lisagor, late Washington bureau chief of the Chicago Daily News. Reporters and editors from SPJ chapters in Indianapolis, Miami and Seattle reviewed more than 800 entries published or broadcast in 2005. Plaques were presented for 60 reports, chosen for such attributes as enterprise, accuracy, scope, style and impact.
Judges’ comments on all finalists in the contest will be posted at www.headlineclub.org. Here are the Lisagor Award winners:
In-depth reporting
— Associated Press, “Cleaning Contracts,” John O’Connor
— Chicago Reporter, “No Sure Thing,” Sarah Karp, Robert VerBruggen and Rupa Shenoy
— Chicago Tribune, “Pipeline to Peril,” Cam Simpson
— Chicago Tribune, “The New Street Hustle,” David Jackson
— Chicago Tribune, “The Oreo, Obesity and Us,” Jeremy Manier, Patricia Callahan and Delroy Alexander
— Chicago Tribune Magazine, “America’s Best Prosecutor? Jury Still Out on U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald,” Kirsten Scharnberg
— Crain’s Chicago Business, “The Billionaire Next Door,” Steven R. Strahler and Steve Daniels
— Daily Southtown, “The Iron Fist of Education,” Linda Lutton and Kati Phillips
— South Shore Community News, “Sex Offenders in the City,” Jeff Kelly Lowenstein
— WBBM Radio, “Chicago’s Vanishing Neighborhood Bar,” Steve Miller
— WBEZ, “Banking the Unbanked,” Lex Gillespie
— WTTW, “Paper Trail: 100 Years of the Chicago Defender,” Barbara E. Allen, Chris Benson, Patricia Lofthouse and Paul Buckner with contributors Gail F. Baker, Ph.D., Joe “Jody” Williams, April Wilson, Evan Allen-Gessesse and Brandon Blu
— WMAQ, “The Voices and Faces Project,” Carol Marin, Don Moseley and Mark Ringo
Deadline Reporting
— Associated Press, “Midway Accident,” Carla K. Johnson, Mike Colias and Charles Rex Arbogast
— Chicago Tribune, Judge Lefkow killings, Staff, Jeff Coen and David Heinzmann
— Daily Southtown, “Runway Runaway,” Staff
— Health Facilities Management, “Katrina’s Wake'” Mike Hrickiewicz and Bob Kehoe
— WBBM-TV, “Farewell to the Pope,” CBS 2 News Team
— WBBM Radio, “Metra Rock Island District Accident,” Staff, Bob Roberts and Bernie Tafoya
Design
— Chicago magazine, “Classic City,” Hector Sanchez
— Chicago Sun-Times, “Sex Offenders in Nursing Homes,” Eric White and Greg Good
— Chicago Tribune, “Crossing Borders,” Chicago Tribune staff and chicagotribune.com staff
— Crain’s Chicago Business, “Power Families,” Timothy Mollette-Parks
— Daily Herald, “The Champs,” Mike Smith
Photography
— Chicago Tribune, “Liberia: Innocence Lost,” Kuni Takahashi, Chicago Tribune staff and chicagotribune.com staff
— Daily Herald, “Branson Boys – Living with Cerebral Palsy,” Laura Stoecker
— Daily Southtown, “Everybody Loved Him,” Brett Roseman
— Daily Southtown, “Prep Bowl,” Matthew Grotto
— Pioneer Press, “Brother to Brother Kidney Transplant,” Julie Fabiszak
— WGN-TV, “Chalk Talk,” Pam Grimes and Steve Scheuer
Features
— Chicago magazine, “Betting Her Life,” Bryan Smith
— Chicago Reader, “The Godfather of King Drive,” Bob Mehr
— Chicago Tribune, “Stricken Genius,” Howard Reich
— Daily Herald, “Restoring Hope,” Joseph Ryan
— WBEZ, “Architecture Is Music; as in, the Rhythm of a Façade,” Edward Lifson, Tim Samuelson and Jenny Lawton
— WBEZ, “Follow the Money,” Linda Paul, Cate Cahan, Jason Reblando
Sports
— Associated Press, “Winning White Sox,” Staff
— Chicago Sun-Times, Katrina reporting, Rick Telander
— Chicago Tribune, “Once-fearsome Boxer in Longest Fight of Life,” Michael Hirsley
— Chicago Tribune Magazine, “If You’ve Never Heard of Shani Davis, You Will,” Philip Hersh
— WLS Radio, “White Sox World Series,” Staff
— WTTW, “The Team that Changed the World,” Teamworks Media staff
Business
— ABA Journal, “Who is a Partner?” Martha Neil
— Associated Press, “Gambling on Casinos,” Ryan Keith and Maura Kelly Lannan
— Chicago Journal, “Taqueria Trinity,” Max Brooks
— Chicago magazine, “Foul Trouble,” Shane Tritsch
— Chicago Reporter, “Final Frontier,” Kimbriell Kelly
— Chicago Sun-Times, “The New Math of Dining Out,” Janet Rausa Fuller and Art Golab
— Chicago Tribune, “Battle for the Skies: the Boeing Story,” Michael Oneal and David Greising
— WBBM-TV, “Bidder Beware,” Pam Zekman, Simone Thiessen and Carolyn Broquet
— WBEZ, “United Pensions,” Catrin Einhorn
Commentary
— Catalyst Chicago, “Game of Chance Would Do a Better Job,” Veronica Anderson
— Chicago Tribune, “Juvenile Injustice,” Cornelia Grumman
— Crain’s Chicago Business, Roger Schillerstrom
— Daily Southtown, “Emma, of Oak Lawn, Just Wants Her Mail”; “Victims of School Chief Were Really the Children”; “Mail, Money & Miracles at Shelter for Evacuees,” Phil Kadner
— Forest Park Review, “Soliciting Vendors,” “Homerule” and “Subpoenas,” Bill Dwyer
— Slate, “The Dismal Science,” Austan Goolsbee
— WBEZ, “Architecture,” Edward Lifson
Media collaboration
— WBBM-TV and The Naperville Sun, “Good Gifts Gone Bad,” Dave Savini, Michele Youngerman and Kathy Cichon
Spanish-language
— WGBO, “Michael’s Challenge,” Alvaro Visiers and Mario Carrasco
Established in 1921, the Chicago Headline Club is the largest chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Its members work to promote ethical conduct, raise the bar for reporting standards, recognize excellence, encourage young journalists, advance the cause of freedom of information and enhance the prestige of the profession.
The Headline Club also sponsors the Watchdog Award for excellence in public interest reporting, Lifetime Achievement Awards, an annual High School Journalism Contest, the Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists (1-866-DILEMMA), the Les Brownlee Journalism Series and the Chicago Headline Club/INBA JobFile.