The Deadline Club is pleased to announce the winners in the 2012 Annual Awards Contest, which honors excellence in journalism in 2011. This was our most competitive contest in living memory, with nearly 440 entries from more than 70 media outlets, a huge increase from previous years. The finalists work in a broad swath of media, including newspapers, magazines, radio, television and digital media outlets. Many smaller, independent or Internet-only media were among the finalists. They were honored in the Annual Awards Dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria on Monday, June 4, 2012. The evening featured a conversation with Steve Kroft, a Correspondent at CBS’ “60 Minutes,” and Stephen Shepard, Dean of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.
This year’s winners are:
NEWSPAPERS, WIRE SERVICES AND DIGITAL
The Daniel Pearl Award for Investigative Reporting
Winner: Danny Hakim and Russ Buettner, The New York Times, “Abused and Used”
Finalists:
- Jeff Donn, The Associated Press, “Aging Nukes”
- Michael Luo, The New York Times, “Firepower”
Newspaper or Digital Beat Reporting
Winner: A.C. Thompson, Chisun Lee, Mosi Secret, Marshall Allen, and Krista Kjellman Schmidt, Propublica, “Post Mortem: Death Investigation in America”
Finalists:
- Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman, The Associated Press, “Watching the CIA”
- Alfonso A. Castillo, Newsday, “LIRR”
Newspaper or Digital Feature Reporting
Winner: Shannon Mullen, Asbury Park Press, “Deadly Decisions”
Finalists:
- Jan Hoffman, The New York Times, “Poisoned Web”
- Michael M. Phillips, The Wall Street Journal, “Friendly Fire”
Newspaper or Digital Spot News Reporting
Winner: Staff, The Associated Press, “Japan: Disaster Upon Disaster”
Finalists:
- Jill Colvin, Julie Shapiro, Patrick Hedlund, Tom Liddy and Michael Ventura, DNAinfo.com, “Occupy Wall Street: Police Clear Zuccotti Park”
- Staff, The New York Times, “Downgrading the U.S.”
Newspaper or Digital Enterprise Reporting
Winner: Chis Hawley, John Curran and David R. Martin, The Associated Press, “Under Suspicion”
Finalists:
- Laura Nahmias, City & State, “Bad Medicine”
- Paul LaRocco, Newsday, “Oyster Pay”
Newspaper or Digital Local News Reporting
Winner: Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, Eileen Sullivan and Chris Hawley, The Associated Press, “NYPD Spies on New York”
Finalists:
- Shawn Bouburg, The Record, “Port Authority Hidden Salaries and Perks”
- Scott Fallon, The Record, “Toxic Landscape”
Reporting by Newspapers with a Circulation under 100,000
Winner: Paul Berger, The Forward, “Where is Washington’s Letter?”
Finalist:
- Nathan Guttman, Eileen Reynolds and Maia Efrem, The Forward, “How a Federal Program Became a Jewish Earmark”
Reporting by Independent Digital Media
Winner: Amy Zimmer, DNAinfo.com, “National Arts Club Scandal”
MAGAZINES
Magazine Personal Service
Winners: Anne Kadet, SmartMoney, “Cashathon” and Staff, Consumer Reports, “Protect Your Heart”
Finalist:
- Sarah Richards, Ladies’ Home Journal, “Women on the Verge of a Drinking Problem”
Magazine Profile
Winner: Matt Tyrnauer, Vanity Fair, “Once Upon a Time in Beverly Hills”
Finalists:
- James Bandler, Fortune, “J.P. Morgan’s Hunt for Afghan Gold”
- Peter Elkind and Patricia Sellers with Doris Burke, Fortune, “The Fight of Richard Rainwater’s Life”
Magazine Investigative Reporting
Winner: Peter Elkind, Jennifer Reingold with Doris Burke, Fortune, “Inside Pfizer’s Palace Coup”
Finalists:
- Kelly Virella, City Limits, “Behind Bars: Female Inmates, Male Guards and Sex Crimes in New York’s Prisons”
- Abigail Pesta, Marie Claire, “The Accidental Sex Offender”
Magazine Feature Reporting
Winner: Maximillian Potter, Vanity Fair, “The Assassin in the Vineyard”
Finalist:
- Adam Lashinsky, Fortune, “Inside Apple”
SPECIALIZED WRITING
Headline Writing
Winner: Joe Illuzzi, New York Post, “$#!T Hits the Span, Protesters Take B’klyn Bridge”
Finalists:
- Daniel Bubbeo, Newsday, “The Apes of Wrath”
- Stephen Engelberg, Scott Klein, and Robin Fields, ProPublica, “Without Autopsies, Hospitals Bury Their Mistakes”
- Staff, Vanity Fair, “Of the 1%, By the 1%, For the 1%”
Arts Reporting
Winner: Helen O’Neill, The Associated Press, “The Song of Nelson”
Finalists:
- Jocelyn Noveck, The Associated Press, “Coverage of the dance world”
- Laura Jacobs, Vanity Fair, “Liberté, Égalité, Agnès B.”
Business Feature
Winner: Anne Kadet, SmartMoney, “Cashathon”
Finalists:
- Chris Lehmann, Harper’s, “Pennies from Heaven: How Mormon Economics Shape the G.O.P.”
- Sarah Ellison, Vanity Fair, “The Rules of Succession”
Business Investigative Reporting
Winner: Ian Urbina, The New York Times, “Drilling Down”
Finalists:
- Peter Elkind and Jennifer Reingold with Doris Burke, Fortune, “Inside Pfizer’s Palace Coup”
- David Kocieniewski, The New York Times, “But Nobody Pays That”
Opinion Writing
Winner: Jane Eisner, The Forward
Finalists:
- Thomas Frank, Harper’s
- Jesse Eisinger, ProPublica
Science, Technology, Medical or Environmental Reporting
Winner: Justin Gillis, The New York Times, “Temperature Rising”
Finalists:
- Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele, Vanity Fair, “Deadly Medicine”
- John Carreyrou and Tom McGinty, The Wall Street Journal, “Crooked Spines”
Sports Reporting
Winner: John Branch, The New York Times, “Punched Out”
Finalists:
- Michael O’Keeffe, Daily News, “Sexual Abuse in Sports”
- Stephen Haynes and Tom Rock, Newsday, “School of Hard Knocks”
PHOTOGRAPHY
Spot News Photo
Winner: Marcus Santos, Daily News, “We’re Going Down”
Finalists:
- Petros Giannakouris, The Associated Press, “Petrol Bomb Attack”
- Joe Marino, Daily News, “His Hero”
Feature Photo
Winner: Alejandra Villa, Newsday, “Marisa: A Little Girl’s Fight to Live”
Finalists:
- Richard Ross, Harper’s, “Juvenile Injustice”
- Aristide Economopoulos, The Star-Ledger, “Heat Wave Handstand”
Sports Photo
Winner: Steve Fine, Jimmy Colton and Bob Martin, Sports Illustrated, “Horse Fly”
Finalists:
- Mark J. Terrill, The Associated Press, “Carrier Classic”
- Steve Fine, Jimmy Colton and Nancie Battaglia, Sports Illustrated, “Hope Floats”
DIGITAL AND INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Multimedia, Interactive Graphics and Animation
Winner: Staff, The New York Times, “Japan’s Nuclear Crisis”
Finalists:
- Staff, The New York Times, “Death of Steve Jobs”
- Staff, The New York Times, “Punched Out”
Social Media
Winner: Daisuke Wakabayashi, The Wall Street Journal, “Tweets from the Disaster in Japan”
Finalists:
- Julianne Pepitone, CNNMoney, “First-Day Coverage of Occupy Wall Street – Sept. 17”
- Carolina A. Miranda and Liz Arnold with Richard Hake, WNYC Radio, “Watching and Tweeting Andy Warhol’s ‘Empire’”
Mobile Application
Winner: Staff, Newsday
- David Kirschner. Darrin Yancey, and Ferhat Ozduran, News 12 Long Island
- Staff, New York Post
RADIO AND AUDIO
Radio or Audio Reporting
Winner: Ailsa Chang, WNYC Radio, “Alleged Illegal Searches and Unlawful Marijuana Arrests by the NYPD”
Finalists:
- Illya Marritz, WNYC Radio, “How They Spent It: Recipients Reflect on 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund”
- Maria Scarvalone, WNYC Radio, “In Upstate NY, Gas Drilling Debate Gets Local”
DIGITAL VIDEO
Digital Video Reporting
Winner: Thomas E. Franklin, The Record, “Witness to History”
Finalists:
- Thomas P. Costello, Asbury Park Press, “Deadly Decisions”
- Staff, Newsday, “Marisa: A Little Girl’s Fight to Live”
TELEVISION
Television Spot News Reporting
Winner: Brian Ross, Richard Esposito, Matthew Cole, Avni Patel, Mark Schone, Lee Ferran, Rhonda Schwartz, James Goldston, Tom Cibrowski, Michael Corn, ABC News, “The Death of Osama Bin Laden”
Finalist:
- Janine Rose, News 12 Westchester, “Hurricane Irene and it’s Aftermath”
Television Feature
Winner: Brian Ross, Anna Schecter, Angela Hill, Rhonda Schwartz, Mark Schone, Tom Marcyes, Jack Pyle,
Craig Matthews, David Sloan, ABC News, “20/20 Peace Corps: A Trust Betrayed”
Finalist:
- Virginia Huie and David Garden, News 12 Long Island, “Uncommon Courage”
Television Series or Investigative Reporting
Winner: Jackie Lukas, Brian Jingeleski, News 12 Long Island, “LIRR Ticket Scofflaws”
Finalists:
- Lisa LaRocca, Carlo Perez, News 12 Westchester, “Beating a Silent Killer”
- Jackie Lukas, Brian Jingeleski, News 12 Long Island, “A Losing Ticket”
- Walt Kane, News 12 New Jersey, “No Show Policing”
OMNIBUS AWARDS
Minority Focus
Winner: Kathy Dobie, Harper’s, “Tiny Little Laws: A Plague of Sexual Violence in Indian Country”
Finalists:
- Dafna Linzer, Jennifer LaFleur, Krista Kjellman Schmidt, ProPublica, “Presidential Pardons: Shades of Mercy”
- Phyllis Fletcher, WNYC Radio, “Secrets of Blonde Bombshell”
Public Service Award
Winner: Danny Hakim and Russ Buettner, The New York Times, “Abused and Used”
Finalists:
- Jarrett Murphy, City Limits, “Why Firefighters Die (and what we have learned about saving them)”
- Staff, Newsday, “Prescription Drug Crisis”