News Releases

The awards, open to all U.S. news organizations and college journalism educators, recognize excellence in 16 categories, including editorial writing, human interest writing, environment, investigative, business/economics, Washington and public service reporting, commentary, photojournalism, television reporting, Web reporting, college cartooning, editorial cartooning and journalism education. No award was given this year in radio reporting.

The awards also honor distinguished service to the First Amendment.

Cash awards totaling $185,000 will be presented April 20 during a dinner at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

“The Scripps Howard Foundation’s National Journalism Awards are intended, in a meaningful way, to acknowledge the outstanding work of America’s top journalists,” said Judith G. Clabes, Foundation president and chief executive officer. “The awards honor the individual accomplishments of journalists of all disciplines and bring deserved attention to the important role each of them plays in a free and democratic society.”

The Scripps Howard Foundation is the philanthropic arm of The E. W. Scripps Company.

The National Journalism Awards winners are:

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING

Charles Forelle, James Bandler, Mark Maremont and Steve Stecklow of The Wall Street Journal receive the $25,000 Ursula and Gilbert Farfel prize, given in cooperation with the Ohio University College of Communication and the Farfel endowment, for a series exposing the corruption of manipulated stock options.

Finalists: Debbie Cenziper, The Miami Herald, “House of Lies;” Los Angeles Times, (Charles Ornstein, Alan Zarembo and Tracy Weber), “Transplant Patients at Risk”

PUBLIC SERVICE REPORTING

Michael Smith and David Voreacos of Bloomberg News receive $10,000 and the Roy W. Howard award for “Slaves in the Amazon,” an expose of the brutal chain of slavery that connects South American slavery to the garages and kitchens of U.S. consumers.

Finalists: The New York Times, “Diabetes,” a looming health care crisis, and The Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette (Scott Finn and Tara Tuckwiller), “The Killer Cure,” which forced the FDA to issue warnings about the use of methadone as a pain-killer.

EDITORIAL WRITING

John Diaz, Pati Poblete and Caille Millner of the San Francisco Chronicle receive $10,000 and the Walker Stone award for a series of editorials exposing a failed foster care system.

Finalists: Jane Healy, Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel, and Jason L. Riley, The Wall Street Journal

COMMENTARY

Chris Rose, The Times-Picayune of New Orleans, receives $10,000 and a trophy for his thrice weekly column which reveals his sense of place and commitment to a city fighting for survival after the tragedy of Katrina.

Finalists: Meghan Daum, Los Angeles Times, and Tommy Tomlinson, The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer

HUMAN INTEREST WRITING

Lane DeGregory of the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times receives $10,000 and the Ernie Pyle award for “warm and sensitive” writing in a “remarkable range of work.” 

Finalists: Ken Fuson, The Des Moines (Iowa) Register, and David Zucchino, Los Angeles Times

WEB REPORTING

Washingtonpost.com receives $10,000 and a trophy, for “Being a Black Man,” (www.washingtonpost.com/blackmen), a project that featured written narratives, photos, narrated slideshows, videos, web chats, blogs, and a public opinion survey married to an interactive survey for online users, a live Webcast and text contributions from readers. The project focused on exploring the lives of black men in America.

Finalist: Naples (Fla.) Daily News (www.naplesnews.com/affordable_housing), “Paradise at What Cost?”

ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTING

Kenneth R. Weiss and Usha Lee McFarling of the Los Angeles Times receive $10,000 and the Edward J. Meeman award for “Altered Oceans,” an expose of a dramatic shift in the balance of marine life in the world’s oceans.

Finalists: Andrew C. Revkin, The New York Times for “Silencing the Experts” on climate change, and The News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C., for “North Carolina Water: Safe to Drink?”

WASHINGTON REPORTING

Wes Allison of the St. Petersburg Times, receives $10,000 and the Raymond Clapper award for “A Republican vs. Republican Cellular Division,” a report on behind-the-scenes maneuvering over a bill that would have lifted restrictions on embryonic stem cell research.

Finalist: Charlie Savage, The Boston Globe, “Signing Statements & Presidential Power”

EDITORIAL CARTOONING

Stephen Benson of The Arizona Republic receives $10,000 and a trophy for a portfolio of hard-hitting, pen-sharp insight, including criticism of the Iraq War, the tragedy of Darfur, lobbyist influence at the White House, bigotry and the failure of response to Katrina.

Finalists: Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Jim Morin, The Miami Herald

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE TO THE FIRST AMENDMENT

Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams of the San Francisco Chronicle receive $10,000 and the Edward Willis Scripps award for their strong stance against revealing confidential sources related to their expose of the sports doping scandal. They faced 18 months in prison for contempt of court, a sentence the Chronicle vigorously fought until the source, a lawyer in the case, recently and voluntarily stepped forward.

Finalist: Laura McGann, Associated Press, for fighting government secrecy and protecting freedom of the press in uncovering how the Department of Education and the FBI ran a counter-terrorism data mining program for five years.

PHOTOJOURNALISM

Rick Loomis of the Los Angeles Times receives $10,000 and a trophy for a portfolio of work that included stories of soldiers injured in Iraq, the degradation of our oceans, bird flu along the front lines in Alaska, and of the state of democracy in Afghanistan.

Finalists: Carolyn Cole, Los Angeles Times, and John Pendygraft, St. Petersburg Times

BUSINESS/ECONOMICS REPORTING

Steve Everly, The Kansas City (Mo.) Star, receives $10,000 and the William Brewster Styles award for “Hot Fuel,” about how a simple law of physics – liquids expand with rising temperatures -- costs warm weather consumers millions of dollars a year.

Finalists: None

EXCELLENCE IN ELECTRONIC MEDIA/TV-CABLE

WTHR-TV, Indianapolis, receives $10,000 and the Jack R. Howard award for “Cause for Alarm,” a comprehensive investigation of the failure of the tornado siren warning systems in Indiana that put thousands of people in harm’s way.

Finalists: Incite Productions, Vail, Colo., “Seoul Train,” and KNBC-TV, Burbank, Calif., (Matt Goldberg and Joel Grover), “Taxicab Deception”

COLLEGE CARTOONING

Erin Russell, The Michigan Daily, University of Michigan, receives $10,000 and the Charles M. Schulz award for her comic strip, “Joy,” www.jadedjoy.com.

Finalists: Sakura M. Christmas, Harvard University, and Lucy Knisley, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

JOURNALISM TEACHER OF THE YEAR

Robert Richards, professor of journalism and law, College of Communications, The Pennsylvania State University, receives $10,000 and the Charles E. Scripps award. His school also receives a $5,000 grant. The award is given in cooperation with the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

Finalist: Zita Arocha, University of Texas at El Paso

JOURNALISM ADMINISTRATOR OF THE YEAR

Dr. Shirley Staples Carter, director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of South Carolina, receives $10,000 and the Charles E. Scripps award. Her school also receives a $5,000 grant. The award is given in cooperation with the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

An awards program book featuring the winners and their work will be available online at www.scripps.com/foundation after the April 20th dinner. A hard copy may also be requested.

Dedicated to excellence in journalism, the Scripps Howard Foundation is a leader in industry efforts in journalism education, scholarships, internships, literacy, minority recruitment/development and First Amendment causes.