We took home some prizes for our journalism. Always a good thing.
Quoted from the awards copy, we won for:
BREAKING NEWS, newspaper, news service and online Medallion: The Record, NYC Terror Attack, by The Record Staff The newspaper and NorthJersey.com provided meticulous and comprehensive coverage of the terrorist attack Oct. 31 along a Manhattan bike path that killed eight people. The Record poured impressive resources into covering this attack, and the result was a compelling package of storytelling. In addition, the paper excelled precisely where a local news organization should, by diving deeply into the life of the suspect, a man from Paterson, N.J.
Proud editor Dan.
We also took home a Merit Award: The Record, “Plane Crash in Teterboro” by The Record Staff. The north Jersey paper wins again for its coverage of the fatal plane crash last May near Teterboro Airport. Two people were killed. Based not far from the site, The Record is all too familiar with covering plane crashes and other accidents. Its expertise was amply displayed as it chronicled the final moments of this ill-fated aircraft, the history of tragedy-plagued Teterboro and the emotions of residents who live nearby, never free from fear that horror may fall on them from the sky.
Chris!
Merit Award: “Garden State of Mind” by Christopher Maag, The Record Here’s proof that not everyone has to be a celebrity to become the subject of an engaging profile. For the past year or so, reporter Maag has been producing a column called “Garden State of Mind” for The Record. Its mission: to find and write about the people who make the suburbs just west of New York City “a singularly interesting place to live.” They include a Paterson poet inspired by Jack Kerouac, a high school student whose family’s financial crises motivated her to become class valedictorian, and an unemployed 25-yearold Teaneck man who hopes to one day be a professional wrestler—though for now he simply isn’t very good at it.
Tara is now at the Boston Globe, but she also won an award.
Medallion: Sports columns by Tara Sullivan of The Record. Whether writing about the life of an invalid ex-Jets and Giants coach, or going into the stands to see what the family and friends of a New England Patriots’ player are up to, Tara Sullivan brings a remarkable depth of insight, reportage, and, quite simply, humanity to her columns. And never lost in her features is a work ethic. When she puts together a story, she seems to have interviewed every person who has been touched by, or had an effect on, her subject.
Also, Lindy.
Medallion: “Miracle on Ice” and other stories by Lindy Washburn for The Record. Washburn is a sure-handed health reporter who knows how to captivate. Whether covering cutting-edge clinical advances or reporting on medicine’s enduring mysteries, she seasons her finely wrought stories with gripping human dramas that hold the reader rapt. That mastery is amply demonstrated in her account of how a teenage hockey player, incapacitated by pain, finds life-affirming relief thanks to a neurosurgeon cum amateur pilot who assembles an array of high-tech strategies that allow him to “fly” through the brain, locate and root out a precariously lodged tumor, the pain’s source. The same goes for Washburn’s reports on efforts to better understand as-yet-unexplainable sudden infant death and, on a related matter, the search for an explanation as to why babies born of African-American women die at a far greater rate than those of their white counterparts. Sown into each of these stories are poignantly drawn portraits of affected family members struggling to cope with unfathomable loss.
Hannan and Monsy.
Merit Award: “Plight of the Immigrant,” by Monsy Alvarado and Hannan Adely for The Record. In one of a series of stories, immigration and diversity reporters Alvarado and Adely chronicle the death of Salvadoran detainee Carlos Mejia-Bonilla in the Hudson County jail after he was denied medication, while prison officials failed to relay crucial medical information to the hospital where he was taken before he died. The story resulted in a public outcry and dismissal of two members of the jail’s medical staff. Alvarado also describes how Jose Estrada Lopez, a Guatemalan immigrant from Fairview, was ordered deported under the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration after having lived in the United States for more than 15 years.
Merit Award: Columns by Mike Kelly of The Record Together with photographer/videographer Chris Pedota, Kelly hit the road for a broad and deep trip through a divided nation as Donald Trump was cementing his party’s nomination for President— only one of several elegantly written and deeply reported columns that delighted and informed readers.
Kevin.
Merit Award: “Imam” by Kevin Wexler of The Record Imam Mohammed Ibn Ahmed is one of four chaplains at the Bergen County Jail. Photojournalist Kevin Wexler of The Record spent several days inside the jail, observing and recording Ahmed teaching the Quran and interacting with the inmates. The imam wears western clothes—sport shirts and dark trousers—and says about traditional dress: “It was the norm in Arabia. It’s not the norm here. It’s got nothing to do with Islam.” An unusual look at an unusual man.
Jim.
Medallion: “The Morris Canal” by reporter James O’Neill and visual journalist Chris Pedota for NorthJersey.com. The Record’s website produced a nine-chapter feature that rolled back time to give readers and viewers a multi-media education demonstrating how a long forgotten canal stretching across 102 miles was the foundation for the early economy of New Jersey.
Proud editors.
Seriously, though. I’m very proud to be a part of this terrific newsroom.
