AJC podcast wins Silver Gavel award

The American Bar Association has awarded its prestigious “Silver Gavel” award to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s “Breakdown” podcast.

The ABA named “Season 6: A Jury of His Peers” as one of six winners of its annual awards, which honor work that is “exemplary in fostering the American public’s understanding of law and the legal system.”

The award will be presented in Washington at the National Press Club on July 17.

In the five-episode season of “A Jury of His Peers,” AJC legal affairs reporter Bill Rankin and Editor Kevin Riley chronicled a double-murder trial. Riley was chosen for the jury in the Fulton County Superior Court case and served as its foreman.

The recently retired AJC senior editor Richard Halicks produced the podcast, which took listeners into the secret deliberations of the jury.

You can listen to “A Jury of His Peers” on ajc.com or download it on your favorite podcast app.

The ABA has been awarding the Silver Gavel since 1958, when director Sidney Lumet’s classic jury room drama “12 Angry Men” won. Other winners include the films “Judgment at Nuremberg” and “To Kill a Mockingbird,” as well as Ken Burns’ documentary “The Central Park Five” and Jonathan Harr’s best-selling book, “A Civil Action.” The Netflix series “Making a Murderer” also won the Silver Gavel.