Statesman is recipient of international award
Investigative work on protecting vulnerable children wins honors.
The American-Statesman this weekend won an international award in investigative reporting for its work that uncovered gaps in Texas’ system to protect vulnerable children. It was one of four Texas media organizations honored by the Online News Association.
The Statesman’s investigation, “Missed Signs, Fatal Consequences,” won the University of Florida Award in Investigative Data Journalism. The Statesman was competing in the association’s large division, and the other finali sts nominated in the investiga- tive data journalism category were the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post and a reporting consortium led by the Guardian of Britain and Le Monde of France.
The Statesman investigation, published in January, featured reporting by Eric Dexheimer and Andrea Ball, data interactive and online design by Andrew Chavez and Chris-
tian McDonald, photography and videography by Laura Skelding and Kelly West, and editing and online presentation by Jeremy Schwartz, Gabrielle Muñoz and Eric Webb.
By examining 779 childdeath reports that the state had collected but not analyzed, the Statesman investigation found that the state is not publicly reporting hundreds of abuse- and neglect-related child deaths each year.
Nearly half of cases examined by the Statesman involved children who died after being the subject of a Child Protective Services investigation, pointing to missed opportunities in the child-protection system.
The reporting prompted the Legislature to take action with changes to laws that took effect Sept. 1.
Also at the Online News Association awards in Los Angeles on Saturday night, the Texas Tribune received two awards competing in the association’s small division — the Explanatory Reporting award for its “Undrinkable” project and for Topical Reporting for “Hunting for Work.”
The Texas Observer teamed with the Guardian to win in the Feature, Large Division category for “Beyond the Border.”
North Texas public radio station KERA won for Topical Reporting, Medium Division, for “The Broken Hip.”