Journal Sentinel’s coverage wins national awards
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel won three firstplace awards and five third-place awards in the National Headliner competition, which recognizes the top journalism nationwide in a wide range of areas. The winners were announced Wednesday. Columnist James E. Causey won first place for local interest column for a selection of work from 2020 that addressed aspects of the country’s racial reckoning.
Judges said: “James Causey rises to the top of an excellent harvest of local columns examining race in America with his own deft take on the issue. His column on buying a comic book in Mississippi is not only chilling, haunting and sparsely told, it should be required reading for all those wondering whether there really are two Americas in which we dwell.”
Reporters Raquel Rutledge, John Diedrich and Daphne Chen won first place for business news coverage for “In the Shadows,” an investigation into failures by hospitals across the nation to protect workers from violence, including in parking structures.
Judges said: “Hospital workers have been hailed as heroes for their front-line efforts during the coronavirus pandemic. But little attention is given to the violence these workers experience in a hospital itself or in its parking garage. Raquel Rutledge, John Diedrich and Daphne Chen of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel make clear in their package how inaction by many hospitals has put these hospital workers in additional danger. An eye-opener.”
Rory Linnane received first place in health, medical and science writing for “Maricella’s Last Breath,” a deeply-reported look at the suicide death of a 16-year old in a Racine County jail cell and the many missed opportunities for authorities to intervene and help her.
Judges said: “Maricella Chairez died while in the custody of the state. Rory Linnane’s brought her to life through hquest to find justice for her. Officials across the legal and social service spectrum blocked efforts to unravel Maricella’s story — one of failure by the various entities charged with protecting and working on solutions for a young girl with mental health problems. In the end Linnane’s tenacity, determination and persistence coupled with excellent narrative storytelling that focused on Maricella’s humanity caught the ears of Wisconsin lawmakers. Reforms are pledged.”
Chen and reporter John Fauber received third place in that category, for a selection of stories about the nation’s flawed drug tracking system.
Journal Sentinel staff members received four additional third-place awards:
• Greg Borowski for sports features, for a story that recounted a solo marathon he ran at the start of the coronavirus pandemic past the landmarks of his life.
• Causey and photojournalist Angela Peterson for news series, for their work on “Milwaukee’s Promise,” a look at many deep-seated problems facing the community and ways to address them.
• Craig Gilbert for political coverage, for a selection of his work from a tumultuous 2020 election year.
• Journal Sentinel photo staff for multiple day photo story, for images from the aftermath of the Jacob Blake shooting in Kenosha.
In 2020, the Journal Sentinel staff shifted to a remote workplace in early March as the pandemic reached Wisconsin and worked diligently to cover one huge breaking news event after another, Editor George Stanley said.
From the first in-person election to be held during the pandemic in April, to medical emergencies as cases peaked, to the impact on businesses and employment, to delays in issuing unemployment payments for displaced workers, to protests for racial justice after the shooting of George Floyd in Minneapolis, to the shootings in Kenosha, to the development of vaccines, to Wisconsin once again being an essential battleground state in a contentious presidential election, to the recounts, challenges and misinformation that followed, the newsroom took an “all-hands” approach to informing people what was going on, Stanley said.
“Our reporters still made the time to dig and offer in-depth stories providing vital context and knowledge,” Stanley said. “This is how we move forward and improve things in our democracy — by shining a light on problems so we can come together to find better ways. That’s true in all of the stories recognized with National Headliner Awards — whether it’s providing safe workplaces for the heroes in our hospitals, or facing up to the fact of real and persistent racism against people of color, or making sure troubled teens like Maricella Chairez are treated as patients in need of counseling services rather than prisoners to be locked up and forgotten about.”