Sun-Times staffers win 9 Lisagor Awards for journalism


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Posted by chicagomedia.org on April 25, 2009 at 21:47:49:

Sun-Times staffers win 9 Lisagors for journalism

April 25, 2009

The Chicago Sun-Times' coverage of the arrest of since-ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a blog written by Roger Ebert and the newspaper's reporting on violence in Chicago were among work honored Friday night with Peter Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism.

In all, the Sun-Times won nine Lisagor Awards, given by the Chicago Headline Club to honor the best in journalism in the city and suburbs in 2008.

And veteran Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman and former WLS-Channel 7 political reporter Andy Shaw were given lifetime achievement awards.

The Sun-Times staffers who won top honors for reporting, commentary, photography, design and editorial writing:

-- The metropolitan news staff was singled out for best deadline reporting among large-circulation papers for breaking coverage of Blagojevich's arrest in December. The reporting team included staffers Natasha Korecki, Spielman, Abdon M. Pallasch, Chris Fusco, Kara Spak, Andrew Herrmann, David Roeder, Tim Novak, Annie Sweeney, Lisa Donovan, Michael Sneed, Mark Brown, Mary Mitchell, Dave McKinney, Mark Konkol, Carol Marin and Lynn Sweet.

-- Ebert won for best online commentary. The Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic was honored for wide-ranging commentary in his suntimes.com blog -- "Roger Ebert's Journal." His winning entry included essays not just about movies but also on books, food and politics and his accounts of how he is adapting after losing the ability to speak.

-- Konkol, Sweeney, Maudlyne Ihejirika and Frank Main were deemed best among large newspapers for political and government reporting for their series "59 Hours," centered around the extraordinary violence unleashed on Chicago on April 18-20, 2008.

-- Ihejirika and Sweeney won for best education reporting among big papers for "Four Minutes of Violence at Crane High School." Published March 17-18, 2008, their reporting examined a brief spasm of violence -- and the decades-long gang rivalries that spawned it.

-- Former columnist Greg Couch won for best sports commentary among big papers for a series of columns on the Beijing Olympics.

-- Photographer John H. White won for best news photo among big papers for "Blagojevich and the Rat," showing then-Gov. Blagojevich slipping out his back gate to avoid reporters after having made bail on corruption charges. Next to the governor's head in the photo: a city rat-poison warning sign, with a picture of a rat inside a bull's-eye, declaring, "WARNING" and "Target: rats!"

-- Photographer Tom Cruze won for best sports photos among big papers for a series of a dozen photographs documenting a high-profile, emotionally charged game between the Cubs and Sox, on the field and in the stands. It included a front-page photo that captured in a single image, as ABC's "Wide World of Sports" used to say, the "thrill of victory" (a Cubs fan in ecstasy over his team's victory on a ninth-inning home run by Aramis Ramirez) and, if not "the agony of defeat," at least the annoyance of defeat (a very unhappy Sox fan just behind him).

-- James Smith was honored for best design for a portfolio of his work.

-- The newspaper's editorial board was singled out for best editorial writing among big papers.

Also, sports columnist Rick Telander won for best magazine sports story for "Brotherhood of the Offensive Line," published by Men's Journal.

The Headline Club is the Chicago chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. The prizes are named for the late Peter Lisagor, who was Washington bureau chief of the old Chicago Daily News.

(Chicago Sun-Times)


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