State capitol reporters recognized

Photo by Daniel C. Vock, Stateline.org Chicago Sun-Times reporters Dave McKinney and Natasha Korecki (center) earned a first place award from Capitolbeat for a story they wrote that exposed the contradictory claims of U.S. Sen. Roland Burris (D) of Illinois to a state House impeachment committee. Eszter Vajda (right), a public television reporter from North Carolina, presented the award.

Capitolbeat, the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors, announced the winners during its annual conference, held this year in Indianapolis, on Saturday (Aug. 22).

Several news organizations racked up several first-place awards, including the Chicago Sun-Times, Idaho Public Television and CommonWealth magazine in Massachusetts.

Jennifer Peebles of TexasWatchDog.org won the group’s John Aubuchon Freedom of Information Award for a project that helps citizens find out more about outside financial interests of members of the Texas House and Senate. While a state ethics agency collects legislators’ disclosure forms, it did not post the forms online. Peebles put them online and made them searchable through Google Maps.

The winners of the Capitolbeat awards earned their honors in a wide range of story topics:

• The Dallas Morning News wrote  three stories detailing the chronic loss of critical state data by a contractor that jeopardized Medicaid fraud cases, threatened work in 10 state agencies and eventually led Gov. Rick Perry (R) to order the state to stop transferring data to the contractor.
• Two Wisconsin reporters for the Gannett newspaper chain reported that 13 National Football League players, including three one-time Green Bay Packers, owed the state of Wisconsin $600,000 in unpaid taxes and related fees.
• Alison Lobron of CommonWealth magazine compared the political culture and campaign laws to explore why legislative campaigns are so competitive in Minnesota and not in Massachusetts.
• Idaho Public Television racked up four first-place awards, including one for a report chronicling Republican Gov. Butch Otter’s fight with lawmakers over a gas tax hike he wanted, which led to Otter vetoing 25 bills in two days.

Illinois reporters garnered several awards for their work tracking the controversies surrounding Blagojevich, who was arrested by federal authorities in December and removed from office in January.

A story exposing the contradictory claims of U.S. Sen. Roland Burris (D) to a state House impeachment committee earned two Chicago Sun-Times reporters, Dave McKinney and Natasha Korecki, first place for single report in the large newspapers and wire services category.

Several other Illinois reporters were honored for their contributions as well. Two Illinois Public Radio reporters, Sean Crawford and Amanda Vinicky, won first place for in-depth radio reporting for their Blagojevich coverage. Illinois Issues magazine columnist Charles N. Wheeler III took first place for magazine commentary, in part, for pieces he penned about Blagojevich. And Capitolbeat created a special category of honorable mentions for beat reporting for the Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune and The Associated Press for their Blagojevich work.

Stateline.org columnist Louis Jacobson won second place for online commentary for his political column “Out There,” which wrapped up in February.

And the winners are:

See Related Stories:
Statehouse reporters celebrate awards (11/18/2008)
Awards honor best statehouse reporting (8/7/2007)
Statehouse reporters honored for stories (8/8/2006)

Contact Daniel C. Vock at dvock@stateline.org.