Toxic Chemicals Series, Metro Fire Story Honored in Journalism Awards Contest
The 2016 National Press Club Journalism Contest also awarded the Consumer Journalism, newspapers, award to the Associated Press for its stories about the fishing industry in Southeast Asia’s use of slave laborers.
Several important safety and environmental stories received awards or honorable mentions in the 2016 National Press Club Journalism Contest, which announced the winners on June 24. The Consumer Journalism, newspapers, award went to the Associated Press for its stories about the fishing industry in Southeast Asia’s use of slave laborers -- the stories resulted in the freeing of more than 2,000 slaves, according to the Press Club -- and honorable mentions went to The Center for Public Integrity for "Unequal Risk," a series of articles examining the lack of regulations on toxic substances and the harm done to U.S. workers exposed to them, as well as The Washington Post for its coverage of a fire in one of the subway tunnels of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro).
An honorable mention went to Jennifer Strong of Public Radio International for her coverage explaining how animal poaching has helped to fund terrorist groups, and Richard Lardner and Eileen Sullivan of the Associated Press received an honorable mention for their investigative stories on sexual predators of children in the U.S. military.
The Baltimore Sun won the breaking news, print award for its coverage of riots in Spring 2015 following the death of Freddie Gray after his arrest by Baltimore police, and Corbin Hiar of Environment & Energy Publishing won the newsletter journalism award for stories about the U.S. government's difficulty regulating oil and gas activity in national wildlife refuges.
The winners will be honored at an awards dinner at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 4.