Two ProPublica Reporters Win IRE Awards

ProPublica reporters T. Christian Miller and A.C. Thompson have won best-of-category awards in the 2009 Investigative Reporters and Editors Awards.

Miller won the top award in the Online category for “Disposable Army [2],” along with Doug Smith and Francine Orr of the Los Angeles Times, Anvi Patel of ABC News and Pratap Chatterjee, an independent journalist and author.

Thompson won the top award in the Magazine/Specialty Publication category for “Katrina’s Hidden Race War” and “Body of Evidence,” which were published both by ProPublica and The Nation. “Katrina’s Hidden Race War” also received support from The Investigative Fund [3]. His latest reporting on the issue can be found here [4].

Additionally, Karen Weise, a once and future ProPublica intern who is at the Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, was a finalist in the Student Work category for her articles on loan modifications [5], and ProPublica reporter Sheri Fink”s story, “The Deadly Choices at Memorial [6],” was a finalist in the Online category.

The IRE judges said [7] (PDF) that “…ProPublica’s reporting with the Los Angeles Times and ABC News in the ‘Disposable Army’ series is remarkable for its depth and complexity…” and that “the reporting led to a congressional hearing and a systemic overhaul by the Labor Department and the Pentagon.”

About Thompson’s reporting on the aftermath of Katrina, the IRE judges commented [7] (PDF) that Thompson “…conducted an examination that shed light on a sensitive subject and detailed a largely unexplored story…”

The top awards in the annual competition, the IRE Medals, were given to The New York Times for its “Toxic Waters” series and to KHOU, Houston for “Under Fire: Discrimination & Corruption in the Texas National Guard.”

Congratulations to all IRE winners and finalists [8].

Update: This post has been updated to show that A.C. Thompson’s reporting for “Katrina’s Hidden Race War” also received support from The Investigative Fund.  Original Story here