Watch a video of the awards presentations on the SPJ DC Chapter YouTube Channel.
Dateline Awards for 2021 – finalists and winners
CORRESPONDENT AWARD
(For distinguished coverage of the Washington D.C. area published or broadcast outside the area):
Winner: Mark Albert, Hearst Television
- Finalist: Ben Wermund, Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News
- Finalist: Samantha Manning, Cox Media Group’s Washington News Bureau
- Finalist: Jacqueline Policastro, Gray Television Washington News Bureau
DAILY NEWSPAPER
Breaking News
Winner: Rachael Levy, Alexander Osipovich, Geoffrey Rogow, The Wall Street Journal, “Kodak’s Busted Moment”
Non-Breaking News
Winner: Rose Thayer, Stars and Stripes. “The Search for Vanessa”
- Finalist: Miranda Spivack, Amy Pyle, USAToday, “Public Colleges Hide Donors Who Seek to Influence Students. Will Covid-19 Make It Worse?”
- Finalist: Jon Hilsenrath, Justin Baer, Eric Morath, The Wall Street Journal, “How Covid is Reshaping Cities”
- Finalist: Shen Wu Tan, The Washington Times, “Virus Outbreak Delays Adoptions from China”
Series
Winner: Tara Copp, Meta Viers, Kevin Keister, McClatchy Newspapers, “Female Military Pilots See the Next Barrier to Break: Getting More Black Women to Fly”
- Finalist: Chelsea Cirruzzo, Amanda Michelle Gomez, Washington City Paper, “The Clearing of a Homeless Encampment”
- Finalist: Staff, The Wall Street Journal, “How America’s Demographics Shaped the 2020 Election”
Features
Winner: Thomas Floyd, The Washington Post, “A Retired Engineer’s Latest Sculpture is a Bicycle, Back-Scratcher and Cookie Dispenser – All in One”
- Finalist: Adam Bernstein, The Washington Post, “Carl Reiner, TV Comedy Pioneer and Probing Straight Man to Mel Brooks, Dies at 98”
- Finalist: Janet Adamy, The Wall Street Journal, “Abortion, Guns and Trump”
- Finalist: Harrison Smith, The Washington Post, “Once Virginia’s Lead Executioner, He Later Lobbied against Capital Punishment”
Beat Reporting
Winner: Nancy Youssef, The Wall Street Journal, Pentagon reporting
- Finalist: Stephen Dinan, The Washington Times, immigration reporting
- Finalist: Ben Wolfgang, The Washington Times, military reporting
Sports
Winner: Matthew Paras, The Washington Times, Matthew Paras Sports Portfolio
- Finalist: Andy Kostka, The Washington Times, Andy Kostka Sports Portfolio
- Finalist: Adam Zielonka, The Washington Times, Adam Zielonka Sports Portfolio
Infographic
Winner: Staff, The Wall Street Journal, “Where Did the Biggest PPP Loans Go?”
Business
Winner: Staff, The Wall Street Journal, “The New Economy”
- Finalist: Ben Wolfgang, The Washington Times, “Pandemic Shows Military’s Need to Cut Reliance on Foreign Suppliers”
Commentary & Criticism
Winner: Thomas Floyd, The Washington Post, Reviews of the book “Memoirs and Misinformation,” the audio play “Human Resources” and the outdoor production “Fannie Lou Hamer, Speak on it!”
Investigative Journalism
Winner: Byron Tau, The Wall Street Journal, “How the U.S. Sidesteps Data Privacy Laws”
Front-Page Design
Winner: Robert Cohn, The Washington Times, “The Epilogue; Of all the Great Sports Flicks; Crunchtime All-Timers”
Art/Photo Illustration
Winner: Greg Groesch, The Washington Times, Best of Greg Groesch Illustrations 2020
- Finalist: Linas Garsys, The Washington Times, Best of Linas Garsys Illustrations 2020
- Finalist: Alexander Hunter, The Washington Times, Best of Alexander
Editorial Cartoon
Winner: Alexander Hunter, The Washington Times, Hunter editorial cartoons
- Finalist: Al Goodwyn, Creators Syndication, Goodwyn editorial cartoons
WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
Breaking News
Winner: Eric Falquero, Sasha Polonko, Street Sense Media, “Poor and Homeless People are Included in the CARES Act Stimulus, but Will Probably Have to ‘Raise Their Hand’ to get it”
Non-Breaking News
Winner: Michael Pope, Alexandria Gazette Packet, “Interrogating Inequality”
- Finalist: Jake Maher, Street Sense Media, “Response to Protests Upends Daily Life for Homeless People Downtown”
- Finalist: Zach Cohen, National Journal, “Why Congress Hasn’t Made Lynching a Hate Crime”
- Finalist: Lou Chibbaro Jr., Washington Blade, “D.C. Study Documents ‘Life and Death’ of Trans Woman Alice Carter”
Series
Winner: Avi Bajpai, Reginald Black, Julia Pinney, Street Sense Media, “How Covid-19 Affected DC’s Homeless Community”
- Finalist: Stacy Brown, The Washington Informer, “One Hundred Years after Suffrage Victories, Black Women Still Carrying the Torch”
Features
Winner: Lana Green, Street Sense Media, “Two Homeless Residents Say Dupont Circle Neighbors Cleared Their Belongings When They Were Given an Airbnb for One Night”
- Finalist: Judy Kurtz, The Hill, “Getting Ready to Give Birth amid a Pandemic”
- Finalist: Kathi Wolfe, Washington Blade, “Blind and Queer and Finding Community”
- Finalist: Michael Pope, Alexandria Gazette Packet, “Alexandria’s Failed Experiment with Wards”
Beat Reporting
Winner: Zach Cohen, National Journal, Senate reporting
- Finalist: Michael Pope, Alexandria Gazette Packet, Criminal Justice Reform reporting
- Finalist: Annemarie Cuccia, Avi Bajpai, Eunice Sung, Street Sense Media, Employment and Income reporting
- Finalist: Alex Koma, Washington Business Journal, Public Housing/D.C. Housing Authority reporting
Sports
Winner: Denise Dunbar, Alexandria Times, “His Long-Awaited Day in the Sun”
Business
Winner: Michael Pope, Alexandria Gazette Packet, “Crashing Economy”
- Finalist: Alex Koma, Washington Business Journal, “Covering the Intersection of Business and D.C. Politics”
Commentary & Criticism
Winner: Joey DiGuglielmo, Washington Blade, “Album roundup: Gaga Just So-So on New Album ‘Chromatica’”
- Finalist: D. Kevin McNeir, The Washington Informer, “The Word According to Dominic”
- Finalist: Andrew Dunbar, Alexandria Times, “Strokes, Bob Dylan, Gorillaz”
- Finalist: Cody Mello-Klein, Alexandria Times, “Her Name was Jo”
Investigative Journalism
Winner: Eric Falquero, Callie Tansill-Suddath, Street Sense Media, “What Can Happen when the Police are Asked to Respond to a Mental Health Crisis in DC?”
- Finalist: Zach Cohen, National Journal, “Inside D.C.’s Scramble to Set Up Covid-19 Contact Tracing”
- Finalist: Alex Koma, Daniel Sernovitz, Washington Business Journal, “A PPP ‘Double Dip’: Some of D.C.’s Biggest Developers Scored Multiple Loans to Weather Coronavirus Crisis”
- Finalist: Michael Pope, Alexandria Gazette Packet, “Disproportionate Policing”
Front-Page Design
Winner: Cammi Rood, Ben Cooper, T.B. Khadra, Joseph Young, Street Sense Media, “Homelessness and Gentrification through the Eyes of DC Residents”
- Finalist: Lyvian Sieg, Alexandria Times
Feature Photography
Winner: Anthony Tilghman, The Washington Informer, “The Washington National Cathedral’s Exhibit of Doves Symbolizing Hope for the Days and Year Ahead”
MAGAZINE
Features
Winner: Eric Hoover, The Chronicle of Higher Education, “The Test of Our Tests”
- Finalist: Tamara Lytle, Arlington Magazine, “Is Arlington Ready for the Next Flood?”
- Finalist: Jonathan Guyer, The American Prospect, “How Biden’s Foreign-Policy Team Got Rich”
- Finalist: Candace Montague, The Physiologist Magazine, “An Eye on Diversity”
Beat Reporting
Winner: Shawn Donnan, Bloomberg Businessweek, “Left Behind”
Editorial/Opinion Writing
Winner: Miranda Spivack, Lottie Joiner, The Crisis Magazine, “Digital Redlining”
- Finalist: Dr. Xanthe Scharff, The Fuller Project with Time Magazine, “Why the Coronavirus Outbreak Could Hit Women Hardest”
Commentary & Criticism
Winner: Andrew Clevenger, CQ Magazine, Common Defense columns
Investigative Journalism
Winner: Jonathan Guyer, The American Prospect, “The Lucrative Afterlife of a Trump Official”
TELEVISION
Non-Breaking News
Winner: Sue Kopen Katcef, Maryland Public Television, “Floyd Protest Historic Ties”
Series
Winner: NEWS4 I-Team, WRC-TV, “Fight for Transparency”
- Finalist: Rick Yarborough, Scott MacFarlane, Steve Jones, WRC-TV, “Forced to the Frontlines”
Features
Winner: Diane Roberts, David Berman, Montgomery Community Media Photography Staff, Montgomery Community Media, “Black Artists of Montgomery County”
- Finalist: Jodie Fleischer, Katie Leslie, Jeff Piper, WRC-TV, “Rescue Risks: ‘We Have to Stop the Dying’”
- Finalist: Jacqueline Policastro, Timothy Knapp, Gray Television Washington News Bureau, “A Horse’s Journey: from the Wild to the Army”
- Finalist: Rick Yarborough, Scott MacFarlane, Steve Jones, WRC-TV, “The Foster Care Crisis”
Beat Reporting
Winner: Adam Longo, WUSA9, “Federal Employees Battle Covid-19 Policies”
Editorial/Opinion Writing
Winner: Adam Longo, WUSA9
Investigative Journalism
Winner: Scott Taylor, WJLA TV ABC 7 News, “WJLA TV Helps More Than 5,000 Viewers Obtain Unemployment Benefits during Covid-19 Pandemic”
- Finalist: Jodie Fleischer, Katie Leslie, Steve Jones, WRC-TV, “Violating Searches”
- Finalist: NEWS4 I-Team, WRC-TV, “The Immovable Flag”
RADIO
Breaking News
Winner: Staff, WTOP-FM, “D.C. Protests”
- Finalist: Donna Cole, WNAV News Radio, “Tornado Hits Edgewater and Annapolis”
- Finalist: Staff, WTOP-FM, “Biden Harris Win”
Non-Breaking News
Winner: Michael Pope, Virginia Public Radio, Reporting on the Incarcerated
- Finalist: Staff, WTOP-FM, “2020: The Year of Covid-19”
- Finalist: Tom Hall, Rob Sivak, Cianna Greaves, WYPR, “Midday Healthwatch, with Dr. Leana Wen”
Series
Winner: Daniella Cheslow, Dawnthea Price Lisco, Tyrone Turner, WAMU, “For Black Emergency Doctors in Washington, the Pandemic Is Personal”
- Finalist: Jacob Fenston, Tyrone Turner, Carmel Delshad, WAMU, “Portraits from a Pandemic”
- Finalist: Kate Ryan, WTOP-FM, “Covid-19 Survivor”
- Finalist: WAMU’s Affordability Desk, “Money Talks”
Features
Winner: Daniella Cheslow, Martin Austermuhle, Tyrone Turner, WAMU, “In Virginia, a Family Tragedy Stirs New Life in a Burial Ground for the Enslaved”
- Finalist: Esther Ciammachilli, Jeffrey Katz, Tyrone Turner, WAMU, “George Washington’s Mount Vernon Highlights More Stories of Enslaved People”
- Finalist: Mikaela Lefrak, Gabe Bullard, Tyrone Turner, WAMU, “This D.C. Puzzle Company Won Over Customers, and Oprah, with Its Diverse Characters”
Beat Reporting
Winner: Michael Pope, Virginia Public Radio, the Virginia General Assembly coverage
- Finalist: Mitchell Miller, WTOP-FM, Capitol Hill coverage
Business
Winner: Michael Pope, Virginia Public Radio, “Unemployment in Virginia”
Photography Story
Winner: Jeffrey Katz, Tyrone Turner, WAMU, “His Daughter Died of an Opioid Overdose. So He Built a Treatment Facility in Her Name”
Photojournalism
Winner: Donna Cole, WNAV News Social Media, Black Lives Matter protesters
Feature Photography
Winner: Tyrone Turner, WAMU, “Demonstrators Peacefully Protest at the U.S. Capitol”
NEWSLETTER/TRADE PUBLICATION
Breaking News
Winner: Alexandria Carolan, The Cancer Letter, “‘#WhiteCoats4BlackLives’ Aims to Lead to Real Change in Oncology”
Non-Breaking News
Winner: Jeremy Conrad, Washington Lawyer, “Qualified Immunity and the Path to Police Reform”
- Finalist: Theresa Agovino, SHRM Online, “The Pandemic Imperils Working Mothers’ Careers”
- Finalist: Matthew Ong, Katie Goldberg, The Cancer Letter, “First-ever Survey of Leadership Pipeline Points to Urgent Need for More Diversity at Elite Cancer Centers”
- Finalist: Adam Bender, Communications Daily, “Communications Daily Reports on Covid-19 and 9-1-1”
Series
Winner: Aaron Mehta, Mike Gruss, C4ISRNET, Ligado coverage
- Finalist: Alexandria Carolan, The Cancer Letter, “What to Expect: Oncology’s Response to Coronavirus in Italy”
- Finalist: Alexandria Carolan, Matthew Ong, Paul Goldberg, The Cancer Letter, “Covid-19 and Cancer: Tracking the Surge, Early Data and Treatments”
Features
Winner: Alexandria Carolan, Katie Goldberg, Jacqueline Ong, The Cancer Letter, “Sexual Harassment Reporting Structures in Oncology are Broken, The Cancer Letter Survey Finds”
- Finalist: Debra Bruno, Washington Lawyer, “Esquire at Home: When Lawyers Go Remote”
- Finalist: Theresa Agovino, HR Magazine, “Companies Try a New Approach to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Honest Conversations”
- Finalist: Natalie Kroc, SHRM Online, “The Covid-19 Crucible”
Beat Reporting
Winner: Corbin Hiar, Timothy Cama, E&E News, “Big Tech’s Influence on Climate Policy”
- Finalist: David B. Larter, Defense News, Coverage of the U.S. Navy
- Finalist: Kevin Bogardus, Sean Reilly, Ariel Wittenberg, E&E News, “Inside the Trump EPA”
Business
Winner: Susan Milligan, HR Magazine, “How Should HR Handle Political Discussions at Work”
- Finalist: Adam Bender, Monica Hogan, Jonathan Make, Communications Daily, “Communications Daily Reports on Frontier Communications Bankruptcy”
- Finalist: Jennifer Moss, SHRM Online, “Dealing with Social Isolation”
- Finalist: Stephenie Overman, Virginia Business, “Law and Disorder: Pandemic Brings Wave of Cuts, New Cases to Law Firms”
Columns
Winner: Paul Fletcher, Virginia Lawyers Weekly, Fletcher columns
Editorial/Opinion Writing
Winner: Joe Gould, Defense News, “A Fake Story about the Secretary of Defense Stole My Real Byline”
- Finalist: Stew Magnuson, National Defense Magazine, “A Hard Look at the Land Mine Issue”
Investigative Journalism
Winner: Maxine Joselow, E&E News, “Exclusive: General Motors, Ford Knew about Climate Change 50 Years Ago”
- Finalist: Lindsay Ellis, Jack Stripling, Dan Bauman, The Chronicle of Higher Education, “The New Order: How Hyperpartisanship Warped Higher Education in America”
Front Page Design
Winner: Jennifer McNally, Virginia Lawyers Weekly
- Finalist: Brian Taylor, National Defense Magazine
Art/Photo Illustration
Winner: Katie Goldberg, The Cancer Letter, Illustrating Covid-19 and Cancer
- Finalist: Katie Goldberg, The Cancer Letter, Boundaries and Frontiers in Oncology
Editorial Cartoon
Winner: Katie Goldberg, The Cancer Letter, “The Doctors’ Plot: American Style”
ONLINE
Breaking News
Winner: Paul D. Shinkman, U.S. News & World Report, “U.S. Kills Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani”
- Finalist: Shaun Courtney, Bloomberg Government, “Undocumented Migrants Face Fast Removals in Renewed Trump Push”
- Finalist: Jennifer Jacobs, Bloomberg News, “Covid Comes to Donald Trump’s White House”
- Finalist: Travis Tritten, Bloomberg Government, “Air Force Orders ‘Seismic Shift’ for Pentagon Staff Telework”
Non-Breaking News
Winner: University of Maryland’s Howard Center for Investigative Journalism and Capital News Service, HuffPost, “Nowhere to Go”
- Finalist: Daniel Newhauser, The Minnesota Reformer, The Georgia Recorder, N.C. Policy Watch, Mississippi Today & Honolulu Civil Beat, Investigative and campaign finance journalism
- Finalist: John Dunbar, Andrew Wallender, Bloomberg Law, “‘Cops’ Legal Cover Is in Question as States Agonize over Reforms”
- Finalist: Abbie Bennett, Connecting Vets, “’Lower your Shield’: How Marines are Defending Each Other in their Deadliest Battle Yet”
Series
Winner: Jenni Bergal, Stateline, “Risky Ride: How Impaired School Bus Drivers Endanger Children”
- Finalist: Madi Alder, Allie Reed, Holly Barker, Bloomberg Law, “Zoom Courts”
- Finalist: Bill Lambrecht, Gracie Todd, University of Maryland Howard
- Finalist: Lydia Wheeler, Paige Smith, Andrew Satter, Bloomberg Law, “Covid ‘Long Haulers’”
Features
Winner: Susan Ferriss, Joe Yerardi, Taylor Johnston, Center for Public Integrity, “Hidden Hardship: Immigrant and Foreign Food Workers Toil, and Die, in Obscurity”
- Finalist: Chris D’Angelo, Jimmy Tobias, HuffPost, “Environmental Destruction Brought Us Covid-19. What It Brings Next Could Be Far Worse.”
- Finalist: Katherine Reynolds Lewis, Elemental, “Autism Is an Identity, Not a Disease: Inside the Neurodiversity Movement”
- Finalist: Jerry Bembry, The Undefeated, “The Untold Story of the Inmate who Helped Shape Malcolm X’s Future”
Beat Reporting
Winner: Dave Jamieson, HuffPost, “Worker Safety during the Pandemic”
- Finalist: Shira Stein, Bloomberg Law, Shortages of Personal Protective Equipment
- Finalist: Dave Levinthal, Darren Samuelsohn, Business Insider, Investigating political money in the 2020 US Presidential Election
- Finalist: Staff, The Center for Public Integrity, “Coronavirus Crisis: Investigating the Government’s Secretive and Inadequate Response to Covid-19”
Sports
Winner: Justin Tinsley, The Undefeated, “Jon Vaughn and the Cost of Being a Michigan Man”
- Finalist: Jerry Bembry, The Undefeated, “Two Hoops Prospects, a Dream and Tragedy”
Infographic
Winner: Ben Gonzalez, University of Maryland Capital News Service, “The Legislative Legacies of the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor Protests”
- Finalist: Sean McGoey, Adam Marton, University of Maryland Capital News Service, “Blue Precincts in Republican Counties Helped Boost Biden to Victory in Maryland”
Business
Winner: Staff, The Center for Public Integrity, “The Covid Divide”
- Finalist: Staff, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, “Luanda Leaks”
- Finalist: Rodney Brooks, Quartz Media, “How Reparations Would Work”
- Finalist: Sam McQuillan, Bloomberg Tax, “How Oprah, Walmart Scored Tax Breaks on Films that Others Made”
Editorial/Opinion Writing
Winner: Mary C. Curtis, CQ Roll Call, Mary C. Curtis columns
- Finalist: Jonetta Rose Barras, The DCLine.org, “What is the Price of a Black Girl’s Life?”
Commentary & Criticism
Winner: Lonnae O’Neal, The Undefeated, “George Floyd’s Mother Was Not There, but He Used Her as a Sacred Invocation”
- Finalist: Celia Wexler, NBCNews.com/THINK, “Coca-Cola’s Tab Soda Has Been Discontinued”
- Finalist: Jonathan Guyer, The American Prospect, “Trump’s Destructive Legacy in the Middle East”
- Finalist: Celia Wexler, Religionunplugged.com, “Senate Should Question Amy Coney Barrett about Her Ties to People of Praise”
Investigative Journalism
Winner: Staff, Center for Public Integrity with Columbia Journalism Investigations, The State, News & Observer and Centro de Periodismo Investigativo, “Hidden Epidemics”
- Finalist: Daniel Newhauser, The Minnesota Reformer, Investigation into numerous ethics and staffing issues in the congressional office and campaign of Rep. Jim Hagedorn
- Finalist: BuzzFeed News, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and more than 100 media partners, “The FinCEN Files”
- Finalist: Lauren Camera, US News & World Report, “Whistleblower: Education Department Killed Website That Made Applying for Loan Forgiveness Too Easy”
Art/Photo Illustration
Winner: Ruth Tam, DCist, “In Illustrations: The March on Washington”
Feature Photography
Winner: Tyrone Turner, DCist.com, “U.S. Park Police Separate Groups of Black Lives Matter Protesters and Trump Supporters Near the Washington Monument as Fireworks Erupt Overhead on July 4”
Editorial Cartoon
Winner: Ruth Tam, DCist, Black Lives Matter coverage
Photojournalism
Winner: Alejandro Alvarez, WTOP.com
Photography Story
Winner: Rey Lopez, Eater DC, “Capturing the Scene at D.C.’s Outdoor-Only Restaurants”
ALL DIVISIONS/BLOG
Winner: Donna Cole, WNAV News, Annapolis Creative blog