About the Foundation
Awards
Winners of the Taylor Family Award
For Fairness in Newspapers
2008 (Read the news release.)
Chicago Tribune Southwest Bureau Chief Howard Witt has won the 2008 Taylor Family Award for Fairness in Newspapers for his coverage of racial issues in America.
Witt’s body of work, “Justice in Black and White,” included stories ranging from his groundbreaking reports on the Jena 6 case in Louisiana, to articles about the inequities of the judicial system, environmental racism and the brutal beating of Billy Ray Johnson, a mentally retarded black man in Texas. Through them all, Witt uncovered evidence of the racial tension that continues to divide America.
Hear Witt talk about is civil rights coverage.
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Rocky Mountain News and its four-day series “Beyond the Boom,” which examines the impact of oil drilling on Colorado’s citizens, environment and economy, and uncovers both the positive and negative consequences of the oil boom. |
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The team behind the Rocky Mountain series included reporters Laura Frank, Gargi Chakrabarty, Todd Hartman and Burt Hubbard; Matt McClain, photographer; Michael Hall, graphics; Steve Miller, designer; and Tim Burroughs, copy editor. |
2007 (Read the news release.)
Lancaster New Era won for a series about the shooting of 10 Amish girls in a one-room school house in rural Pennsylvania.
Read "Lost Angels."
2006 (Read the news release.)
The Sacramento Bee won for a series by Tom Knudson and Hector Amezcua that describes how Latinos who are now the major source of manual labor in America's forest industry are misused and abused under the noses of government officials. Read "The Pineros: Men of the pines."
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The Blade of Toledo for the series "State of Turmoil," which explained how a $50 million investment in a rare-coin fund controlled by one of President Bush's biggest Ohio fundraisers became a major political scandal. Columbus Bureau Chief James Drew and staff writers Mike Wilkinson, Steve Eder, Christopher D. Kirkpatrick, Joshua Boak and Jim Tankersley reported on the scandal. Special Assignments Editor Dave Murray managed The Blade's investigation.
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East Valley Tribune in Mesa, Az., for "Mesa en Transición," a series that examines the fundamental demographic and cultural shift that is changing Mesa into a primarily Hispanic city from one that's been heavily identified with white Mormons since it was founded almost 130 years ago. |
| Mary K. Reinhart, Kristina Davis, Blake Herzog, John Yantis, Brian Powell, CeCe Todd, Jennifer Pinner, Slim Smith, Leigh Shelle Hunt and Julio Jimenez contributed to the series. Patti Epler was the project editor. |
2005 (Read the news release.)
The Star-Ledger of Newark won for a series about an alternative school for teenagers with serious behavioral problems written by reporter Robin Gaby Fisher with photographs by Matt Rainey.
Read "Last Chance High."
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The Orange County Register for "Toxic Treats," an investigative report about lead in imported candy, with stories by Jenifer B. McKim, Keith Sharon, William Heisel, Valeria Godines and Hanh Kim Quach. |
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East Valley Tribune in Mesa, Az., for "Mesa en Transición," a series that examines the fundamental demographic and cultural shift that is changing Mesa into a primarily Hispanic city from one that's been heavily identified with white Mormons since it was founded almost 130 years ago. |
| Mary K. Reinhart, Kristina Davis, Blake Herzog, John Yantis, Brian Powell, CeCe Todd, Jennifer Pinner, Slim Smith, Leigh Shelle Hunt and Julio Jimenez contributed to the series. Patti Epler was the project editor. |
2004 (Read the news release.)
The Blade of Toledo won for its report that uncovered Vietnam-era war crimes kept secret for three and a half decades.
Read "Buried Secrets, Brutal Truths."
Finalists |
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The Wall Street Journal stories examined the impact and reasons why people without health insurance are forced to pay more for health care. The stories were reported by Lucette Lagnado. |
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The Des Moines Register covered Iowa State University Basketball Coach Larry Eustachy's partying with students that led to his dismissal. The chief reporters were Tom Witosky and Randy Peterson. |
2003 (Read the news release.)
The Boston Globe Spotlight Team won for its coverage of the sexual-abuse scandal in the Catholic Church and its outstanding effort to examine charges and accusations from all sides and sources.
Read The Globe's stories.
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The Plain Dealer of Cleveland was recognized for a series that unflinchingly examines the bitter-sweet life of Michael Green, who was released from prison after serving 13 years for a rape he didn't commit. Read "Burden of Innocence." |
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The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was chosen its coverage of chronic wasting disease in deer: the risk to the deer population, its impact on hunting and its potential impact on Wisconsin's dairy cows.
Read "Endangered Herd." |
2002 (Read the news release.)
The Hartford Courant won for an article by Les Gura about an instructor at Yale University who became the focus of stories that unfairly cast him as a murder suspect. Read the Harvard University Gazette's article about the awards.
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The Sun of Baltimore was recognized for its story explaining the police and judicial process that resulted in a jury acquittal of a Baltimore teenager accused of killing a police officer |
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The Chicago Tribune was honored for a series examining how Chicago police obtained false confessions from African-American young men with criminal records Read "Cops and Confessions." |
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The Times-Picayune of New Orleans was selected for a series that discovered many well-connected minority-owned firms benefited from the city's affirmative-action programs while others with greater needs did not. Read "Unequal Opportunity." |
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