Recognizing best health journalism can be inspiring
One of the best things about working at AHCJ is the chance to see the broad range of really strong coverage our members produce.
Whether I’m reading stories about the ways money influences how medicine is practiced, uncovering the mistreatment of vulnerable people, looking at how pollution is affecting public health or investigating flawed health care systems, I am consistently awed by the work health journalists are doing.
I have the opportunity to see this work day in and day out, which is what helps keep me optimistic about the future of journalism. No doubt, we face many challenges, but take a look at the winners of last year’s Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism and I promise you will feel better about our business.
That’s why I want to encourage everyone to submit entries for this year’s contest. We re-vamped the categories this year to reflect changes in how news content is being delivered. We recognize that great reporting is being done across platforms and through new partnerships and collaborations.
We want to honor that reporting and make sure the rest of the world sees the value in independent, quality coverage of health and health care issues. Please consider entering your best work of 2011 and encourage your colleagues to do so as well so we can share it and we can learn from it.
Entries must be submitted by 5 p.m. ET this Friday, Feb. 3. Our online entry system makes it easier than ever and our contest committee is standing by to answer last-minute questions.
AHCJ members win recognition for their work
André Picard was among a group of journalists recognized by the Canadian Medical Association for The (Toronto) Globe and Mail’s series “Dementia: Confronting the Crisis.” The project won a 2011 Media Award for Health Reporting in the “Excellence in Print Reporting/In-depth feature series” category.
Paul Raeburn has received the James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry to the Public from the American Chemical Society. The award cites Raeburn’s work as science editor and chief science correspondent at the Associated Press from 1981 to 1996, where thousands of his articles were distributed to more than 1,700 newspapers and 6,000 television and radio stations worldwide. Raeburn writes about science coverage for the Knight Science Journalism Tracker and is an independent journalist and author.
Liz Seegert was named a senior fellow with the Center for Health, Media and Policy at Hunter College, City University of New York. She is working with AHCJ members Barbara Glickstein and Diana Mason, among others, on initiatives to improve public health through media, education and public forums.
Ron Winslow, the deputy bureau chief for health and science and a veteran medical reporter at The Wall Street Journal, was awarded the 2011 Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting from the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing. Winslow was cited for the “exceptional breadth, precision and clarity of his coverage about how technological innovation is transforming the world of medicine.”
AHCJ members tackle job changes, book publishing and earn awards
Health journalists have been busy, with a number of job changes, awards and new books out. Here’s the latest news about AHCJ members:
MILESTONES
Conscious Living TV recently launched its latest media platform: taxi screens in New York City, Chicago, Boston and Seattle. Bianca Alexander is a correspondent/executive producer of the news show about the eco-movement.
Joe Carlson (@MHJCarlson) has a new beat covering legal affairs for Modern Healthcare magazine. He received the print journalism award this summer for best story in trade-circulation category from the National Institute for Health Care Management Research and Educational Foundation for his 2010 story, “Bad for Business.”
Bob Mitchell has been named editor at CMIO Magazine, based in Providence, R.I. The online and print publication reaches chief medical information officers.
The Oakland Tribune ran Beatrice Motamedi’s three-part series on inner-city teens and stress, called “The Long Arm of Childhood,” on the front page for three days in May and June. The series was a project of the California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships at USC/Annenberg.
Following the terrorist attacks in 2011, PJ Noonan found families who had babies born on Sept. 11, 2001, and told the stories of six of them in USA Weekend. For the 10th anniversary, Noonan located the six children and their parents for a feature in the Sept. 11, 2011, issue of USA Weekend.
Marie Powers has joined BioWorld Today as a staff writer. With 15 years on the health care beat, Powers will cover breaking news on public and private companies for the biotechnology industry’s daily newspaper and contribute to affiliated reports.
Jennifer Ringler has started the master of science in health communication program at Boston University. She is the volunteer associate director, grants and media relations, for the International Cancer Advocacy Network.
HealthNewsReview.org publisher Gary Schwitzer, who is a member of the FDA’s Risk Communication Advisory Committee, contributed a chapter on health care journalism to the FDA’s new “Communicating Risks and Benefits: An Evidence-Based User’s Guide.” Australian journalist Melissa Sweet has written a review of the guide.
AWARDS
Health columnist LJ Anderson won second place for her Palo Alto Daily News’ feature columns in the 2011 Greater Bay Area Journalism Awards, sponsored by the San Francisco Peninsula Press Club.
WebMD’s Daniel J. DeNoon, senior medical writer, Laura J. Martin, M.D., and Sean Swint, executive editor, won a 2010 Sigma Delta Chi Award for Online Deadline Reporting (Affiliated) for “Gene Test, Preventive Surgery Save Women’s Lives.”
Steven Kussin, M.D., has opened a community-based, non-academic Shared Decision Center. His book, “Doctor, Your Patient Will See You Now” was published on Aug. 28.
Maryn McKenna, an independent journalist and an AHCJ board member, won a 2011 Science in Society Journalism Award, sponsored by the National Association of Science Writers, for her book “Superbug: The Fatal Menace of MRSA” (Free Press).
Jennifer Meckles, who recently began a job at WBIR-Knoxville, Tenn., as a multimedia journalist, won a Mark of Excellence Award from the Society of Professional journalists in the Television News General Reporting category for “New Signs for Boomer Eyes,” a piece about the government changing road sign policies due to the failing eyesight of the Baby Boomer generation. She was a finalist in the Television News In-Depth Reporting category for “Target 8: Fulton Hospital,” an investigation into a maximum security Missouri prison and mental rehabilitation center.
HealthSource and Florida Doctor - North magazines, published by Beson4 Media Group, were honored by the Florida Magazine Association. HealthSource received a Charlie Award for Writing Excellence in Best Service Coverage for its November 2010 diabetes issue. Florida Doctor - North received a Bronze Award for General Excellence in Best Overall Magazine/Trade/Technical for its August 2010, January 2011 and February 2011 issues. Vanessa Wells is the editor at Beson4 Media Group.
BOOKS PUBLISHED
William “Lee” Dubois‘ book, “Diabetes Warrior: Be your own knight in shining armor. How to stay healthy and happy with diabetes,” has been published.
John Hacker, managing editor at The Carthage (Mo.) Press, and Randy Turner have written “5:41: Stories from the Joplin Tornado.” It is Hacker’s story about covering the tornado, along with stories from other survivors and obituaries for the 160 people who died.
Harriet Hodgson, B.S., M.A., an independent journalist based in Rochester, Minn., has just had her 29th and 30th books published. “Happy Again! Your New and Meaningful Life After Loss” was published by Centering Corporation in Omaha. “Real Meals on 18 Wheels: A Guide for Healthy Living on the Highway,” is a nutrition book for truckers written with Kathryn Clements, R.D. The seed money for the project came from a major trucking company and the pair self-published it using CreateSpace.
Dave Parks, a freelance journalist in Birmingham, Ala., has just authored a book published through Apress, “Health Care Reform Simplified.” It describes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, translating the law’s complex language into terms that are easy to understand. Parks blogs about health care reform.
“Launching Your Dietetics Career” (American Dietetic Association, 2011) is the sixth book written by D. Milton Stokes, M.P.H., R.D., C.D.N. It explains the pathway to becoming a registered dietitian and features more than a dozen interviews with professionals in the field. Stokes is working toward a doctorate degree in health communication from the University of Connecticut.
AHCJ members honored with recent awards
AHCJ members Daniel M. Keller, Ph.D., and Eric T. Rosenthal won the 2011 APEX News Series Writing Award for Publication Excellence for their five-part Oncology Times series, “Proton Beam Radiation Therapy: Implications for Cancer.” Earlier the series received a bronze award for Best Feature Article Series from the American Society of Healthcare Publication Editors.
Two AHCJ members were honored in the National Association of Black Journalists’ 2011 Salute to Excellence Awards in four categories:
- Magazine - Single Topic Series: “State of Our Girls,” Yanick Rice Lamb, Kendra Lee, Demene Millner, Eisa Ulen, Heart & Soul Magazine
- Magazine - Specialty: “Cleanse Craze,” Yanick Rice Lamb, Kendra Lee, Robin Stone, Heart & Soul Magazine
- Magazine - Art & Design: Page Design: “Spa Special,” Yanick Rice Lamb, Kendra Lee, Debra Moore, Heart & Soul Magazine
- Television - Specialty: “Food Deserts Fuel U.S. Health Crisis,” Betty Ann Bowser, Bridget DeSimone, Murrey Jacobson and Linda Winslow, PBS Newshour
AHCJ member M.B. Pell was among the winners of the 2011 Awards for Reporting on the Environment presented by the Society of Environmental Journalists:
Kevin Carmody Award for Outstanding In-depth Reporting, Large Market
3rd Place: ”Fueling Fears” by Jim Morris, Senior Reporter; Chris Hamby, Reporter; Center for Public Integrity, and M.B. Pell, Staff Writer, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, in partnership with ABC News, working with reporter Matthew Mosk and correspondent Brian Ross.
• Use of Toxic Acid Puts Millions at Risk
• Regulatory Flaws, Repeated Violations Put Oil Refinery Workers at Risk
Honorable Mention: ”Renegade Refiner“ by Jim Morris, Senior Reporter, and Emma Schwartz, Reporter, Center for Public Integrity; and M. B. Pell, Staff Writer, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Award winners tackled range of important medical, health issues
Investigations into shoddy oversight of adult care homes and low quality at dialysis centers – along with moving portrayals of the trade-offs patients and their families face with some life-saving medical treatments – were among the top winners in this year’s Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism.
Read more about each winner, including a summary of each winning entry and the judges’ comments.
First-place honors also went to stories examining the bankruptcy of an iconic New York hospital and the pollution conundrum posed by wood stoves. Domestic issues were not the only focus: Winners also included a look at the state of health care in China and a series highlighting how other countries face up to difficult questions about who will receive care amid limited resources.
The 2010 awards, announced today by the Association of Health Care Journalists, recognize the best health reporting in nine categories covering print, broadcast and online media. The contest, in its seventh year, received more than 300 entries, an increase from the previous year.
“Journalists are tackling difficult and important medical and health policy issues, despite working in an era of increasingly limited resources,” said contest chair Julie Appleby, senior correspondent for the nonprofit Kaiser Health News. “The high quality of these winning entries show they are doing so in a way that not only captivates and informs, but in many cases also results in needed changes.”
AHCJ launched the awards program amid growing concern that too many journalism awards are sponsored by special interest groups that seek to sway media coverage. No health care companies or agencies fund AHCJ’s awards program.
‘Do No Harm’ team captures another award
AHCJ member Marshall Allen and Alex Richards have won the investigative reporting category in the 2010 Scripps Howard Awards for the series they did for the Las Vegas Sun.
The Ursula and Gilbert Farfel Prize, given in cooperation with Ohio University’s Scripps College of Communication and the Farfel Endowment, carries $15,000 in prize money.
Allen, now at ProPublica, was a health reporter at the Las Vegas Sun, where he and Richards reported the series about preventable errors in hospitals, for which they reviewed 2.9 million records. The pair also received the 2011 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting.
The award-winning series was partially completed while Allen was on an AHCJ Media Fellowship on Health Performance. The fellowship program, supported by The Commonwealth Fund, has assisted four reporters since last summer on significant projects exploring health systems. Allen’s focus for his fellowship year is on exploring whether transparency about hospital quality improves the quality of care for patients. In 2009, he was an AHCJ-CDC Health Journalism Fellow.
He won second place in beat reporting in the 2007 Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. In 2008, he took third place in the medium newspaper category and second place in the limited report category. In the 2009 awards, he won first place in the beat reporting category.
Allen, who serves on AHCJ’s Finance and Development Committee, has contributed tip sheets and articles to the organization’s resources, including:
- Indentured servants: Foreign-born doctors exploited by U.S. physicians
- Death in Sin City: Analyzing the CDC’s mortality database
- DocumentCloud opens a window into inspection reports for readers
Allen wins Goldsmith Award, joins ProPublica
Marshall Allen, an award-winning AHCJ member, is joining ProPublica, the nonprofit investigative news organization based in New York.
Allen has been a health reporter at the Las Vegas Sun, where he most recently wrote about preventable errors in hospitals, for which he and Alex Richards just received the 2011 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting.
Marshall Allen
Allen is a member of the 2010-11 class of AHCJ Media Fellowships on Health Performance with a focus on exploring whether transparency about hospital quality improves the quality of care for patients. In 2009, he was an AHCJ-CDC Health Journalism Fellow.
He won second place in beat reporting in the 2007 Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. In 2008, he took third place in the medium newspaper category and second place in the limited report category. In the 2009 awards, he won first place in the beat reporting category.
Allen, who serves on AHCJ’s Finance and Development Committee, has contributed tip sheets and articles to the organization’s resources, including:
- Indentured servants: Foreign-born doctors exploited by U.S. physicians
- Death in Sin City: Analyzing the CDC’s mortality database
- DocumentCloud opens a window into inspection reports for readers
EWA winners include health-related stories
Filed under: Health journalism, Hot Health Headline
The Education Writers Association announced the winners of the 2010 National Awards for Education Reporting yesterday. Since education and health frequently intersect, I took a look at the stories mentioned and found some worth pointing out.
- A special citation went to Courtney Cutright, of The Roanoke Times, for “Autism: Breaking Down the Barriers.”
- Rebecca Catalanello, of the St. Petersburg Times, also earned a special citation for “His pills cause her pain.”
- Ann Dornfeld, of KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio, received a special citation for “Recess Disparities in Seattle Public Schools.”
Related tip sheets
Health and education: Two intersecting beats
Health and education: Reporting resources
Happy holidays from AHCJ
The AHCJ offices are closed down for the holidays and will re-open on Jan. 3.
As a result, blog postings and tweets from us will be light and sporadic as we get rested up for a new year of highlighting the best work in health journalism and finding resources for our members.
Contest reminder: Get your entries for the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism in no later than Friday to qualify for the discounted entry fee. After Friday, you are still welcome to submit entries until Jan. 28, but it will cost a bit more. If you have questions about the contest rules or eligibility, please send them to contest@healthjournailsm.org. If you have questions about the submission process, you can send them to info@healthjournalism.org. Someone will check those messages once a day and get back to you.
We wish all our readers a happy holiday season and look forward to a 2011 full of health news!
AHCJ issues call for entries in annual contest
New this year: Submit your entries online
Early-bird (discounted entry fee): Dec. 24
Regular: Jan. 28, 2011
Since 2004, the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism have recognized the best health reporting in print, broadcast and online media. For the first time, AHCJ is now accepting contest entries online. 
That means a streamlined entry process, quick and efficient access to entries for judges, and less paper consumed. Entrants will no longer have to submit paper copies of articles and, with the exception of unusually large electronic files, face no shipping costs.
“We’re pleased to launch our online contest portal for the 2010 Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism,” said Julie Appleby, Kaiser Health News reporter and chair of the AHCJ Contest Committee. “It will make it easier for journalists to submit their work, without the hassle of paper entries. It will also allow judges to review entries online and make it a more efficient contest.”
Entries can include a wide range of health coverage including public health, consumer health, medical research, the business of health care and health ethics. The contest was created by journalists for journalists and is not influenced or funded by commercial or special-interest groups.
First-place winners earn $500, a framed certificate and complimentary lodging for two nights and registration for the annual conference, to be April 14-27, 2011, in Philadelphia. First-place winners will be recognized at the conference and will be encouraged to appear on panels to discuss their winning work.
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Join us in Atlanta
for Health Journalism 2012
Fellowship applications
due Feb. 27
New at HealthJournalism.org
- Data gives depth to investigation of patient safety
- What reporters should know about Alzheimer’s and related dementias
- Apply for fellowships to attend Health Journalism 2012
- AHCJ asks Supreme Court to permit broadcast of arguments in health reform case
- Tips for print, online journalists to embrace broadcast opportunities
- Numbers reveal how often, or how rarely, states check doctors’ disciplinary records
- How I did it: Falsified charts in nursing homes linked to patient care
- Access Denied: Looking at a lack of health care availability
- Transparency & medical errors: Public reporting of patient harm is a potent force
