The Better Government Association’s investigative reporting team won four Peter Lisagor Awards, long considered among the highest honors in local journalism. The awards were presented on May 3 by the Chicago Headline Club at the journalism organization’s annual awards dinner.

BGA Investigations Editor Robert Herguth and FOX 32 News’ Investigative Reporter Dane Placko won two awards for “Maywood Confidential“, a joint investigation into the “cold case” killing of a Maywood police officer and subsequent fumbling of that homicide investigation by the suburb’s leaders and law enforcement officials. The duo won in the “investigative television news” and “in-depth television news” categories.

In addition, two awards were presented to Director of Investigations and Programming Robert Reed, Senior Investigator Andrew Schroedter, Senior Investigator Patrick Rehkamp, and BGA contributors Brett Chase and Barbara Rose for the “Rescuing Illinois” series, an in-depth look at the State of Illinois’ financial turmoil, public pension woes and the systemic government breakdowns that hurt taxpayers and the public. They won in the “investigative reporting online” and in the in-depth “specialty/trade” business journalism categories.

“These rewards recognize the importance of our watchdog work as we shine a light on government and hold public officials accountable,” said BGA President & CEO Andy Shaw. “Investigations are the core of the BGA’s mission, and they provide the rich data that informs our public policy advocacy and our civic engagement. “I’m incredibly proud of our team and our media partners, and grateful to the Lisagor judges who recognized the quality of our investigative work.”

The awards were presented at the 36th Annual Peter Lisagor Awards dinner held at the Chicago Union League Club.