BGA

Reporting on thousands of drug-possession cases in Cook County that were quickly dismissed at great cost to many received a best non-deadline reporting award from the Society for Professional Journalists. This was a USC Annenberg National Health Reporting Fellowship project as part of The Circuit, a multi-newsroom collaboration.

Reporting teams from Block Club Chicago, WBEZ, The Trace, Investigate Midwest and Harvest Public Media shared $27,000 in prizes, thanks to the generosity of the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.

The Better Government Association has named eight investigative projects as finalists for the 2022 Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Awards for Investigative Reporting.

Two BGA projects, with partners at the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times respectively, won first and second place for public service in a contest judged by newspaper editors throughout the state

Among the prizes are “Best News Website,” podcast honors for “The Madigan Rule,” and investigative awards for two projects “Failures Before the Fires” in collaboration with the Chicago Tribune and “The Costly Toll of Dead-end Drug Arrests” with the Chicago Sun-Times.

The BGA/Chicago Tribune investigation “Failures Before the Fires” was named a finalist for the national award for Local Reporting. The Livingston Award is meant to honor journalists under 35 for excellence in journalism. Winner will be announced in June.

Two projects, including “Cabrini-Green: A History of Broken Promises” and “Failures Before the Fires,” were awarded second place in two categories for online journalism. The Fires project, with the Chicago Tribune, was honored for the collaboration. The Cabrini Project was named in a category for online only journalism.

The Better Government Association still is accepting submissions for its 2022 Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Awards for Investigative Reporting, and news organizations from across Illinois are encouraged to apply. The deadline for submissions has been extended to Monday, May 2, 2022.

The nominations from the Chicago Headline Club recognize the Better Government Association and its journalism partners for several stories exposing corruption, government mismanagement and neglect of Chicago’s underserved residents.

Block Club’s reports about unfair COVID-19 vaccine distribution led to a collaboration with the BGA that exposed mismanagement, clouted contracts and extravagance at the West Side hospital. The reports prompted an FBI probe.