News outlets run out of the CUNY J-School captured a dozen finalist slots in the Society of Professional Journalists’ Mark of Excellence Awards competition for Region 1, which covers most of the Northeast.
First-place winners – to be announced next month during Region 1’s annual Spring Conference, to be held April 8-9 at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven – become eligible for national SPJ awards.
The J-School’s NYCity News Service, which produces multimedia special reports and feeds stories to professional outlets, notched six finalist spots, while the AudioFiles podcast took five. CUNY Sports Report made the finalist list for the first time.
Among the finalists:
- The News Service swept the Online News Reporting category with “Counterfeit Ed,” which examines the for-profit college industry; “The Missing,” which tells the stories of missing New Yorkers; and “Without a Badge,” which examines community-driven alternatives to policing and the court system. “Counterfeit Ed” and “The Missing” previously earned national recognition from the Online News Association while “Without a Badge” won a top Editor & Publisher EPPY Award.
- “Counterfeit Ed” and “The Missing” also took two of the three finalist slots in SPJ’s Online In-Depth Reporting category.
- “Twenty-Six Point Two,” a News Service special report about the New York City Marathon, placed in the Online Feature Reporting category.
- CUNY Sports Report’s package, “2015: The Year of the Female Athlete,” placed in the Online Sports Reporting category.
Among the AudioFiles reporters honored:
- Jack D’Isidoro’s “Nuyorican Bike Culture” report placed in the Radio Feature category while his story, “Hidden Costs of Food Delivery,” made the Radio News Reporting category.
- Karen Shakerdge also earned a spot in the Radio News Reporting category with her story, “Breast Density Notification Dilemma,” while her package, “Geographic Disparities in Liver Transplants,” placed in the Radio In-Depth Reporting category.
- Levi Sharpe also made the Radio In-Depth Reporting category with his report, “UnCharted Territory for a Brooklyn School.”
The Mark of Excellence Awards, which draw more than 4,000 entries from around the U.S., celebrate the best in student journalism. Last year, the NYCity News Service took home three national SPJ honors – including the first-ever MOEy award, a best-in-show trophy – while AudioFiles also won a national award.