Work produced by CUNY J-School news outlets notched 13 finalist spots in the Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Awards for Region 1, which covers most of the Northeast.
The winners – to be announced April 22 at Region 1’s annual spring conference, in Philadelphia – become eligible for national Mark of Excellence honors.
Among the finalists:
- Samia Bouzid scored three slots for work produced for the J-School’s NYCity News Service and AudioFiles podcast. “Following Hurricane Maria, Puerto Ricans Stateside Help New Arrivals,” placed in the Radio News Reporting category. “Psychologist Treats Phobias with Virtual Reality,” made the Radio Feature category. “Urban Coyotes Spur Walks on the Wild Side” found a home in the Radio In-Depth Reporting category.
- Two other J-School stories rounded out the Radio In-Depth Reporting category: Manolo Morales’ “Worshiping ‘La Santa Muerte’ From a NYC Apartment” (also broadcast by NPR’s Latino USA), and Elizabeth Tung’s “Grieving Father Takes on District Attorney’s Office.”
- “Navigating Trump,” a NYCity News Service collection of interactives that attempt to bring some clarity to the impact of the Trump Era, placed in the Best Use of Multimedia and the Online In-Depth Reporting categories.
- “Breakdown,” a NYCity News Service examination of New York’s fractured treatment system for the mentally ill, also placed in the Online In-Depth Reporting category.
- Two other NYCity News Service special reports took two of the three finalist slots in the Online News Reporting category: Invisible Hands, which looks at the impact of undocumented immigrants on New York’s economy, and Table Scraps, which examines the fight for a $15 minimum wage.
- Lidia Hernández Tapia, Jesenia De Moya and Estefanía Hernández’s “This Priest Adopted
27 Young People So They Don’t Get Deported” made the Online Feature Reporting category.
The trio produced English and Spanish language versions of the NYCity News Service story for CityLab.
- Maria Camila Montañez and Carlos Serrano’s 360-video for the NYCity News Service, “Scaling New Heights,” about physically challenged wall climbers, placed as a finalist in the Online/Digital Sports Videography category.
- “Immigration Today: New York City Stories,” a collaboration of the NYCity News Service and CUNY TV, placed in the Television In-Depth Reporting category.
News of the awards came five months after the NYCity News Service was named the best site of its kind in the nation in Editor & Publisher’s EPPY Awards competition. It marked the second consecutive year the News Service won the Best College/University Newspaper Website award, and the third time since 2013.