MADISON – Five entries were selected as finalists for the 2021 Anthony Shadid Award for Journalism Ethics, UW-Madison’s Center for Journalism Ethics announced Monday.
The winner will be announced at a later date. The Center typically announces its winner in March ahead of a May ceremony in New York, but amid the pandemic, it has not specified plans for 2021.
Recent winners of the award include a team from ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune that reported on seclusion in Illinois public schools and the Miami Herald reporters who investigated Jeffrey Epstein.
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The 2021 finalists are:
- Agnes Chang, Adriana Gallardo, Loren Holmes, Kyle Hopkins, Marc Lester, Anne Raup, Nadia Sussman and Michelle Theriault Boots, Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica. In their series, “Unheard,” this team of journalists and photographers gathered the stories and created portraits of people affected by sexual assault in Alaska. According to the nomination, the project represents a “new kind of collaborative journalism rooted in trust and respect for 29 Alaskans who have stepped forward to share their stories.”
- Amy Silverman, Arizona Daily Star and ProPublica. “State of Denial: Inside Arizona’s Division of Developmental Disabilities” investigated the failings of the State of Arizona’s services for residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Their nomination describes how they included the voices of those with disabilities and published a “plain language” version of the story to make it accessible to those with disabilities.
- Margie Mason, Robin McDowell, Associated Press.In three main stories (palm oil labor abuses linked to top brands, rape and abuse in palm oil fields and child labor tied to Girl Scout cookies), AP reporters investigated the labor practices behind one of the most ubiquitous commodities in the world, finding an industry rife with abuse and built on the backs of the vulnerable. According to the nomination, the reporters went to great lengths to protect their sources.
- Mara Rose Williams, Eric Adler, Mike Hendricks, Cortlynn Stark and Shelly Yang, Kansas City Star. In “The Truth in Black and White: An Apology from the Kansas City Star,” Star reporters did a deep dive into the 140-year history of the paper, unveiling a legacy of disrespecting, disregarding and disenfranchising the city’s Black citizens. In making themselves the target of their own investigation, the reporters sought to mark a new beginning. Their nomination reads: “we hope, over time, to set things right, in ways both substantive and symbolic.”
- Amy Brittain, Reena Flores and Bishop Sand, Washington Post. In the seven-part podcast “Canary: The Washington Post Investigates,” reporters explore the decisions of two women to share their accounts of sexual assault and the consequences of those choices. According to the nomination, the team worked hard to take advantage of the intimacy of audio storytelling without sensationalizing the pain of their sources.
The Shadid Award honors journalists who exhibit a strong commitment to ethical journalism by acting with integrity, honoring ethical principles in their reporting or resisting pressure to compromise ethical principles. It is unique in recognizing the ethical challenges journalists face in balancing the interests of sources, subjects and the public.
