New federal charges say a group of three journalists played a major role in derailing a murder-for-hire plot in Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

The journalists, who have not been publicly identified, discovered the plot while working on a story about a murder-for-hire website on the dark web. The discovery led to the recent arrest of a 37-year-old woman who is accused of paying the website administrator to kill a man. She faces up to 10 years in federal prison. 

Five entries have been 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.

Newspaper professionals from 13 states participated in this week’s Tri-State Newspaper Convention, presented by the Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin newspaper associations.

More than 500 registered for the two-day, virtual event that included more than 20 sessions on subjects from “Publishing Through a Pandemic” to “Covering Misinformation and Disinformation” and “Reporting on Race.” Attendees also interacted with peers and sponsors during roundtables and idea exchanges.