inewsource journalists were honored Wednesday night with several awards from the San Diego chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Joanne Faryon, Lorie Hearn and Brad Racino won the Mark of Excellence Award, one of the top two awards of the night, for “An Impossible Choice.” The nine-month investigation exposed a world of taxpayer-funded facilities where thousands of Californians live on life support with little hope of recovery. It already has been honored with regional and national awards, including two national Edward R. Murrow awards, a national Association of Healthcare Journalists award and the Meyer “Mike” Berger award from Columbia University. It’s nominated for a national Emmy.
An Impossible Choice was also honored by the local SPJ chapter with first place awards in Audio Investigative/Enterprise Story, Online Multimedia Package and Daily Reporting and Writing Health Story and a third place award for Video Investigative/Enterprise story.
Joe Yerardi won the First Amendment Award for his story on San Diego County’s outdated system for tracking campaign contributions. Nearly a year after the story ran, the County announced that it was upgrading the system.
Yerardi also won first place for Non-Daily Reporting and Writing, Political/Government for his story on the generous support political action committees were lending Representative Scott Peters in his 2014 reelection race.
Racino won first place for Non-Daily reporting and writing in Science/Technology for his story on a lawsuit against the San Diego Police Department for withholding information on advanced technology used to intercept cell phone communications.
It was also a big night for two inewsource journalists honored for work at previous organizations. Reporter Leo Castaneda won first place in College Media In-Depth Reporting for a story published in The Daily Aztec on the struggles of homeless San Diego State University students. Photography intern Megan Wood shared a first place award for Video News Special for a video published on the website of The Daily Aztec about demonstrators demanding assistance for underprivileged students.