Federal Times wins three SPJ Dateline Awards
June 20th, 2011 | Uncategorized | Posted by Stephen Losey
Federal Times is proud to announce that the DC chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists last week awarded us three first-place Dateline Awards:
- Senior Writer Stephen Losey won the first place award for investigative journalism for “Did top postal exec break contracting rules?”, which examined how former U.S. Postal Service executive Robert Bernstock awarded millions of dollars in no-bid contracts to his former business associates. “This look into non-bid contract giving by one official at the financially strapped Postal Service yielded what makes investigative journalism worth the effort: Response in the form of the probed official’s resignation and a rebidding of contracts under the microscope,” the judges said. “Congratulations to Losey and his editors for meaningful work that may have helped save taxpayers some money, but more importantly reminded readers of the importance of fairness and ethics in the public realm. Losey’s enterprising efforts should be praised for training a light on shadowy places.” [UPDATE: The Postal Regulatory Commission correctly notes that the Postal Service is funded not by taxpayers, but by revenues raised from its ratepaying customers.]
- Former Staff Writer Gregg Carlstrom won the first place award for general news reporting for “I am not the enemy.” “Great look at the anti-government sentiment sweeping the country in 2010, from the perspective of federal employees — who were frightened over increased violence and outraged over being vilified by partisan politicians,” the judges said.
- Losey also won first place for spot news reporting for “Pay freeze won’t stop raises.” “Excellent job detailing what wasn’t covered in President Obama’s ordered pay freeze for federal workers — step raises and bonuses for 1.1 million federal employees amounting to $2.5 billion over the two years.”
SPJ, which was founded in 1909, is one of the oldest professional journalism organizations in the country. Federal Times also won two Dateline awards last year.
Tags: awards
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