Daily Herald wins nine Lisagor awards
Twelve Daily Herald staffers who include reporters, editors, photographers and a page designer were honored Friday night with Peter Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism, the highest accolades given to Chicago-area journalists.
The awards, presented annually by the Chicago Headline Club, were presented at the Union League Club in Chicago.
All awards were in the category of daily newspapers with circulation of less than 250,000. They include:
• Deadline reporting: Staff writers Madhu Krishnamurthy, Lee Filas and Christopher Placek for their story, “Cops shot in Holiday Hills” — the shooting of two McHenry County sheriff's deputies responding to a domestic disturbance.
• Non-deadline reporting: Staff writers Marie Wilson and Jessica Cilella for their series “Heroin in the suburbs: Through their eyes,” which examined the heroin epidemic in several stories told through accounts of those affected by it and those who are fighting it.
• News column or commentary: Jim Slusher, for “Jim Slusher's letter to readers.”
• Feature story or series: Political Editor Mike Riopell for “We were almost home,” a narrative of the rescue of U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth after her helicopter was shot down in Iraq.
• Arts reporting and criticism: Staff writer Barbara Vitello for a series of reviews.
• Sports commentary: Columnist Barry Rozner, for a series of columns.
• Feature photo: Photographer Laura Stoecker for “Football fireworks.”
• Sports photo: Photographer Mark Black for “High jumper.”
• Design: Copy Editor Brian Shamie for a series of page designs.
The Lisagors are named after reporter and columnist Peter Lisagor, who served as the Chicago Daily News Washington bureau chief from 1959 to 1976. The headline club is the Chicago chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
In all, the Daily Herald staff was nominated for 26 awards.