Goldsmith Prize Goes to Two 'Wash Post' Reporters

By: E&P Staff The Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting has been awarded to Debbie Cenziper and Sarah Cohen of The Washington Post by the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University.

The winning entry, one of six finalists, was their seven-part investigative report ?Forced Out: The Cost of D.C.?s Condo Boom." The Shorenstein Center is part of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. It will bring them $25,000.

A release on the award follows.
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Cenziper and Cohen analyzed 128,000 housing-code violation reports, 1,000 court cases and hundreds of government records through more than 50 FOIA requests. They found dozens of landlords had thwarted the law by driving tenants from their homes by refusing repairs or forcing families to live without heat, hot water or electricity. The series prompted new laws, mass dismissals and a citywide lawsuit against slumlords.

?These journalists championed the interests of utterly powerless people, which shows yet again how essential investigative journalism is in our society,? said Alex S. Jones, Director of the Shorenstein Center.

Launched in 1991, the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting honors journalism which promotes more effective and ethical conduct of government, the making of public policy, or the practice of politics by disclosing excessive secrecy, impropriety and mismanagement.

The five other finalists for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting were:

? Ames Alexander, Kerry Hall, Franco Ordonez, Ted Mellnik and Peter St. Onge of The Charlotte Observer for ?The Cruelest Cuts: The Human Cost of Bringing Poultry to Your Table.?

? Jim Schaefer, M.L. Elrick and staff of the Detroit Free Press for ?A Mayor in Crisis.?

? David Barstow of The New York Times for ?Message Machine.?

? Patricia Sabatini and Len Boselovic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for ?Degree of Influence: Academic Corruption at West Virginia University.?

? Abrahm Lustgarten of ProPublica for ?Buried Secrets: Is Natural Gas Drilling Endangering U.S. Water Supplies??

The Goldsmith Book Prize is awarded to the best academic and best trade books that seek to improve the quality of government or politics through an examination of press and politics in the formation of public policy.

The Goldsmith Book Prize for best academic book was awarded to Markus Prior for Post-Broadcast Democracy: How Media Choice Increases Inequality in Political Involvement and Polarizes Elections.