[71st Polk Awards\National Press Club]
Journalist and author Charlayne Hunter-Gault will read the award citations and will also moderate this year’s David J. Steinberg Seminar of the George Polk Awards, on Thursday evening, April 2, at LIU Brooklyn’s Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts.
Photo: LIU
By Melvin McCray
The 71st George Polk Awards in journalism were announced Wednesday at the National Press Club (https://vimeo.com/392561010).
My colleagues and I on the selection committee reviewed over 500 entries from journalists and news organizations across the country.
The topics covered by the winning reporters included three that focused on racism past and present — a groundbreaking New York Times supplement examining the central role of slavery in American history and its continuing legacy in present-day society (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html), an investigative report on widespread suburban housing discrimination on Long Island (https://www.newsday.com/divided), and an eye-opening account of the massive seizure of black-owned land in the South under “heirs’ property” laws (https://features.propublica.org/black-land-loss/heirs-property-rights-why-black-families-lose-land-south/).
Other topics covered included Chinese repression of Muslim minorities, predatory lenders who heaped insurmountable debt on unsuspecting taxi drivers, and an exposé that demonstrated that “senior U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign,” (for a full list of the winners see: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/long-island-university-announces-71st-annual-george-polk-awards-in-journalism-301007437.html).
The winners will be honored at a luncheon ceremony at the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan on Friday, April 3.
The journalist and author Charlayne Hunter-Gault will read the award citations and will also moderate this year’s David J. Steinberg Seminar of the George Polk Awards, on Thursday evening, April 2, at LIU Brooklyn’s Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts.
Several of this year’s award winners are expected to take part in the seminar, which starts at 6:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
Kudos to the winners of this year’s George Polk Awards. Melvin McCray George Polk Awards
