Jim Haught of The Charleston Gazette in West Virginia was honored in 1971 for investigative reporting. “I only wish there was a cash prize attached to this because this week I inherited the major pitfall of investigative reporting,” he said in accepting his prize. “I got my paper sued for $12 million.”
National Headliner Awards have always stood apart from other competitions.
One difference is that since its founding in the 1930s, Headliners has judged the best in multiple media – newspapers, magazines, syndicates, wire services, photography, radio and newsreel. In 1948, it awarded its first medallion to a newfangled gadget called “television” when Philadelphia’s WFIL-TV was honored for a nightly newsreel.
Online journalism was added as a single category in 2005; digital categories expanded rapidly over time. Judging occurs in Atlantic City with industry veterans and academic leaders screening entries.
Another hallmark of Headliners has been its emphasis on shoe-leather reporting and innovative reporting techniques. It was enshrined in the contest’s DNA in the first round of awards in 1935.
In a feat reflecting “The Front Page” zeal of the era – and one that would have raised ethics flags in the modern age – Harvey Duell of the New York Daily News won first place. Duell so schmoozed the courthouse staff in Flemington, N.J.,
Richard Hauptmann on trial for the Lindberg baby kidnapping. Harvey Duell of the New York Daily News would win one of the first Headliner awards for his coverage.
where Richard Hauptmann was on trial in the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, that the News was on the streets with the guilty verdict before it was announced in the courtroom.
It was boot leather that made William L. White of CBS a winner in 1940. From the frigid trenches occupied by Finnish troops warring with – and hopelessly outnumbered by – Russian infantrymen, he broadcast the poignant “Last Christmas Tree” about conditions there on Christmas Eve.
In 1997, Miguel Sancho of tabloid TV’s “Inside Edition” – perhaps not an outlet that other mainstream contests would consider honoring – won for his expose of shady insurance sales. He took a job as an insurance salesman, then detailed techniques for taking advantage of the rural poor. “Old ladies were spending 50 percent of their government checks on insurance,” he explained.
AP photographer Alan Diaz camped out for weeks to be in position to take this dramatic shot of a young Cuban boy being seized by an immigration agent in Miami.
Associated Press photographer Alan Diaz won first place in spot photography in 2001 for his dramatic image of 5-year-old Elian Gonzalez being seized from a closet by a helmeted immigration agent in Miami. Gonzalez was to be returned to his father in Cuba after an international custody and immigration controversy. Diaz had gained the trust of Gonzalez’s Miami relatives and had been staked out in their yard, night and day for months, when agents raided at dawn.
Associated Press reporter Rukmimi Callimachi who unearthed executed civilians in the Mali desert.
In what is considered the boldest example of shoe-leather reporting in Headliners history, of the Associated Press won the best in print award in 2013 for her resolute practice of unearthing bodies in the desert and having relatives identify them to confront the government of Mali about murderous tactics against political opponents.
From Timbuktu, she wrote: “Across the desert, the wind combs the sand into smooth ripples that roll out evenly for miles. So when a hole is dug, you see it immediately. The sand looks agitated. Its pattern is disturbed. That’s how you know where the bodies are buried.”
“Perversion of Justice” won first place in investigative reporting and was honored with best of show in 2019. It met every shoe-leather criteria. Reporter Julie K. Brown and photographer Emily Michot of the Miami Herald methodically tracked down victims – one in Australia – of wealthy financier and serial predator Jeffrey Epstein. He had molested scores of underage women in Florida’s Palm Beach County. Their names were largely masked by the court when Epstein agreed to a brief state sentence.
By finding, gaining the trust and telling the stories of the now-grown women, the series sparked outrage and fueled the rising “Me-Too” movement against sexual criminals. It led to a congressional hearing and forced the ouster of the U.S. Secretary of Labor for his role in the case. Epstein was arrested on federal charges, later commiting suicide in custody. His procurer, socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, was sentenced to 20 years for trafficking minors.
“Once again the judges are in awe of the work by Julie K. Brown of the Miami Herald, a past winner,” the Headliner citation said. Brown and Michot’s work was overlooked that year by the Pulitzer Prize board.
Not by Headliners. Their series is still cited in orientation briefings to rookie Headliners judges as an example of the kind of crusading enterprise the contest values most highly.