The Connecticut Mirror was honored with 12 awards as part of the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalist’s 2024 Excellence in Journalism Contest, including two of the organization’s top prizes.
The CT Mirror’s staff won six first place awards for government reporting, investigative reporting, data reporting, continuing coverage, general commentary, and arts, entertainment, food & leisure reporting. CT Mirror reporters also placed second or third in religion, business, education and in-depth local reporting.
John Moritz and Emilia Otte, who recently joined the CT Mirror staff, were also honored as for their previous reporting for Hearst Connecticut Media and the Connecticut Examiner.
The judges of the journalism contest presented Andrew Brown and Dave Altimari with the Theodore Driscoll Award for Investigative Reporting for several stories that explained how state officials abruptly cancelled a Medicaid audit that was examining the fraudulent billing practices for a Connecticut eye doctor.
The Theodore Driscoll Award is one of the CT SPJ’s top honors and is awarded to stories that contain information that is “not readily available to the news media or public.”
The judges described the reporting as “a dogged investigation” that “revealed that a politically connected eye doctor was the only medical provider to have a Medicaid audit canceled.”
“Through persistent FOI requests and careful analysis, Brown and Altimari exposed this irregularity, prompting federal scrutiny and leading to criminal charges. Their crisp pacing and accessible storytelling brought clarity to a complex topic, transforming dense policy reporting into compelling public service journalism.”
The judges also bestowed the contest’s First Amendment Award on CT Mirror reporters Ginny Monk and Andrew Brown for coverage that revealed a string of alleged child abuse at an adolescent psychiatric treatment facility.
The First Amendment Award goes a story or series that “increases the public understanding of the role of the press in a free society.”
Monk and Brown spent more than a year requesting inspection records and other documents related to the Children’s Center of Hamden. The documents revealed how state officials were forced to repeatedly freeze admissions to the facilities because of reports of child neglect and abuse.
The judges credited that story as an “excellent use of public records and human sources to expose abuses in a system intended to protect vulnerable children.”
“It’s always gratifying to be recognized by our peers, and this year was particularly special as we received awards for some of our most ambitious work,” said Executive Editor Elizabeth Hamilton. “The stories recognized this year by CT SPJ not only show the breadth of talent on the staff, they also demonstrate how critically important it is to have a robust, free press in this country. Congratulations, too, to all the journalists at other Connecticut news organizations who were recognized for their work this year.”
The other stories that were recognized as part of the contest highlight the range of the CT Mirror’s news coverage during 2024. The award winners included the following stories and columns:
- Laura Tillman; first place, Arts, Entertainment, Food & Leisure; How chef Jacques Pépin found, and shaped, CT’s food community
- Dave Altimari and Andrew Brown; first place, Continuing Coverage; The Kosta Diamantis saga
- Ginny Monk; first place, Government; Housing Dept leaders secretly oppose ‘fair share’
- Renata Daou; Jenna Carlesso and Andrew Brown; first place, Data Reporting; CT overhauled its jury selection system but racial disparities remain
- Ginny Monk and Andrew Brown; first place, Investigative; In CT, a balancing act between inpatient beds and safety concerns
- Jim Cameron; first place, General Column/Commentary; Talking Transportation: When ‘other people’s money’ is actually yours
- Shahrzad Rasekh; second place, Religion; Pagans in Connecticut: Stepping out of the (broom) closet
- Jan Ellen Spiegel; second place, In-Depth Local Reporting; Thousands of dams in CT pose risks and challenges
- Jessika Harkay; third place, Education; This Hartford Public High School grad can’t read. Here’s how it happened.
- Erica Phillips; third place, Business; CT food startups have a lot on their plates, but relief is on the way