April has been kind to Public Health Watch. On Tuesday, the Association of Health Care Journalists announced that our “Toxic Texas Air” project had won first place in the “public health-small outlet” category and our “Holdouts” project had taken second in the “health policy-small outlet” category.
The same day, the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications announced that “Toxic Texas Air” had won second place in the Collier Prize for State Government Accountability.
One contest judge wrote, “This project unmasked how Texas weakened environmental standards to protect industry over disadvantaged neighborhoods and created an ever-worsening public health threat. The reporting exposed a pattern of repeatedly loosening regulations when manufacturers exceeded legal limits on emissions.” Another judge praised the “painstakingly reported series on the willful failure of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to protect the health and safety of those living near petrochemical plants. Sweeping reporting.”
The recognition didn’t end there. We also learned this week that our story on living with diabetes and no health insurance in East Texas – part of “The Holdouts” — won a First Amendment Award in the “Defending the Disadvantaged” category from the Fort Worth chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
In May, Public Health Watch founder Jim Morris will deliver the Upton Sinclair Memorial Lecture at the annual meeting of the American Industrial Hygiene Association in Columbus. Morris will talk about PHW’s award-winning silicosis investigation. And it was announced today that PHW reporters David Leffler, Savanna Strott, Salina Arredondo and Jana Cholakovska are finalists in the local reporting category of the Livingston Awards for journalists under 35. Winners will be announced in June.