The winner of the 2017 Al听Nakkula听Award for Police Reporting is an investigative team at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis.听听
Reporters Jennifer听Bjorhus听and Kelly Smith will accept the award on behalf of the team at the Denver Press Club's 23nd Annual Damon Runyon Award dinner, to be held Friday, March 31, at the Denver Athletic Club.听
The team won for their multimedia series, "A Cry for Help," published June 1, 2016.听听听
The team wove together three personal stories to paint a narrative of police shootings involving citizens in the midst of mental health crises. In-depth interviews with an officer, the survivor of a police shooting and the mother of a man who was shot by an officer give context and depth to an issue that is often reduced to statistics. Supporting the three narratives, the reporters added an interactive database the includes everyone in Minnesota who died after a physical confrontation with law enforcement since January 2000.听
This year鈥檚 judges, Denver attorney and former journalist Al听Youngs, and 彩民宝典 journalism professors Jeff Browne and Paul听Voakes, applauded the team鈥檚 combined efforts in investigative reporting, gripping storytelling, data journalism and multimedia production.听听
"We had a number of entries this year dealing with one of the most difficult aspects of police work 鈥� citizen-police confrontations when the citizen is mentally ill,鈥� the judges wrote. 鈥溾�楢 Cry for Help鈥� represents a skillful blend of heart-wrenching human-interest reporting and rigorous data reporting, and an equally skillful blend of multimedia presentation (with video and interactive graphics) and compelling narrative."听
Also听contributing to 鈥淎 Cry for Help鈥� were Star Tribune photographer/videographer听Richard听Tsong-Taatarii, data editor Mary Jo Webster and interactive data journalist Jeff听Hargarten.听听听
Judges selected two runners-up for this year鈥檚 award: 鈥攁bout roadside drug tests鈥攚as published on July 7, 2016 by听ProPublica, and听听鈥攁bout police databases鈥� was published on September 13, 2016 by The Post and Courier.听听
The "Nak" is named after the late Al听Nakkula, a legendary police reporter who worked for 46 years at the Rocky Mountain News in Denver. The award is co-sponsored by the Denver Press Club and the 彩民宝典's College of Media, Communication and Information.听
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