CJA Announces 2021 Sarah Brown Boyden Award Finalists

The Chicago Journalists Association (CJA) is excited to announce the finalists for its biennial Sarah Brown Boyden Awards. This year’s contest saw a record number of submissions. The Sarah Brown Boyden Awards honor the best of the best journalism in Chicago and Northwest Indiana across 14 different categories. The winners will be announced at CJA’s virtual awards ceremony held on November 19, 2021, at 8 p.m. CST.

Finalists for the 2021 Sarah Brown Boyden Awards

ARTS

• Leor Galil, Chicago Reader
  • “Thirty years ago, a Black queer zine captured the scene that birthed house”

• Joseph Pete, The Times of Northwest Indiana
  • “Gary razing historic Memorial Auditorium where Jackson 5, Truman and Sinatra once took the stage”
  • “#PAINTGARY’s latest murals grab international art world recognition”
  • “Region history crumbles: 2020 rough year for iconic NWI architecture”

• Staff, Chicago Sun-Times
  • Weekly series of reports profiling Chicago mural artists

BEST SERIES

• Better Government Association, The Chicago Reporter and Injustice Watch
  • “The Circuit”

• Jodi S. Cohen and Duaa Eldeib, ProPublica
  • “A Teenager Didn’t Do Her Online Schoolwork. So a Judge Sent Her to Juvenile Detention.”
  • “Judges Are Locking Up Children for Noncriminal Offenses Like Repeatedly Disobeying Their Parents and Skipping School”
  • “Out of Jail and Back in School, Grace Finds Her Voice”

• Staff, Cicero Independiente 
  • “Unrest in Cicero: How One Day Shook a Town”

BREAKING NEWS

• Staff, Block Club Chicago
  • Coverage of Adam Toledo’s shooting

• Staff, Block Club Chicago
  • “Police shot a black man in Englewood. Then misinformation spread like wildfire.”

• Staff, Daily Herald
  • Coverage of damage caused by a June 21 tornado that swept through Woodridge and Naperville, Illinois

BUSINESS

• John Lippert, Better Government Association and Natalie Moore, WBEZ 
  • “Amazon’s Massive Chicago-Area Expansion Fueled by $741 Million From Taxpayers”

• Christopher Placek and Staff, Daily Herald
  • “Churchill Downs puts Arlington up for sale”
  • “Bears bid for track site”
  • “How much is Arlington worth?”

• Staff, Block Club Chicago
  • “Chicago’s Struggling Indie Venues See ‘Light at the End of the Tunnel’ with $15 Billion Save Our Stages Bill”
  • “With No Help from D.C., Indie Music Venues Launch Virtual Concerts to Help Save Struggling Clubs”
  • “90 Percent of Chicago’s Independent Music Venues Will Close Because of Coronavirus, Desperate Owners Say”

EDUCATION

• Nader Issa, Chicago Sun-Times
  • “At CPS high schools, a stark racial divide on when cops are called and on arrests”

• Irene Romulo, Cicero Independiente, Injustice Watch and Type Investigations
  • “’Gang Contracts’ in Cicero and Berwyn Schools Raise Concerns About Criminalization of Youth”

• Pascal Sabino, Block Club Chicago
  • “After West Side School Forces 4-Year-Old to Remove His Braids, Parents Ask: Why Are We Policing Black Children’s Hair?”
  • “Illinois Schools Can No Longer Ban Cornrows, Locs and Braids — Thanks to a West Side Mom Who Fought Hair Discrimination”
  • “This Family Fought a West Side School’s Ban on Black Hairstyles — And Now Illinois Could Ban Hair Discrimination”

FEATURES 

• Deborah Douglas, various publications
  • “Meet the New Black Press” (Nieman Reports)
  • “One Year On, How George Floyd’s Murder Changed the World” (The Guardian)

• Mick Dumke, Tony Briscoe and Haru Coryne, ProPublica 
  • “Disinvested: How Government and Private Industry Let the Main Street of a Black Neighborhood Crumble.”
  • “How a Chicago Political Hangout Went From Bustling to Boarded-Up — Even After the City Promised Help”
  • “The Murder Chicago Didn’t Want to Solve”

• Michele Weldon, various publications
  • “Americans are hitting the road to get vaccinated” (The Washington Post)
  • “Women in movies: I can’t forget these silver-haired ladies on the silver screen” (USA Today)
  • “How did I get here? When your third act has an unexpected twist” (CoveyClub)

HEALTH/SCIENCE

• Katie Scarlett Brandt, Chicago Health
  • “The Great Unequalizer”

• Duaa Eldeib, ProPublica
  • “A Crisis of Undiagnosed Cancers Is Emerging in the Pandemic’s Second Year”

• Stefano Esposito, Chicago Sun-Times
  • “She got her COVID miracle, surviving 3 weeks in a coma. Then came the hard part.”
  • “Another miracle for COVID survivor: First, she beat a coma. Then her bill. Then foreclosure.”

INVESTIGATIONS

• Better Government Association, The Chicago Reporter and Injustice Watch 
  • “The Circuit”

• Madison Hopkins, Better Government Association and Cecilia Reyes, Chicago Tribune
  • “42 Fires, 61 Deaths: A Story of Failed City Oversight”
  • “Deadly Fires, Broken Promises”
  • “The Failures Before the Fires: Dozens Die in Chicago Buildings Where the City Knew of Fire Safety Issues”

• Ash Ngu and Jodi S. Cohen, ProPublica and Jennifer Smith Richards, Chicago Tribune
  • “Grenades, Bread and Body Bags: How Illinois Has Spent $1.6 Billion in Response to COVID-19 So Far”

NEWS/SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY

• Karie Angell Luc, for images of the Norge ski jump (Daily Herald)

• Colin Boyle, Block Club Chicago, for images that memorialized Chicagoans who died from COVID-19

• Tyler LaRiviere, Chicago Sun-Times, for an image capturing the removal of the Christopher Columbus Statue in Grant Park

POLITICS

• Orphe Divounguy, published in Crain’s Chicago Business
  • “Illinois’ public corruption most hurts its low-income residents”
  • “Reducing inequality starts with preserving scholarship tax credits”
  • “This is the kind of voting reform we really need”

• Alex Nitkin and Erin Hegarty, The Daily Line
  • “Lightfoot’s campaign promise on police oversight comes tantalizingly close, 16 months after the last deal fell apart”

PUBLIC SERVICE

• Jodi S. Cohen, ProPublica
  • “A Teenager Didn’t Do Her Online Schoolwork. So a Judge Sent Her to Juvenile Detention.”
  • “Judges Are Locking Up Children for Noncriminal Offenses Like Repeatedly Disobeying Their Parents and Skipping School”
  • “Out of Jail and Back in School, Grace Finds Her Voice”

• Madison Hopkins, Better Government Association and Cecilia Reyes, Chicago Tribune:
  • “42 Fires, 61 Deaths: A Story of Failed City Oversight”
  • “Deadly Fires, Broken Promises”
  • “The Failures Before the Fires: Dozens Die in Chicago Buildings Where the City Knew of Fire Safety Issues”

• David Jackson, Better Government Association and Kelly Bauer, Block Club Chicago: 
  • “Cash-Strapped Loretto Hospital Paid Millions to Companies Formed by Ousted Executive’s Pal”
  • “Loretto Hospital Got Vaccines to Help Black West Siders — but More Than Half of Early On-site Shots Went to White and Asian People”
  • “​​Powerful State Senator Got Caribbean Trips, Campaign Donations And Cash Through Loretto Hospital”

SPORTS

• Patrick Finley, Chicago Sun-Times
  • “Ex-Bears QB Erik Kramer back from the brink”

• Joseph Pete, The Times of Northwest Indiana
  • “Barber goes from $5 fades in his grandma’s Hammond kitchen to cutting the hair of White Sox stars”
  • “White Sox fan killed in crash attends game with her family – ‘in spirit, one last time’”

• Rick Telander, Chicago Sun-Times
  • “My day with Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle and Billy Martin”

TECHNOLOGY

• Maxwell Evans and Kelly Bauer, Block Club Chicago
  • “With Limited Internet Access, Elderly Chicagoans Struggle to Get Vaccinated — Even with ‘a Village’ of Relatives Helping Them”

• Joseph Pete, The Times of Northwest Indiana:
  • “Akyumen smartphone factory deal dead; Gary suing to regain Genesis Center, Ivanhoe Gardens sites”
  • “​​Smartphone company officials in Gary project dispute California securities ban”
  • “Tech company claiming it will transform Gary was barred from selling securities in California”

• Jared Rutecki, Better Government Association and Ray Long, Chicago Tribune 
  • “No Ransom Paid, but Illinois AG Office Is Spending More Than $2.5 Million on Hacker Attack”

TRANSPORTATION

• Maxwell Evans, Block Club Chicago
  • “During Record-Breaking Snowfall, Some South Shore Side Streets Went Weeks Without Being Plowed, City Records Show”

• Jamie Nesbitt Golden, Block Club Chicago 
  • “As City Boosts Development Near Public Transit, South Siders Urge Investment in Green Line — Where a Shutdown Crippled a Community”

• Tim Novak and Stephanie Zimmermann, Chicago Sun-Times
  • “The fall of Chicago’s taxicab king”