The Press Club of Long Island honored the Long Island Press with three awards for editorial excellence at its annual gala on June 2.
Long Island Press Editor in Chief Timothy Bolger won for crime and justice as well as government and politics reporting. Reporter Bernadette Starzee won in the health, science and technology category.
Bolger won second place in the crime and justice category with Epstein’s LI Accomplices, about how two Long Islanders who are the executors of late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s $634 million estate were accused by authorities of being “indispensable captains” in the alleged international sex trafficking enterprise.
Starzee won second place in the health, science and technology category for her story A Win for Mental Health about efforts to reduce the stigma for student athletes seeking help.
Bolger also won third place in the government and politics category with Most Long Island Towns, Villages Opt Out of Allowing Legal Weed Sales, which detailed how more than 80% of Long Island’s town, village, and city governments have voted to opt out of allowing newly legalized recreational marijuana to be sold at pot shops or cannabis cafes in their communities.
In addition, the Press’ sister publications Dan’s Papers and Behind The Hedges won five PCLI awards. Dan’s won for environmental coverage, neighborhood/community news, and in-depth reporting. Hedges won best magazine and for real estate coverage. PCLI is the local chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, a leading trade group advocating for press rights.
The PCLI awards come about a month after The New York Press Association (NYPA) honored the Press with awards for editorial excellence during the trade group’s annual Better Newspaper Contest last weekend. Those awards were for health coverage and in-depth reporting.
Those NYPA awards were among 36 won by Schneps Media, the parent company of the Press, Dan’s Papers, and Behind The Hedges as well as dozens of other publications across the New York Metro area and beyond. Schneps Media newspapers earned awards in various categories recognizing outstanding editorial, graphic and photographic content, website development as well as excellence in advertising. The chain finished the contest with 365 points, the second-highest total for newsgroups across the Empire State.
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