Series on Mentally Unfit Soldiers, Jailed Journalist Win Top Guild Awards

A Hartford Courant series investigating the U.S. government's ongoing deployment of soldiers who suffer pre-existing mental illness and other psychological conditions has won the 2006 Heywood Broun Award.

In "Mentally Unfit, Forced to Fight," reporters Lisa Chedekel and Matthew Kauffman revealed that senior military officials have sent troops into combat in Iraq despite clear evidence of bipolar disorder, depression, suicidal episodes and post-traumatic stress.

The Newspaper Guild-CWA is also honoring jailed freelance journalist Josh Wolf, who has been held in federal prison since last August for refusing to turn over to authorities a video he shot of a protest against the G8 summit in San Francisco in July 2005.

Wolf will receive the Herbert Block Freedom Award, named for the legendary Washington Post cartoonist who was devoted to free speech rights and compassion for the disadvantaged. The first Block award, given in 2002, also went to a journalist – Vanessa Leggett of Texas -- who braved jail rather than surrender her notes in a criminal case.

Broun judges said the Hartford Courant series exemplified the legacy of the award's namesake, a Guild founder and crusading columnist. "In publicizing the little-known plight of mentally ill soldiers, the paper helped prompt new legislation addressing the flaws in the military's mental health system," they said.

Both the Broun and Block awards come with a $5,000 check. They will be presented May 3 at the union's annual Freedom Award Fund dinner in Washington, D.C. The keynote speaker will be Newsweek senior editor and NBC contributor Jonathan Alter.

Other winners will be also be honored. Debbie Cenziper of the Miami Herald will receive the Broun award for substantial distinction for her series, "House of Lies," an investigation that uncovered corruption in the Miami-Dade Housing Agency. In the broadcast division, Lorrie Taylor of WJW-TV in Cleveland will be recognized for "Disappearing Homes," a story about a predatory real estate company. Both winners will receive a $1,000 prize.

The Broun winners were selected from entries from across the United States and Canada. Judges were Deborah Howell, ombudswoman for the Washington Post; Tom Kunkel, dean of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland; Chris Lehmann, senior editor at CQ Weekly; and Jack Nelson, retired Washington bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times. The panel was chaired by Dick Peery, longtime president of the Northeast Ohio Newspaper Guild who retired last year after 35 years with the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

The David S. Barr awards will also be presented May 3. They recognize a college and high school student for achievements in journalism, with scholarship awards of $1,500 and $500, respectively.

Kendyl R. Salcito of the University of British Columbia won for her article, "War Brewing Over Mineral Rights in Rural BC," a report on a controversial government program that allows mineral staking on private property. Elizabeth Curry Andrews of Henry W. Grady High School in Atlanta won for her story, "Fulton County Blues," which exposed the overcrowding and unsanitary conditions at the courthouse jail in Fulton County.