Washington Post Journalists Win Broun Award for Exposing Landlords

Two Washington Post reporters have won TNG-CWA's 2008 Heywood Broun Award for a seven-part series that revealed how city landlords were driving tenants out of rent-controlled apartments by refusing repairs and forcing families to live without heat, water or electricity.

Debbie Cenziper and Sarah Cohen, who wrote "Forced Out," reviewed 128,000 housing code violation reports and thousands of court and government documents, and tracked down landlords who had hidden their identities. They discovered that owners reaped $328 million in condominium sales after emptying 200 apartment complexes.

A panel of prominent journalists judged the 90 Broun entries from print, radio and TV. In awarding the top prize to the Post team, the judges said, "They told dozens of compelling stories about people who were forced to live in squalor before they moved. Especially impressive were the results, including the swiftness with which the District strengthened the laws protecting tenants."

The award honors the memory of TNG founder Heywood Broun, whose early 20th century newspaper columns championed the disadvantaged and gave voice to the powerless. The award comes with a $5,000 check.

The Broun judges also awarded two $1,000 prizes of substantial distinction. Jack Dolan, Matthew Haggman and RobBarry of the Miami Herald were honored for exposing Florida's failure to oversee the mortgage industry, resulting in significant changes in state oversight. Michael Montgomery, Josh Phillips and Catherine Winter of American Public Media won for their radio feature, "What Killed Sergeant Gray," which examined the lasting impact of torture on the abusers and those who tried to stop them.

The Broun awards will be presented June 18 at TNG-CWA's annual conference in Washington. The event will also honor the student winners of the Barr Awards, which annually recognize one high school and one college journalist.

This year's college winner is Colleen Bridget Mullarkey, of Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia for a magazine cover story she wrote about the impact of drowsy driving and undiagnosed sleep disorders. Kaelyn Kristine Malkoski of Hinsdale Central High School in Illinois won for a story she wrote on bullying that was incorporated into an elementary school curriculum guide.