| February 21, 2004
Seymour Hersh, New York Times, Associated
Press among 2004 Polk Award winners
By DEEPTI HAJELA
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) – Seymour Hersh of The New Yorker won
his fifth George Polk Award for his accounts of prisoner abuse
in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, making him the most-honored individual
in the history of the awards. Reporters from The New York
Times took three of the 2004 awards, and The Associated Press
was a double winner.
Hersh won the magazine reporting prize for his Abu Ghraib
stories 35 years after winning the Polk award for coverage
of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam.
The Career Award went to Bill Moyers, who retired last year
after more than three decades in public television. He won
a Polk Award in 1980 for political reporting.
The 13 awards were to be announced Tuesday by Long Island
University, which was to present the prizes April 21. They
were created in 1949 in honor of the CBS reporter killed while
covering the Greek civil war.
Dexter Filkins of The New York Times won in the war reporting
category for his firsthand accounts of attacks against Iraqi
insurgents in Fallujah.
Walt Bogdanich of the Times won the national reporting category,
his fourth Polk award, for his series on how railroad companies
were able to sidestep regulations. Diana Henriques won the
paper's third award for 2004 for military reporting. Her work
looked at how insurance and investment firms with ties to
military commanders took advantage of young soldiers.
The Associated Press' Paisley Dodds won the award for foreign
reporting. She was cited for her work in Haiti, covering the
ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and then the aftermath
of floods that devastated the country. She is now the news
organization's chief of bureau in London. Justin Pritchard,
the AP's news editor for Southern California, won the labor
reporting prize for his investigation into the high rate of
work-related deaths among Mexican workers in America. Pritchard's
report, documented with federal data and survivor interviews,
drew responses from the Mexican and U.S. governments, including
the first Hispanic Safety and Health Summit held by the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration.
Other winners include:
Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams of the San Francisco
Chronicle, the sports reporting award, for their work investigating
how athletes used steroids and other banned substances to
improve their performances.
Diane Sawyer and Robbie Gordon of ABC News "PrimeTime
Live," the television reporting award, for "Fighting
for Care," a report on poor conditions and management
at veterans' hospitals around the country.
Ellen Schultz and Theo Francis of The Wall Street Journal,
the economic reporting award, for looking at how deceptive
corporate accounting practices reduce employee benefits. The
reporters were also winners two years ago, and Schultz also
has won another Polk.
The Press Democrat of Santa Rosa, Calif., the regional reporting
prize, for a series examining the impact of two companies
deciding to outsource high-paying tech jobs to other countries.
John Hill and Dorothy Korber of The Sacramento Bee, the state
reporting award, for investigating how officials in the California
Highway Patrol inflated their pension benefits by claiming
various illnesses.
Tim Novak and Steve Warmbir of the Chicago Sun-Times, the
local reporting award, for revealing corruption throughout
a $40 million municipal dump truck program.
___
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