Center garners top journalism awards

Introduction

The Center for Public Integrity’s iWatchnews.org website today received the Excellence in Online Journalism Award from the National Press Foundation. NPF said the site “effectively uses the capabilities of digital journalism in support of its investigative mission.”

It’s the third major award for the Center in almost as many weeks. Late last month, the nonpartisan news organization won two 2011 EPPY awards from Editor & Publisher. The winning categories: Best Enterprise Feature on a Website and Best Investigative Website with under 250,000 monthly visitors.

The feature singled out for accolades is Dangers in the Dust: Inside the Global Asbestos Trade, produced by the Center’s International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The multimedia series published in July 2010 and included a BBC World TV documentary, a dozen radio stories on BBC World Service and seven online stories by ICIJ. The project reached tens of millions of people in more than 150 countries, receiving coverage by some 400 news outlets, blogs and websites in at least 20 languages.

The Center’s iWatch News site is attracting a growing number of readers who recognize the vital role of watchdog journalism in a healthy democracy.

“We are honored to receive this recognition for our outstanding investigative work,” said Executive Director William E. Buzenberg. “It’s gratifying to have The Center for Public Integrity’s watchdog journalism and our digital presentation of this work acclaimed by our peers.”