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June 29, 2007

L.A. Times reporters win RI-based environment award

NARRAGANSETT -- Two Los Angeles Times reporters, whose series gave readers and policymakers a vivid wake-up call about a "virulent pox on the world's oceans," have won the 2007 Grantham Prize for Excellence in Reporting on the Environment.

Reporters Kenneth R. Weiss and Usha Lee McFarling will receive the $75,000 prize for the five-part "Altered Oceans" series that ran from July 30 to Aug. 3, 2006.

The Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting, based at the University of Rhode Island, and the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment made the announcement today. It began awarding the prize in 2005.

The prize and the three awards of special merit will be given at a Sept. 24 ceremony and seminar to be held at the Metcalf Institute in Narragansett.

The institute was named for Michael P. Metcalf, the late publisher of The Providence Journal, "who was keenly interested in marine and environmental issues and was known for his integrity, vision, and high standards for writing," according to the institute.

In a news release, the jurors said the Los Angeles Times reporters "did more than simply research the literature and talk to the best minds. They went to the scene to make the case.

"This extraordinary series gives life to all those generalities about the decline of the oceans in a way that should grab the imaginations not only of politicians responsible for taking corrective steps but also of ordinary readers."

The series drew an "overwhelmingly positive response," according to the news release, and the U.S. House of Representatives Oceans Caucus distributed copies of the series to every House member.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

The awards jury also named three award of special merit recipients:

-- Eugene Linden for his book The Winds of Change, published by Simon & Schuster.

-- The NOVA television program "Dimming the Sun," a DOX Production for NOVA/WGBH and the BBC, produced by senior executive producer Paula S. Apsell, written and produced by David Sington and directed by Duncan Copp.

-- A team of writers from the East Oregonian Publishing Company for their series, "Our Climate Is Changing … Ready or Not."

The jurors said Linden's book "manages the remarkable feat of bringing a new light to the most written-about environmental challenge of the era, climate change," according to the news release.

The NOVA production for presented "a different, but critical, take on global warming… Exceptional production values, great storytelling, and important subject matter make this a fascinating and disturbing report."

And the East Oregonian Publishing Company series "represented an extraordinary effort on the part of a group of small newspapers in the Pacific Northwest. The result is sophisticated, compelling journalism, extraordinary for publications of this size and scope."

The Grantham Prize was paid for by Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham through The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment. The foundation supports natural resource conservation programs both in the United States and internationally.

Eligible for the annual prize are journalists, writers and producers in the United States and Canada. So is nonfiction work published or broadcast in the previous calendar year.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 4:00 PM | Permalink

June 29, 2007

L.A. Times reporters win RI-based environment award

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