City Limits report on homelessness wins journalism honor

Journalist David Brand’s story about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on homeless New Yorkers with health needs won the Silurian Press Club’s News Reporting Merit Award, in the part of the organization’s annual excellence in journalism awards.

Adi Talwar

Darren Whitney, who was staying at Clarke Thomas Men’s Shelter on Wards Island while awaiting a hip transplant last year.

A man staying at Wards Island Men’s Homeless Shelter was awaiting a hip transplant, but his doctor wouldn’t approve the operation until he booked permanent accommodation, citing the risk of infection posed by life in the barracks. shelter-style facility, which did not allow home health aides to visit. Another man staying at a hotel, rented by the city as temporary accommodation space, returned one day to find staff had mistakenly thrown away his belongings, including his diabetes medication and blood thinners.

These are just some of the anecdotes detailed in a City Limits article last summer, by journalist David Brand, about the impact of homelessness and housing insecurity on the health of New Yorkers. , longstanding challenges further exposed and exacerbated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This reporting was honored this week with the Silurian Press Club’s 77th Annual Excellence in Journalism Awards, where it won the Merit Award for Reporting. Photographer Adi Talwar provided images for the winning entry.

READ THE WINNING STORY: Pandemic worsens difficult road to housing for homeless New Yorkers with health needs

City Limits staffer Liz Donovan was also honored for her article, published by The New York Times in partnership with Type Investigations and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, which the chronic work struggles and low wages in the booming home healthcare industry, a field dominated by immigrant workers and women of color. This piece won the Silurian’s Medallion Award for Science & Health Reporting.

The Silurians were founded in 1924 as a membership organization for seasoned journalists. Members include Charles Edward Russell, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and co-founder of the NAACP, Herbert Bayard Swope, Arthur Brisbane, William Randolph Hearst, Lincoln Steffens and John Steinbeck.

This is the fourth time City Limits has been recognized by Silurians, having received awards for our reporting on disparate death rates in New York City neighborhoods, our investigation of the state’s green jobs program and the payday loan industry.

About Brandon A. Hood

Check Also

Younger borrowers are likely to use payday loans and are unaware of “more affordable” credit unions

According to a study by the government-backed Money and Pensions Service, young people are twice …