Lisagor Awards cite Jamie Kalven for Laquan McDonald story

Jamie Kalven

Jamie Kalven

The Chicago Headline Club honored independent journalist Jamie Kalven on Friday night for his diligent work in uncovering and pursuing the story of Laquan McDonald, the 17-year-old African American fatally shot by a Chicago police officer in 2014.

Kalven was named winner of the Watchdog Award for Excellence in Public Interest Reporting at the group’s 39th annual Peter Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism. Judges said “Sixteen Shots,” Kalven's article for slate.com, “demonstrated investigative persistence that led to the truth in the death of Laquan McDonald.”

Recipients of the Headline Club’s Anne Keegan Award were Howard Reich of the Chicago Tribune for his story about Norman Malone, “Childhood attack silenced pianist’s right hand, but not his dream,” and Stefano Esposito of the Sun-Times for “Evi & Walter: A love story in any key.” Said the judges: “Choosing a winner this year was especially difficult. In fact, it was impossible. For the first time, the judges decided that fairness required us to choose two.”

Named for the late Chicago Tribune columnist, the Keegan Award was established in 2012 to recognize journalists “who tell stories of ordinary people in extraordinarily well-reported and well-written prose.”

Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented to three celebrated Chicago journalists — Jon Hilkevitch, former transportation writer and columnist for the Tribune; Linda Lenz, founder and publisher of Catalyst Chicago, and Harry Porterfield, former news anchor and reporter for CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2 and ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7.

Peter Lisagor Awards, named for the late Chicago Daily News Washington bureau chief, were presented in more than 100 categories at the event. Tom Corfman of Crain’s Chicago Business emceed the awards dinner at The Union League Club of Chicago. This year’s competition was opened to print, broadcast and digital media statewide for the first time.

Here is a complete list of Lisagor Award winners:

Best All Media: Best Deadline Reporting (AM1)
Staff, Chicago Tribune, "Laquan McDonald"

Best All Media: Best Investigative Reporting (AM2)
Jodi S. Cohen and Stacy St. Clair, Chicago Tribune, "College of DuPage"

Best All Media: Best Single Story Feature (AM3a)
Monte Reel and Jordan Robertson, Bloomberg, "Next Frontier of Cybercrime: Hackers in Your IV Drip"

Best All Media: Best Feature Series (AM3b)
Staff, The Medill Justice Project, "Wrongful convictions and other miscarriages of justice"

Best All Media: Best Data Journalism (AM4)
Jamie Kalven, Rajiv Sinclair, Chaclyn Hunt, Darryl Holliday, Harry Backlund and Alison Flowers, Invisible Institute, "Citizens Police Data Project"

Best All Media: Best Short Film Documentary (AM5)
Allisha Azlan, The Medill Justice Project, "Medical Child Abuse: The Family Left Behind"

Best All Media: Best Photography (AM6)
Brian Cassella, Chicago Tribune, "The Next Day series"

Best All Media: Best Multimedia Collaboration (AM7)
Tanveer Ali, DNAinfo.com Chicago, "This is Where Chicagoans Say The Borders of Their Neighborhoods Are"

Best All Media: Best Editorial Cartoon (AM8)
Scott Stantis, Chicago Tribune, "Scott Stantis editorial cartoons"

Best All Media: Best Graphics (AM9)
Linda Eckstein, Remie Geoffroi and Jacqueline Cantu, Chicago Magazine, "Catholics at a Crossroads; The Savvy Traveler's Guide to Chicago Airports; Movies Meet Music"

Best All Media: Best Illustration (AM10)
Jason McGregor, Peter Hoey and Maria Hoey, Crain's Chicago Business, "Goodbye Moto"

Daily Newspaper: Best Deadline Reporting (D1)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Staff, Chicago Tribune, "Laquan McDonald"

Daily Newspaper: Best Deadline Reporting (D2)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Lee Filas, Russell Lissau, Pete Nenni and staff, The Daily Herald, "'Ultimate Betrayal': The Truth About Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz"

Daily Newspaper: Best Non-Deadline Reporting (D3)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Angie Leventis Lourgos, Chicago Tribune, "Transitions: portraits of transgender Chicagoland"

Daily Newspaper: Best Non-Deadline Reporting (D4)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Burt Constable and Lee Filas, The Daily Herald, "The Two Faces of Lt. Gliniewicz"

Daily Newspaper: Best Investigative Reporting (D5)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
John Chase, Jeff Coen and Bill Ruthhart, Chicago Tribune, "Rahm Emanuel's fund-raising"

Daily Newspaper: Best Investigative Reporting (D6)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Sarah Reese, The Times of Northwest Indiana, "Two stories, one video"

Daily Newspaper: Best Political and Government Reporting (D7)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Lauren FitzPatrick and Dan Mihalopoulos, Chicago Sun-Times, "The downfall of Chicago schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett"

Daily Newspaper: Best Political and Government Reporting (D8)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Robert Sanchez, Christopher Placek and staff , The Daily Herald, "Adversity at College of DuPage"

Daily Newspaper: Best Education Reporting (D9)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Lauren FitzPatrick and Dan Mihalopoulos, Chicago Sun-Times, "The downfall of Chicago schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett"

Daily Newspaper: Best Education Reporting (D10)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Tim Broderick, Melissa Silverberg, Linda Lutton and Renee Trappe, The Daily Herald, "Generations At Risk"

Daily Newspaper: Best Science, Health, Technology or Environment Reporting (D11)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Michael Hawthorne, Chicago Tribune, "Poverty's Poison"

Daily Newspaper: Best Science, Health, Technology or Environment Reporting (D12)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Giles Bruce, The Times of Northwest Indiana, "Medical records dumped"

Daily Newspaper: Best News Column or Commentary (D13)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
John W. Fountain, Chicago Sun-Times, "ChiRaq"

Daily Newspaper: Best News Column or Commentary (D14)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Marc Chase, The Times of Northwest Indiana, "Columns"

Daily Newspaper: Best Editorial Writing (D15)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Marie Dillon, Chicago Tribune, "Marie Dillon editorials on the Laquan McDonald case"

Daily Newspaper: Best Editorial Writing (D16)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Editorial Board, The Daily Herald, "Generations At Risk Series"

Daily Newspaper: Best Business or Consumer Reporting (D17)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Alejandra Cancino, Chicago Tribune, "Labor's push to expand workers' rights"

Daily Newspaper: Best Business or Consumer Reporting (D18)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Keith Benman, The Times of Northwest Indiana, "Electricity power struggle"

Daily Newspaper: Best Feature Story or Series (D19)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Nomaan Merchant, Matt Sedensky, Martha Irvine, Scott Smith, Reese Dunklin and Maureen Linke, The Associated Press, "Betrayed by the Badge"

Daily Newspaper: Best Feature Story or Series (D20)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Marie Wilson, The Daily Herald, "When An Addict's Family Comes Second"

Daily Newspaper: Best Arts Reporting and Criticism (D21)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Blair Kamin, Chicago Tribune

Daily Newspaper: Best Arts Reporting and Criticism (D22)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Joseph Pete, The Times of Northwest Indiana, "East Chicago outsider artist"

Daily Newspaper: Best Sports Story (D23)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Chris Kuc, Chicago Tribune, "Stan Mikita. Whatever world he is in, he's content"

Daily Newspaper: Best Sports Story (D24)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Bruce Miles, The Daily Herald, "Thinking Outside the Boxscore"

Daily Newspaper: Best Sports Commentary (D25)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Greg Couch, Rollingstone.com and Guardian, "Jackie Robinson West; Blackhawks Fans Unbowed in Support of Patrick Kane Despite Rape Allegation; How wrestling explains the American Midwest''

Daily Newspaper: Best Sports Commentary (D26)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Mike Hutton, Post-Tribune, "High School basket-brawl"

Daily Newspaper: Best News Photo (D27)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
John J. Kim, Chicago Tribune, "The morning after"

Daily Newspaper: Best News Photo (D28)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Gilbert R. Boucher II, The Daily Herald, "An Officer's Memorial"

Daily Newspaper: Best Feature Photo (D29)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Ashlee Rezin, Chicago Sun-Times, "Evi & Walter"

Daily Newspaper: Best Feature Photo (D30)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Jeff Knox, The Daily Herald, "Jet in Eclipse"

Daily Newspaper: Best Sports Photo (D31)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Nuccio DiNuzzo, Chicago Tribune, "Cubs celebration"

Daily Newspaper: Best Sports Photo (D32)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Steve Lundy, The Daily Herald, "Mixed Emotions"

Daily Newspaper: Best Design (D33)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Jessica Sedgwick, Chicago Sun-Times, "Men"

Daily Newspaper: Best Design (D34)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation less than 250,000
Deborah Hile, The Times of Northwest Indiana, "Lake Invaders"

Best Technology Reporting (D35)
Daily Newspaper, News Service or Bureau, circulation more than 250,000
Becky Yerak, Chicago Tribune," STEM career dolls take off"

Daily Newspaper: General Excellence in Print Journalism (D39)
Staff, Chicago Tribune

Non-Daily: Best In-depth Reporting in a General-Interest Publication (N1)
David Bernstein and Noah Isackson, Chicago Magazine, "New Tricks"

Non-Daily: Best In-depth Reporting in a Community Newspaper (N2)
Ronnie Wachter, Lake Zurich Courier, "Hawthorn Woods spends $28K in legal fight to euthanize dog"

Non-Daily: Best In-depth Reporting in a Business Magazine or Newspaper (N3)
Kristen Schorsch and Jason McGregor, Crain's Chicago Business, "Running on Empty"

Non-Daily: Best In-depth Reporting in a Magazine or Magazine Section (N4)
Mike Thomas, Chicago Magazine, "Heat Wave"

Non-Daily: Best News Column or Commentary (N5)
Ben Joravsky, Chicago Reader, "Ben Joravsky on Politics"

Non-Daily: Best Editorial Writing (N6)
Ann Dwyer, Crain's Chicago Business, "Ann Dwyer's Editorial"

Non-Daily: Best Business Reporting (N7)
Sam Worley, Chicago Magazine, "Can Mac Find Its Mojo?"

Non-Daily: Best Feature Story or Series (N8)
Adriana Cardona-Maguigad, Hoy Newspaper, The Gate Newspaper, Chicago Public Media and Social Justice News Nexus, "Puerto Rico Exports Its Drug Users to Chicago"

Non-Daily: Best Non-deadline Reporting in Newspaper or Magazine (N9)
Sarah Karp, Catalyst Chicago, "Tracking 434 missing students after closing"

Non-Daily: Best Political Reporting in Newspaper or Magazine (N10)
David Bernstein and Noah Isackson, Chicago Magazine, "New Tricks"

Non-Daily: Best Education Reporting in Newspaper or Magazine (N11)
Meribah Knight and Cassie Walker-Burke, Crain's Chicago Business, "Five Big Ideas for Chicago's Trouble Schools"

Non-Daily: Best Arts Reporting and Criticism (N12)
Jeff Ruby, Chicago Magazine, "What about Bob?"

Non-Daily: Best Sports Story (N13)
Michael Miller, Chicago Magazine, "Who is Jose Abreu?"

Non-Daily: Best Photography (N14)
Yvette Dostatni, Chicago Magazine, "The Unconventionals"

Non-Daily: Best Design (N15)
Leslie McFarland and Matt Mukerjee, Angie's List Magazine Chicago

Non-Daily: Best Illustration (N16)
Chris Gash, Chicago Magazine, "My Brony, Myself," "The Hot Dog Whisperer," "Word Rumble”

Non-Daily: General Excellence in Print Journalism (N17)
Staff, Chicago Magazine, "October, November, and December issues"

Broadcast Television: Best In-depth News Story or Series (T2)
Matt Finn and Madelin Fuerste, Fox News Channel, Foxnews.com, Fox News Affiliates, "Fox Lake Police Officer Suicide"

Broadcast Television: Best Investigative Report (T3)
Marion Brooks, Katy Smyser, Zach Christman, Mark Ringo, Julio Martineza and Mike Adams, NBC5 Chicago WMAQ-TV, "Luring Our Children"

Broadcast Television: Best On-Camera Talent (T4)
Jeremy Ross, WBBM-TV2

Broadcast Television: Best Feature News Report (T8)
Jeremy Ross and Tim Viste, WBBM-TV2, "The Squawky Squatters"

Broadcast Television: Best News Specialty/Arts/Culture/Entertainment News - Feature or Series (T17)
Daniel Andries, V.J. McAleer and Tom Siegel, WTTW, "Cannot Live Without: Illinois Artists at Work"

Broadcast Television: Best News Specialty/Business/Consumer News - Feature or Series (T18)
Robin Green, Lisa Parker and Mark Ringo, NBC Chicago, "Death and Airline Tickets"

Broadcast Television: Best News Specialty/Crime News (T19)
Tammy Leitner, Lisa Capitanini, Zachariah Christman, Mark Ringo, Julio Martinez and Tony Vitale, WMAQ, "Teen Terrorist"

Broadcast Television: Best News Specialty/Environment News (T21)
Chris Coffey, Mark Ringo, Mike Adams, Tony Vitale and Julio Martinez, NBC Chicago, "Safety Record of Crude Oil Trains in Question"

Broadcast Television: Best News Specialty/Health/Science News (T22)
Phil Rogers, Katy Smyser, Rich Moy, Mark Ringo, Ron Zachara and Doug Webber, NBC5 Chicago WMAQ-TV, "Harsh Treatment"

Broadcast Television: Best News Specialty/Human Interest (T23)
Martha Irvine, The Associated Press, "North Dakota oil boom -- a kid's view"

Broadcast Television: Best News Specialty/Politics/Government News (T24)
Phil Rogers, Katy Smyser, Lisa Capitanini, Richard Moy, Mark Ringo and Brian Moore, NBC5 Chicago WMAQ-TV, "Superstation to Nowhere"

Broadcast Television: Best News Specialty/Religious (T25)
Jazmin Beltran and Maria de Lourdes Garcia, Univision Chicago, "Latinas Musulmanas: Rompiendo Estereotipos"

Broadcast Radio: Best In-depth News Story or Series (R2)
Adriana Cardona-Maguigad, Chicago Public Media, Social Justice News Nexus, NPR's This American Life, "Puerto Rico Exports Its Drug Users to Chicago, 544: Not It!"

Broadcast Radio: Best Reporter (R4)
Dan Weissmann, Marketplace (American Public Media) and Morning Edition (National Public Radio)

Broadcast Radio: Best Newscast (R5)
Charlie Schumacher, Steve Grzanich and Ron Brown, Rivet Radio, "Rivet Midday News"

Broadcast Radio: Best Feature Reporting (R6)
Adriana Cardona-Maguigad, Chicago Public Media, NPR's This American Life, Social Justice News Nexus, "Puerto Rico Exports Its Drug Users to Chicago and 554: Not It!"

Broadcast Radio: Best Public Affairs Programming (R7)
Amanda Vinicky, Tony Arnold, Katie O'Brien and Ben Calhoun, WBEZ, "Proxy Wars"

Broadcast Radio: Best Business or Consumer Reporting (R8)
James VanOsdol and George Drake Jr., Rivet Radio, "Backstage at a music industry incubator"

Broadcast Radio: Best Health or Science Reporting (R9)
Steve Grzanich, Rivet Radio, "Scientists say nature's becoming too noisy"
Specialty/Trade: Best Deadline Report (S1)
Marc Karlinsky, Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, "Six-person jury law ruled unconstitutional"

Specialty/Trade: Best In-depth Report or Series (S2)
Sarah Karp and Becky Vevea, Catalyst Chicago/WBEZ FM, "New alternative schools: questionable quality and numbers"

Specialty/Trade: Best Commentary (S3)
Andy Shaw, Better Government Association, "Shaw Thoughts"

Specialty/Trade: Best Business or Consumer Reporting (S4)
Adeshina Emmanuel, The Chicago Reporter, "Who's doing business in the neighborhood"

Specialty/Trade: Best Feature Story or Series (S5)
Mark Hansen and Allen Pusey, ABA Journal, "An Innocent Killer? An admitted murderer seeks justice in the death of his daughter"

Specialty/Trade: Best Design (S6)
Chuck Lazar, Hospitals & Health Networks

Online: Best Multimedia Feature Presentation (X1)
Staff, DNAinfo.com Chicago, "Murder in Chicago: The Human Toll"

Online: Best News Web Site (X2)
Staff, DNAinfo.com Chicago, DNAinfo.com Chicago

Online: Best Individual Blog Post, independent (X3)
Sheila Quirke, Chicago Now blog, Mary Tyler Mom, "A Tale of Two Chicagos"

Online: Best Individual Blog Post, affiliated (X4)
Madeleine Doubek, Reboot Illinois www.rebootillinois.com, "Laquan McDonald's killing and the judgment for us all"

Online: Best Continuing Blog, independent (X5)
Hilary Gowins, Huffington Post, "Blogs by Hilary Gowins"

Online: Best Continuing Blog, affiliated (X6)
Madeleine Doubek, Reboot Illinois www.rebootillinois.com, "Dissecting divided government in Illinois"

Online: Best Deadline Reporting Online (X7)
Kelly Bauer, DNAinfo.com Chicago, "'Army of Moms' Hosts Barbecue After Fatal Shooting: 'We're Not Afraid'"

Online: Best Non-Deadline Reporting Online (X8)
Staff, The Medill Justice Project, "Wrongful convictions and other miscarriages of justice"

Online: Best Breaking News Story (X9)
Staff, Chicago Tribune, "Celebration and sorrow: Coverage of the July 4th weekend"

Online: Best Neighborhood/Community News (X10)
Staff, DNAinfo.com Chicago, "Neighborhood News Coverage"

Online: Best Business or Consumer Reporting (X11)
Kristen Schorsch and Jason McGregor, Crain's Chicago Business, "Running on Empty"

Online: Best Feature Story or Series (X12)
Bryan Gruley, Bloomberg, "For $725 Million, a Texas Ranch the Size of a Nation"

Online: Best Investigative/Public Service Reporting (X13)
Nomaan Merchant, Matt Sedensky, Martha Irvine, Maureen Linke, Reese Dunklin and Scott Smith, The Associated Press, "Betrayed by the Badge"

Online: Best Use of News Video (X14)
Allisha Azlan, The Medill Justice Project, "Medical Child Abuse: The Family Left Behind"

Online: Best Use of Features Video (X15)
Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune, "Chicago sees the writing on the wall"

Online: Best Use of Digital Technology (X16)
Luke Seemann and Mike Thomas, Chicago Magazine, "Heat Wave"

Online: Best Start-Up (X17)
Staff, City Bureau

Online: General Excellence in Online Journalism (X18)
Staff, Crain's Chicago Business

Online: Best Photo (X19)
Ashlee Rezin, Chicago Sun-Times, "Evi & Walter"