Minneapolis -- The Association of Health Care Journalists is pleased to announce the winners of its first Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. The association received more than 375 entries in five categories -- large newspapers, small newspapers, magazines, trade/online journals, and TV/radio.
Last year, the Association's board voted to create the awards because of concerns that special interest groups were seeking to sway media coverage by awarding large prizes for coverage of medical and health issues. No health-care company or agency funded the awards.
"The quality of the winning entries is extraordinary," said Trudy Lieberman, AHCJ's president. "Media outlets are to be applauded for taking health coverage seriously. By recognizing the best work, we hope to inspire reporters to continually improve."
Winners were recognized at a ceremony April 1 at AHCJ's annual conference in Chapel Hill, N.C. First place winners received $250 plus travel expenses to the conference. They spoke on a panel about their work on Saturday, April 2.
This year's contest co-chairs were Charles Ornstein, a reporter at the Los Angeles Times and AHCJ's treasurer, and Julie Appleby, a health business reporter at USA Today.