The Connecticut chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists lauded the Hartford Business Journal with 18 awards for journalistic excellence. The awards presentation was made at the Society’s annual meeting on May 24.
The awards were for work done in 2006. The judging was done by journalists in Arkansas, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington D.C., and Washington state.
The Hartford Business Journal came away with seven first place awards, three second place finishes and eight honorable mentions — one of the highest total award counts of any publication in the state.
In business reporting, Matthew Brown took first place for his story “Buildings Above, Poison Below.” He also took second place for his piece “Building Blocker.” Honorable mentions went to Jonathan O’Connell for his article “Playing With Fire,” Diane Weaver Dunne for her story “In Pursuit of Paying Patients,” and Christina Davis for “Familymeds Swoons After DrugMax Debacle.”
In feature reporting, Jonathan O’Connell took two honorable mentions, for his stories “Puttin’ On The Fitz” and “New Ventures Favoring Downtown Hartford.”
In feature-series, Diane Weaver Dunne won both first place for her multiple stories on the business of Connecticut’s nonprofits, and honorable mention for her Connecticut Clean Energy Fund stories.
For general column writing, Jonathan O’Connell placed first with his Influence column, “Lobbyists Choke on New Gag Rules.” Laurence D. Cohen took second place honors for his Artful Strategist column, “Lusting After A Good Story.”
Jonathan O’Connell also took second place in general reporting for his “Playing With Fire” article.
Matthew Brown grabbed first place for in-depth reporting, for his “Building Blocker” story. Brown also took honorable mention for his “Buildings Above, Poisons Below” piece.
For in depth-series, Diane Weaver Dunne grabbed first for her articles looking at the business of Connecticut’s health care organizations, while Jonathan O’Connell garnered an honorable mention for his stem cell series.
In investigative reporting-series, Diane Weaver Dunne’s Connecticut Clean Energy Fund stories took the first place prize.
And, finally, the Hartford Business Journal won the first place award for sports feature writing. That honor came for Christina Davis’s “Nothing But Net” story.
HBJ editor Vincent Michael Valvo said, “This was a great night. And made possible by the wonderful talents of some of the best journalists I’ve ever had the privilege of working with. It was fun to rake in all those certificates. But not nearly as much fun as it is putting out this great newspaper every week.”
