RJ wins 2 prestigious national journalism awards
The Las Vegas Review-Journal on Friday won two national awards from the Society of Professional Journalists.
For the second time in three years, the newspaper won the Sigma Delta Chi Award for deadline reporting in its circulation category. This year, the Review-Journal won for its first-day coverage of the deadly Alpine Motel fire in downtown Las Vegas.
The December fire killed six people, making it the deadliest residential fire in the city’s history.
Judges said the newspaper “employed clear and active-voice writing to tell the story of a fatal fire in a rundown apartment complex, detailing not only the drama but the stories of residents trying to escape. Reporters found safety violations on the spot, which led to a series resulting in a criminal investigation.”
The last time the newspaper won that category was for its coverage of the Oct. 1, 2017, mass shooting on the Strip.
“The Sigma Delta Chi Awards are among the most prestigious journalism honors in the country,” Review-Journal Executive Editor Glenn Cook said. “To be recognized twice in three years as having the best breaking news coverage is humbling, and to win two awards in a single year is an amazing achievement and a reflection of the incredible work we do every day.”
In addition to the breaking news award, columnist Ed Graney won for sports column writing in the newspaper’s circulation category.
Judges said Graney “does what great columnists do — show the humanity, foolishness and greatness of sport.”
Cook said a 2018 Review-Journal investigation into fatal residential fires positioned the news organization to cover the Alpine fire with more depth than any other news organization.
“We knew older apartment buildings across the city’s urban core were at much higher risk of having deadly blazes,” Cook said. “Our reporters and visual journalists were familiar with issues from poor maintenance and upkeep to code violations to hazardous safety measures. They knew what questions needed to be asked the day after the Alpine fire. And we’re still asking questions about the fire to this day.”
Contact Blake Apgar at bapgar@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5298. Follow @blakeapgar on Twitter.