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FEATURE STORY
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ANNUAL GEORGE POLK AWARDS T O HO NOR J OU RN A L ISM TH AT MA KES A D IFFE R E N C E
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or 70 years, Long Island University has been home to one of the most prestigious prizes in American journalism: the George Polk Awards.
The annual prize was the idea of a dedicated group of LIU professors who wanted to pay tribute to the memory of George Polk, a CBS radio correspondent murdered while covering suspected government corruption in Greece. Decades later, the judges still place a premium on investigative and enterprising reporting that gains attention and achieves results. The most recent winners were announced in a nationally televised event held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The ceremony was broadcast live on C-SPAN2 and cited stories that exposed miscarriages of justice, wrongful dealings in politics and business, and the massacre and starvation of innocent civilians abroad. “I am immensely proud of how this award has remained relevant despite an ever-changing journalistic landscape,” said Dr. Kimberly R. Cline, President of Long Island University. “It is for this reason that the George Polk Award has become one of the most highly regarded journalism honors in the country.” The judges awarded a prize for a podcast for the first time in
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LIUMAGAZINE | Spring 2019
the Polk Awards’ history to “In the Dark, Season Two.” “The Polk Awards recognize the changing landscape of news,” said John Darnton, curator of the awards and recipient of two Polk Awards and a Pulitzer for his work with The New York Times. “The story of a person who, in all likelihood is wrongly convicted, is tried and true. But the podcast, as a delivery vehicle spread over multiple episodes that makes listeners feel it is unfolding in real time right before their ears, is a new and exciting reincarnation.” The judges reviewed 554 submissions, a record number since the Polk Awards began. “Few years have been as fruitful as this one,” noted Darnton. “These winners tell us that the best of our journalists remain resilient, courageous, dedicated and undeterred by attacks on their ability and integrity.” Winners were honored at a luncheon ceremony at the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan on Friday, April 5. The journalist and author Charlayne Hunter-Gault read the award citations and moderated this year’s David J. Steinberg Seminar of the George Polk Awards, “After 70 Years, Still Honoring Reporters Who Seek to Right Wrongs,” on Thursday evening, April 4, at LIU Brooklyn’s Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts. Several of this year’s award winners took part in the seminar, which was free and open to the public. •