2002 Batten Awards Winners

Dan Suwyn
Managing Editor, Savannah Morning News
For “Vision 2010”

“Everyone wanted to talk about what’s the right role of the newspaper … I think what we learned is our identity is to be public servant. And if you remember to be a public servant first … then you can fill a lot of different roles.”

Rosemary Goudreau
Managing Editor, The Cincinnati Enquirer
For “Divided by Race” and “Neighbor to Neighbor”

“The importance of having a big, bold idea was critical to [the project’s] success. Having a solutions-oriented conversation in every neighborhood, every village, every city of greater Cincinnati, was an idea that inspired people and ultimately helped bring buy-in on board.”

Neil Heinen
Editorial Director, WISC-TV, partner with the Wisconsin State Journal
For “Schools of Hope”

“The fact that the community leaders, the citizens, the people who first got involved in ‘Schools of Hope’ remain committed to it reflects the integrity of the journalism and the fact that … we did go to the third places.”

Kate Parry
Senior Editor, St. Paul Pioneer Press
For “Safer Cities,” “Poverty Among Us,” “Across Generations” and “The New Face of Minnesota”

“The first Sunday of our first project, which was ‘Safer Cities,’ a staffer was sitting in her church. When time came for announcements, a woman stood up and held up a copy of the Pioneer Press and said, ‘You’ve got to go home and read this with your families and talk about it.’… Nothing like that had ever happened before.”

Jonathan Mandell
Editor-in-Chief, GothamGazette.com
For “Searchlight on Campaign 2001”

“We asked for and got a lot of help from our readers, from interns and volunteers and contributors, from academic institutions, from community groups … from other Web sites … and the press, which welcomed our attempt to put all relevant information all in one place. We had no competitors. We had only collaborators.”

Sue Johnson
Director, Picture Projects
For “360degrees.org-Perspectives on the Criminal Justice System”

“What we set out to do is uncover the layers that collectively create an incredibly complicated criminal justice system. We wanted to dissect it in such a way that people felt like they could actually have some stake in it and help to shape the future of it.”

Mark Briggs
New Media Editor, The Herald, Everett, WA
For “Waterfront Renaissance”

“I think our project has reverberated outside of the Everett area, throughout the journalism community … I continually receive calls from other journalists who are going to attempt some similar fashion of our project in their own communities.”