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1983 IRE Awards
Return to The IRE Contest

IRE Investigative Reporting Contest

This Year's Winners

Newspapers over 75,000:

James Long and Leslie Zaitz
Portland Oregonian
A series on a Portland bank failure and the wrongdoing surrounding it

Donald Barlett and James Steele
Philadelphia Inquirer
A series on nuclear waste disposal

Daniel Biddle
Philadelphia Inquirer
A series on unethical conduct of Pennsylvania Supreme Court judges

Newspapers under 75,000:

Jim Quinn and Bill Zlatos
Fort Wayne News Sentinel (Ind.)
A series focusing on a religious sect spread over six states; articles document 52 deaths related to the sect's teachings against modern medicine

Deb Nelson and Rena Wish Cohen
Arlington Heights Sunday and Daily Herald (Ill.)
A series examining workplace toxic chemicals

Magazine:

Andrew Revkin
Science Digest
A story about the toxic chemical Paraquat being sprayed on fields as an alternative to plowing

Peter Elkind
Texas Monthly
An investigation of suspicious infant deaths linked to a nurse

Book:

Seymour Hersh
Summit Books
The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House

Television, larger market:

Pam Zekman, Andy Segal, Sandy Bergo, and Jack Murphy
WBBM-TV (Chicago)
A series on defective elevators in public housing

Al Austin and John Lindsay
WCCO-TV (Minneapolis)
A series focusing on district court judges with casual working habits despite backed-up caseloads

Dave Minshall
KMGH-TV (Denver)
Stories about city officials planning to skim money off a bingo game intended to support children in a junior police band

Television, smaller markets:

Bruce Bowers
WSOC-TV (Charlotte, N.C.)
A story about improper conduct by the park police chief

Jim Lyons
KCRG-TV (Cedar Rapids, Iowa)
A series explaining how life insurance agents were trained to steal customers' money

Radio:

Bob Scott and Wendy Black
KOY Radio (Phoenix)
Stories exploring the source of a suspected carcinogen contaminating water wells east of Phoenix