Gazette Chicago earned a Peter Lisagor Award from the Chicago Headline Club at its 45th annual awards presentation on May 6.
The award was in the Best News Column, Editorial Writing, or Commentary category for “Clout is key to proposed One Central boondoggle,” which appeared in the March 6, 2021, issue. Editor Mark J. Valentino and Associate Editor William S. Bike co-wrote the editorial, which covers a development that South Loop residents oppose and the City’s and State’s efforts to push it forward anyway.
“Throughout Gazette Chicago’s 40-year history, a recurring theme has been developers with clout disrupting neighborhoods—with government help no less,” Valentino said. “Usually they do this in neighborhoods whose residents don’t have a lot of clout themselves, but this development is unique in that the developer, City, and State are trying to force it on a neighborhood whose residents have a lot of financial resources and savvy in dealing with government.”
“If they can do this to the South Loop, they can do it anywhere,” Bike said. “Our editorial showed a better way: zoning boards, in which community representatives, not developers and politicians, make the decisions.”
Lisagor Awards are the most prestigious in Chicago-area journalism. The Chicago Headline Club is the largest association of working journalists in the area and the largest local chapter of the national Society of Professional Journalists.
Besides Gazette Chicago, additional winning media outlets included the Better Government Association, Bloomberg News, Daily Herald, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, WBEZ-Radio, and many others.
This is the fifth Lisagor awarded to Gazette Chicago since 1993, and the publication’s 75th award overall.
The Lisagor awards are named for Peter Lisagor, the Chicago Daily News’s Washington Bureau chief from 1959 to 1976.