Newhouse School Announces Winners in 2013 Mirror Awards Competition

Naming of Dick Clark Studios also announced at awards ceremony

Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications presented seven journalism awards June 5 at the seventh annual Mirror Awards ceremony. The event was held at Cipriani 42 in New York City.

The ceremony was attended by Kari Clark, widow of legendary entertainer Dick Clark ’51, who announced a lead gift from the Kari and Dick Clark Foundation for the naming of the Newhouse School’s renovated studio complex, currently under construction. Dick Clark Studios will open in Fall 2014.

Mirror Award winners, chosen by a group of journalists and journalism educators, are:

• Best Profile – Traditional/Legacy or Digital Media: Adrian Chen, “Unmasking Reddit’s Violentacrez,  The Biggest Troll on the Web,”  Gawker
• Best Single Story – Radio, Television, Cable or Online Broadcast Media: Missouri Press Association, “Deadline in Disaster”
• Best Commentary – Digital Media: Craig Silverman, “‘Confirmed’ and ‘sources’ may not mean what you think they do on Twitter,” “In real-time journalism, declaring what you won’t report can be just as important as what you will,” “False Paterno death reports highlight journalists’ hunger for glory,” Poynter
• Best Commentary – Traditional/Legacy Media:      Syed Irfan Ashraf, “Hard times for journalists,” “The face of confidence,” “Military-media relationship,” Dawn, Pique   
• Best Single Article – Digital  Media: Joe Eskenazi, “Top 5 Ways Bleacher Report Rules the World!,” San      Francisco Weekly
• Best Single Article –  Traditional/Legacy Media:  Ken Auletta, “Citizens Jain,” The New Yorker
• John M. Higgins Award for Best In-Depth/Enterprise Reporting: Jodi Enda, “Staying Alive,” American Journalism Review

In addition, the Newhouse School honored Anne Sweeney, co-chair of Disney Media Networks and president of Disney/ABC Television Group, with the Fred Dressler Leadership Award. Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan, co-hosts of “LIVE with Kelly and Michael,” presented the award.

Nate Silver, statistician, writer and founder of fivethirtyeight.com, received the i-3 award for impact, innovation and influence. The award was presented by Donny Deutsch, chairman of Deutsch Inc.

Clark was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by comedian and actor Jerry Stiller ’50.

Luncheon co-chairs were John Sykes, president of Clear Channel Entertainment Enterprises; Melinda Witmer, executive vice president and chief video & content officer for Time Warner Cable; and David Zaslav, president and CEO of Discovery Communications.

The Mirror Awards are the most important awards for honoring excellence in media industry reporting. Established by the Newhouse School in 2006, the awards honor the reporters, editors and teams of writers who hold a mirror to their own industry for the public’s benefit.