ProPublica won two Online Journalism Awards on Saturday at the Online News Association Conference in Denver.
Reliving Agent Orange, reported in partnership with the Virginian-Pilot, won for topical reporting. Written by ProPublica’s Charles Ornstein and Terry Parris Jr., and the Virginian-Pilot’s Mike Hixenbaugh, the series explores the ongoing fight of Vietnam Navy veterans seeking compensation and benefits as a result of their exposure to Agent Orange, as well as the plight of children and grandchildren of Vietnam vets who believe their health has also been affected.
The Color of Debt won an Al Neuharth Innovation in Investigative Journalism Award. The story and interactive maps by Paul Kiel, Annie Waldman and Al Shaw analyzed racial disparities in lawsuits used to pursue consumer debts. Through an unprecedented analysis of five years of court records, they found that the rate of debt collection judgments was twice as high in mostly black neighborhoods as in mostly white ones, even when accounting for differences in income.
See a list of all the Online Journalism Award winners here.