Polk Awards honor Sara Ganim, Anthony Shadid, California Watch, Advertiser Democrat

Long Island University George Polk Awards
Sara Ganim’s coverage of the Penn State scandal earned her a Polk Award, announced today. Also winning were several New York Times journalists for their reporting in conflict zones, including C.J. Chivers and Tyler Hicks, who was with Anthony Shadid when he died in Syria last week. Shadid, who was a 2003 recipient of the honor, was given a posthumous Polk Award. Several larger news organizations won, including The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, the Associated Press and the Boston Globe. And there were a few new names: California Watch, which won for medical reporting, and Maine’s Advertiser Democrat, where A.M. Sheehan and Matt Hongoltz-Hetling won the local reporting prize for coverage of housing conditions in Norway, Maine. The Polk Awards are sometimes a predictor of what will win a Pulitzer Prize in April. Ganim’s Patriot-News editor has confirmed the paper submitted its Penn State coverage for journalism’s top prize. || Related: Society of American Business Editors and Writers announces award winners for business reporting