Investigative Reporting Program and alums win National Headliner Awards

From top left: Garance Burke (’04), Bill Whitaker (’78/’16), Casey Smith (’20), Katey Rusch (’20), Serginho Roosblad (’18), Marian Carrasquero (’19) and Mary Spicuzza (’04).

UC Berkeley Journalism’s Investigative Reporting Program and seven alums are winners in the 91st National Headliner Awards, which honor the best journalism in the United States in 2024 across platforms.

The Best in Show/Newspapers Award — a top honor — went to Katey Rusch (’20) and Casey Smith (’20) for the Investigative Reporting Program/San Francisco Chronicle collaboration “Right to Remain Secret.” The story, developed in and supported by the IRP, went head-to-head with some of the nation’s best investigative journalism this year and won multiple honors. The story also won a National Headliner first place award for investigative reporting (top 20 media market) category.

“Were it not for the curious reporters at The San Francisco Chronicle, all California would not know about the alarming practice of hiding police personnel folders from views to rid certain agencies of bad apples who, with their misconduct shielded, simply popped over to another law enforcement job,” the Headliner judges said.

Serginho Roosblad (’18), a reporter on the Associated Press Global Investigations team and Marian Carrasquero (’19) were part of the AP and “Frontline” teams that won the Digital Journalism Best in Show prize for “Lethal Restraint.” The story won for online investigative reporting for digital partnerships with other news outlets.

“The Associated Press and others hit this out of the park, revealing how police tactics used to avoid lethal force result in a death sentence for some of the most vulnerable citizens — many in the midst of a mental health crisis and often posing zero threat — at the hands of officers who, at best, are poorly trained and at worst, full of vengeance and loathfulness,” the judges said.

Also for the AP, Garance Burke (’04) was on the team that won first place in newspaper political coverage for “The AI Campaign.” The judges said: “AI is rapidly becoming a major influencer in our lives. That’s not necessarily a good thing, as far as elections are concerned. This Associated Press package looks at how significant misinformation from AI makes clear that it is not quite ready for election prime time.”

Bill Whitaker (’78/’16) won first place in the broadcast human interest category for “CBS Sunday Morning: Civil War Veteran Honored.” “Bill Whitaker’s inspiring report occurs at the intersection of two families separated by race, distance and centuries of time in solving the mystery of a slave who took up arms for the Union in the Civil War, and the jarring revelation of finding his remains and moving them to a fitting place of honor,” the judges said.

Mary Spicuzza (’04) of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel won third place in the investigative reporting category and third place for digital narrative podcast for “My Cousin Augie.” The stories lay out how 45 years after her cousin was killed by a car bomb in Milwaukee, Spicuzza set out to uncover the truth behind the murder.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigative reporter Mary Spicuzza sorts through the news organization’s archives on her cousin Augie. Illustration: Andrea Brunty, USA TODAY Network; Photos: Bill Schulz / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Files.