AL.com reporting on predatory policing in the small town of Brookside, Ala., won the national News Leaders Association first place award today for “local accountability reporting.”

And Al.com columnist Kyle Whitmire won the national association’s Mike Royko Award for Commentary and Column Writing for his series “State of Denial: How 150 years of whitewashed history poisons Alabama today.”

“The impact of this work has been remarkable – and continues today,” Kelly Ann Scott, AL.com vice president of content, said Friday. “Both pieces continue to be part of Alabama’s conversation about itself today.”

AL.com’s first place winning team, who also shared a Pulitzer Prize for their Brookside reporting, are reporters John Archibald and Ashley Remkus, data reporter Ramsey Archibald and editor Challen Stephens. The News Leaders Association judges called it “local accountability reporting at its very best.”

“AL.com took what everyone in a community knew to be true about a local police department and brought reporting depth and a clarity of writing that is too often hard to come by,” the judges said. “The story is told with straight-forward care and assuredness that is admirable in any publication, much less one challenging such an entrenched power structure.”

AL.com shared first place for the Frank A. Blethen Award for Local Accountability Reporting with Wichita Eagle reporter Michael Stavola, who exposed racist messages openly shared by the local police.

Whitmire’s year-long examination of how Alabama history influences the state today also won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary earlier this year.

“Whitmire’s engaging approach of serving as a reader’s tour guide pulls a reader through Alabama’s dark, racist history that still pokes through civic life. He doesn’t use in-your-face prose,” wrote the judges for the News Leader contest. “Instead, he brings readers along while writing about how white lawmakers in 1901 subverted the rights of Black citizens.”

“His compelling writing makes plain that this is not merely Alabama’s history; it is also its present, as political forces try to erase or whitewash what truly happened – and what is still tolerated.”

Finalists for the Royko Award were Nancy M. Preyor-Johnson of the San Antonio Express-News and Mark Lamster of the Dallas Morning News.

“We’re honored to be recognized by other news leaders in the country and among so much work that made a difference across the country,” said Scott at AL.com.

The News Leaders Association awards continue the traditions of two earlier organizations – the American Society of News Editors and Associated Press Media Editors – that merged into the News Leaders Association to train, support and recognize quality journalism.

“There is no bigger honor than to be able to read and recognize the best of American journalism, and this year the entries were truly astounding. 2022 brought us too much tragedy, corruption and malfeasance. It also produced some of the most compelling, hard-hitting and gut-wrenching journalism,” said NLA Board Secretary and Awards Committee Chair Audrey Cooper, Editor in Chief and Vice President of News at WNYC/New York Public Radio.

Other winners announced Friday include:

• Dorothy Tucker, National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) President and CBS2 Chicago Investigative Reporter, won the Robert G. McGruder Award for Diversity Leadership
• POLITICO staff won the Batten Medal for coverage of an issue that presents an urgent challenge to the United States. The winning work was breaking the news that the Supreme Court had voted to overturn Roe v. Wade and revealing internal dissension and questions about court ethics.
• Craig Whitlock and Nate Jones of The Washington Post won the First Amendment Award for “Foreign Servants” about retired military leaders paid “enormous amounts of money to share their expertise with foreign nations.”
• Jaeah Lee of Type Investigations won the Dori J. Maynard Justice Award for “This Rap Song Helped Sentence a 17-year-old to prison,” about prosecutors winning convictions and long prison terms by linking defendants to rap music and lyrics.
• John Woodrow Cox also of The Washington Post won the Deborah Howell Award for Writing Excellence, given the “best story on any topic.” His story “An American Girl” told the story of Caitlyne Gonzalas, a young survivor of the Uvalde mass shooting.
• Reem Akkad at The Washington Post won the Punch Sulzberger Innovative Editor of the Year award as a leader who pushes the newsroom into new ways of investigating and telling stories.
• The Los Angeles Times editorial board won the Burl Osborne Award for Editorial and Opinion Award for editorial writing that makes a difference in the community.