The Silurians Press Club

Silurians 2024 Excellence in Journalism Awards

By Michael Serrill 

Silurians Board of Governors 

One of the biggest New York stories in 2023 was the sudden arrival of tens of thousands of migrants from around the world.  Many were bused in by Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas in his zeal to punish “liberal” northern cities for their unofficial status as “sanctuaries” for the hordes of homeless refugees wandering the world. Others arrived after hearing that New York was, by law, required to accommodate them.  The crisis that the migrant flood created for the city also presented a unique challenge for local journalists eager to cover every aspect of this complicated news story. 

That test was met and surpassed by The New York Times in a series of stories and photographs by reporters Andy Newman, Dana Rubinstein and Julie Turkewitz, and photographers Todd Heisler and Juan Arredondo. Their efforts earned them one of two President’s Choice Awards in the Silurian Press Club’s annual Excellence in Journalism awards.  

Newsday was the other President’s Choice winner, with a monumental series titled “Feeling the Squeeze: The High Cost of Living on Long Island.” The 12-part series, complete with charts and videos, paints a deep, comprehensive and affecting portrait of how hard it is for many middle-class and low-income Long Islanders to get by in a time of rising prices for virtually everything.

 The New York Times and the Newsday teams were two of the 23 Medallions honoring local journalist to be awarded this year. The Times won a total of seven Medallions and three runner-up Merit awards.  Newsday took two Medallions and four Merits, while THE CITY, an ambitious online news service, brought home three Medallions and two Merits. 

Another winner of multiple awards was The Record/northjersey.com, which won two Medallions and a Merit, while Bloomberg News earned a Medallion and two Merits. 

The New York City News Service at CUNY’s graduate journalism school earned a Medallion with a package on the migrant crisis, headlined “The Newest New Yorkers,” which won in the Minority Affairs category.  “The quality of the competition this year was as high as it has ever been,” said Awards Chairman Jack Deacy. “Whether the category was breaking news, feature and sports photography, arts and culture reporting or coverage of business scandal, the judges had a hard job choosing the best from a host of excellent entries.” 

 Silurians President Joe Berger said of the Times migrant entry, “The team combined vivid, revealing photographs and eloquent, compassionate reporting and writing on the burden the surge has created.” 

Newsday’s deep dive countered any popular notions of Long Island as largely a land of McMansions and the Hamptons. The stories point out that 19 percent of residents in Nassau County and 26 percent in Suffolk don’t make enough money to meet their basic needs — and that with rising inflation, particularly in housing prices and rents, the situation is worse than it was just four years ago. 

The project went beyond reporting the facts to offer solutions in the form of links and telephone contacts for agencies and other critical resources. This is the 100th anniversary of the Silurians Press Club. 

Our local Excellence in Journalism awards began in 1945. But as local news outlets die by the dozens, it is more important than ever to honor those who go all out to cover news, and scandal, from their home communities. Following are our Medallion winners this year.