LIU's Esteemed George Polk Awards Honor Influential Work of Investigative Reporters Worldwide

BROOKLYN, N.Y., Nov. 5, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The George Polk Awards, established by LIU in 1948 and among the paragons of excellence in journalism, were established to commemorate George Polk, a CBS correspondent who was murdered while covering the Greek Civil War. The awards, conferred annually, recognize the courage, determination, and intrepid work of reporters and communicators who expose and uncover matters of critical importance that enlighten, raise debate, and often rattle complacency. John Darnton, a 40-year veteran editor, reporter, and foreign correspondent for The New York Times, and two-time Polk Award recipient, curates the awards.

Winners in a dozen, constantly evolving categories are named each year from among hundreds of entries referred by a panel of advisors and submitted by reporters or their news organizations. They are chosen from newspapers, magazines, television, radio, and online news organizations that range from small-town publications to major international reporting, as well as non-traditional news sources such as nonprofit organizations.

The competition, in its 67th year, is now accepting nominations for outstanding investigative journalism in 2014. Nominations will be accepted through Jan. 15, 2015 and can be submitted by news organizations, reporters, other members of the media, and the reading and viewing public.

The Polk Awards Advisory Committee, educators, and communications professionals who are members of LIU's faculty and alumni conduct the final review and determine the award-winning selections. The 2014 awards will be conferred at a luncheon held in spring 2015.

"We value surprises in our search for excellence," said Darnton. "Here at LIU, our judges are quick on their feet and flexible. If an outstanding piece of journalism cannot make it in a category already occupied, they have been known to create a new one out of whole cloth, displaying the resourcefulness and improvisational skill they look for in prize winners."

Over its 67-year history, scores of journalism giants have won Polk Awards. Diane Sawyer, Walter Cronkite, Christiane Amanpour, and Edward R. Murrow are among the celebrated broadcasters who have been recognized, while reporters from the ranks of smaller market papers in Fargo, North Dakota, and Des Moines, Iowa, share honors with high-profile journalists like the Washington Post's Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, The New York Times' James Reston, and the New York Daily News' Pete Hamill.

"LIU is immensely proud of its near 70-year tradition of engaging the most influential contributors to print, broadcast, and online communications through the George Polk Awards," said Dr. Kimberly R. Cline, president of LIU. "Through their skills and tenacity, journalists provide portals into the essence of the people and events that command attention, allowing their audiences and readers to observe and assess the world."

Among last year's winners was Andrea Elliott of The New York Times, who received the 2013 George Polk Award for Local Reporting for "Invisible Child," her riveting five-part series focusing on one of 22,000 homeless children in New York City. After encountering an engaging 11-year-old girl, Dasani Coates, outside a Brooklyn homeless shelter, Elliott spent 15 months virtually living with Dasani and her family to produce an insightful account of the realities of urban poverty that has echoes of Charles Dickens.

Michael Kirk, Jim Gilmore, Mike Wiser, Steve Fainaru, and Mark Fainaru-Wada received the 2013 Network Television Reporting award for  "League of Denial," a Frontline documentary aired on PBS that traced the National Football League's longstanding efforts to quash evidence linking players' head injuries to an inordinately high level of the brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy. The program detailed how physicians on the NFL payroll dismissed independent medical research and demeaned the researchers in a concerted effort to hide the truth.

To submit entries online for a 2014 George Polk Award, visit http://www.polkawards.org. Paper entries may be submitted to:
The George Polk Awards
Attn: Ralph Engelman
Journalism Department
LIU Brooklyn
1 University Plaza
Brooklyn, NY 11201-5372
718-488-1009

LIU
LIU, founded in 1926, continues to redefine higher education, empowering its students with skills they need to excel in the classroom and throughout their professional careers, providing high quality academic instruction taught by world-class faculty. One of the nation's largest private universities, LIU offers 500 accredited programs to more than 20,000 students and has an active network of 200,000 alumni that includes leaders in industries across the globe. LIU's innovation in experiential learning, its high-tech startup incubator, on-the-ground training, and the LIU Promise student mentoring program further distinguish LIU as a leader among the nation's most respected universities.  Visit liu.edu for more information.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141105/156802LOGO

SOURCE Long Island University