Independent Weekly staff writer Mosi Secret is leaving the paper to work for the self-described "non-profit newsroom producing journalism in the public interest," the Weekly reports. Secret, a 2004 Academy for Alternative Journalism fellow who recently won his second Casey Medal in as many years, will join former San Francisco Bay Guardian and SF Weekly reporter A.C. Thompson and former Texas Observer editor and Miami New Times scribe Jake Bernstein on the ProPublica staff.
Mosi Secret received the 2008 Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism in the non-daily category for "Stolen Youth," a story of 14-year-old Erick Daniels, who was convicted of robbery in 2001 and sentenced to more than a decade in prison. There was no physical evidence linking Daniels to the crime, and there were key discrepancies in witness testimony and police reports. Daniels is expected to receive a new trial this year, largely due to Secret's investigation. He will be honored at an October ceremony, and will receive a $1,000 prize. Once again, AAN members swept this category: Seattle Weekly's Huan Hsu was the runner-up in the category, and two Westword writers -- Luke Turf and Joel Warner -- received honorable mentions. Secret won the same prize last year.
In the non-daily print division, AAN members comprise 16 of the 30 finalists in the Society of Professional Journalists' Green Eyeshade Awards, which "recognizes outstanding journalism in 11 southeastern states." The Memphis Flyer and Miami New Times each has six finalists, New Times Broward-Palm Beach has two, and the Independent Weekly and Mountain XPress each has one.
The Independent Weekly's Derek Anderson was named Photographer of the Year by the NCPA, and the Weekly took home four first-place awards, for Investigative Reporting, Feature Photography, Photo Page, and News Coverage. The paper also placed second in two categories and third in one. Creative Loafing (Charlotte) finished first in two categories: News Feature Writing and Lighter Columns. Mountain XPress also took a second-place award for Investigative Reporting, and a third-place "general excellence" award for its website.
Richard Hart resigned last week, the News & Observer reports. The editor of the 50,000-circulation Durham, North Carolina, weekly tells the N&O that he chose to resign. "It's a tough job, and I was ready to move on," he says. "I'm very proud of the work of the staff and the awards the paper received during my time there."
The North Carolina alt-weekly took home a first place prize in the nondaily category for Mosi Secret's story of one man's struggles to overcome addictions to find meaningful, legal work through a Durham jobs program. The paper will receive a Casey Medal and $1,000 at a ceremony this October. AAN members swept this category, with Seattle Weekly's Nina Shapiro finishing second, and Phoenix New Times' Sarah Fenske receiving an honorable mention.
Freelancers Sherry Deatrick of Louisville Eccentric Observer and Jennifer Smith of Isthmus, and Byron Woods, theater and dance critic for the Independent Weekly (Durham, N.C.), have each received fellowships to attend the third National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Journalism Institute in Theater and Musical Theater at the USC Annenberg School for Communication in Los Angeles. "All the American arts depend on media coverage and intelligent criticism," says NEA chairman Dana Gioia. "The NEA Arts Journalism Institutes provide professional development to improve both the quantity and quality of this country's arts journalism." The Institute, a $1 million NEA initiative, will be conducted next year from Jan. 30 - Feb. 9.
After two decades in a ramshackle Durham house on Hillsborough Road, the Independent Weekly is moving up and out. "We've done it all from our drafty old patchwork quilt of a house, where our back-issues archive is a bathtub, our only meeting room is also known as the lobby and no one is that surprised to find mouse droppings in a drawer now and then," writes a slightly wistful Jennifer Strom in this week's paper. The Indy will produce next week's issue during its move to the third floor of the renovated Venable Tobacco Co. warehouse in downtown Durham.
