Annual awards honor journalism that highlights issues of social and economic justice

New York – The Sidney Hillman Foundation has announced the winners of the 2008 Sidney Hillman Foundation Journalism Awards, honoring journalism that explores the issues of social and economic justice. The award categories for 2008 include: Books (non-fiction), Newspaper Reporting, Magazine Reporting, Broadcast Reporting (television and radio), Photojournalism, and Blogs. The 2008 awards are given for work produced, published or exhibited in 2007.

Book

Robert Kuttner

The Squandering of America: How the Failure of Our Politics Undermines Our Prosperity

Knopf Publishing Group

Newspaper

Charles Duhigg

"Golden Opportunities"

The New York Times

Magazine

Ray Ring

"Death in the Energy Fields"

High Country News

Broadcast

Bill Moyers and Kathy Hughes

"Buying The War"

Bill Moyers Journal

Photojournalism

Luis Sinco

"The Marlboro Marine: Two lives blurred together by a photo"

Los Angeles Times

Blog

ThinkProgress.org – A project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund

Faiz Shakir and Amanda Terkel

Each winner is provided travel to the awards presentation ceremony on May 27th in New York City. At the event, each winner will receive a statuette and a $5,000 prize.

Submissions were judged by a distinguished panel including Hendrik Hertzberg, senior editor, The New Yorker; Susan Meiselas, independent photojournalist; Harold Meyerson, columnist, Washington Post; Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor, The Nation; and Rose Arce, an award-winning producer at CNN. Past award winners include author Barbara Ehrenreich, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, The Wall Street Journal, CBS News correspondent Ed Bradley, NPR, Business Week, and Time magazine.

The Sidney Hillman Foundation has been granting awards since 1950 to journalists whose work explores and exposes the pertinent issues of our time, providing the evidence and inspiration to spur action and movement toward a more just society. Each year the foundation also grants the UNITE HERE Officers’ Award to a public figure or organization which has made a difference. And it awards a labor historian whose work furthers our understanding of the working-class experience in America.

UNITE HERE Officers’ Award

Writers Guild of America, East

Writers Guild of America, West

For their historic victory and the solidarity it inspired.

Sol Stetin Award for Labor History

David Brody Professor of History Emeritus

University of California, Davis

Sidney Hillman, the founding president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (a predecessor union of UNITE HERE), pioneered many of the most progressive aspects of the American labor movement. Under his leadership, the union opened a labor bank so that workers’ money would help them rather than support business interests; it built the first union-sponsored cooperative housing; and it created the first unemployment insurance program. As an influential adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Hillman was instrumental in shaping the New Deal and landmark labor legislation protecting workers’ rights and raising living standards. He developed dispute resolution mechanisms that foreshadowed today’s grievance and arbitration procedures. And, largely as a result of his efforts, political action became a priority in the labor movement.

Hillman’s steadfast, thoughtful actions improved the lives of millions and forged a progressive path that still influences unions and movements for social justice. It is in Hillman’s honor, then, that the foundation grants awards in the categories of book (non-fiction), magazine, newspaper, photojournalism, broadcast and blog. Over the years, a distinguished roster of journalists has won awards for investigating an array of topics that otherwise often are ignored. Many past winners have been established figures in their field; others have been journalists or publications yet to receive their due.

These awards are intended to pay tribute to those whose work has probed tough issues – and to encourage others to use their craft to do the same. Such work not only informs, it inspires. And that leads to action – and change. This mission is newly important, as the information age is rapidly changing the way that news is created and distributed.

Bruce Raynor, general president of UNITE HERE, is president of the foundation and Amanda Cooper is its executive director. For more information, visit www.hillmanfoundation.org.