VPA Award: The Hook, The Roanoke Times

The VPA Awards for Journalistic Integrity and Community Service were presented to The Hook in Charlottesville (Group A) and The Roanoke Times (Group B). 

The Hook won for its coverage of a controversy over a new reservoir. The Roanoke Times took home the honor for its “Age of Uncertainty” series focusing on elderly issues.

In scoring The Hook, the judge wrote, “While the essence of this work was old-fashioned reporting, The Hook used its Web site to provide direct access to document after document in PDFs that its readers could see for themselves. It also linked to audio from local radio talk shows on the subject. Throughout it all, the writing was clear and devoid of bureaucratese that plagues much journalism on subjects like this.”

About Roanoke’s entry, the judge wrote, “The coverage enlightened the newspaper, too. It determined a weakness that led to the creation of a monthly column to answer readers’ questions about aging. In all, this body of work epitomizes what newspapers can do by bringing all their resources to bear on a matter of significant community interest.”