Herald reporter wins top McClatchy award

Duane Marsteller, the Herald’s database/investigative reporter, has won a prestigious McClatchy Co. President’s Award for his 2010 investigative reporting of Manatee Rural Health.

McClatchy, our parent company, owns 30 daily newspapers, and Duane's work was up against entries from all of them. McClatchy presented a total of 11 awards for work done in 2010, detailed here in this press release.
Here's how the President's Awards were described by Anders Gyllenhaal, vice president of news, in seeking nominations last month:

"The President’s Award, now in its 12th year, is distinctive in several ways. It honors the highest quality work from across our newsrooms, from public service campaigns to special sections to online projects to visual work. There aren’t specific categories, so instead the judges review all entries for work that stands out for its quality and impact. That means you are competing not so much against other papers, or with newsrooms of differing sizes, but with the high standards the award has set over the years."

Here is what the judges said of the Herald’s coverage of Manatee Rural Health:

“This is a great example of accountability journalism that revamped the way this agency was run. They’ve stayed on this story as only a dedicated newspaper can, which has served their readers and taxpayers well.”

But the most telling comment came from Duane after the awards were announced last week. In an email thanking everyone for their kudos, he wrote:

I'm not one to be big on awards (just ask Joan), but I am honored by this one because of the level of competition involved. I'm also proud that the series led to reforms within Rural Health that, I hope, make it a better agency and improve the services to the people it serves. That, to me, is the true reward.