The staff of the Capital Gazette on Tuesday won a national breaking news award for its coverage of a shooting in its newsroom that left five people dead.
The American Society of News Editors and Associated Press Media Editors awarded the Al Neuharth Breaking News Reporting Award to the staffs of the Capital Gazette and The Baltimore Sun.
{mosads}”This powerful package of compelling and deeply informative content (in-the-moment tweets, thorough and accurate news stories, photos and poignant profiles) demonstrated courage and dedication in the face of overwhelming personal loss,” the award’s judges said in a statement.
“The journalists put their mission above their misery to inform the public, honor their fallen friends, and still somehow ‘put out a damn paper,’ ” they added.
“The work they produced lived up to the highest standards of breaking news reporting while covering a horrific tragedy in their own work place, their own lives. The judges would like to give special recognition to the Capital Gazette staff members that did stellar work that day and have continued to do so in the weeks and months since the tragedy as they honor those who lost their lives.”
Capital Gazette Communications Editor Rick Hutzell tweeted that the paper remains “focused on the hard work of community journalism.”
A gunman opened fire at the Capital Gazette’s Annapolis, Md., headquarters in June, killing five staff members. The paper still published a paper the next day.
The paper is owned by The Baltimore Sun.