Nondaily

This is the epitome of public service journalism. The Long Island Press made a commitment to educating its community about a growing heroin epidemic among young people. The team simultaneously reveals a hidden scourge and a disturbing truth about the community at large. The series exposes wrongdoing and deception by school administrators, who stonewalled the reporters and put their schools’ reputations above student health. Readers see the problem from all angles – through the eyes of kids, parents, schools and cops. The story did what the best stories do: It galvanized an entire community to take action.

The reporter conveys the complexities involving Derrick Steele’s struggles to overcome addictions to find meaningful, legal work through a Durham jobs program. Secret also shows how the program falters through lack of funding and commitment, leaving participants unsteady and on the edge.

This story -- a detailed account of the travails of a 172-pound 10-year-old girl struggling with adult-onset diabetes -- personalizes the pressing issue of childhood obesity. One doctor quoted calls the epidemic of adult-onset diabetes in children "one of the big stories of the millennium," and Gard found a way, by delving deeply and with understanding into a child's life, family situation, diet and daily routine, to capture that sense of importance.

Reckdahl’s series of strong reports show that the juvenile justice system in Louisiana needs more accountability for how it treats young offenders. Her indefatigable reporting is the series' strength. She uses case histories and numbers in addressing the questions of how best to handle juvenile offenders, and she gives a full and compelling report on the troubled Tallulah Correctional Center for Youth.