More about the 2010 Grantham Prize Finalists

e2: Transport

The e2 crew on the River Seine while shooting the episode Paris:Vélo Liberté. (L to R: Fabrice Celeste, Josh van Praag, Veronique Bernard, Tad Fettig)

Tad Fettig, Karena Albers, and Veronique Bernard from kontentreal for their 6-part television series, “e2: Transport.”

The series, featured on PBS affiliates throughout the U.S., featured solutions-oriented approaches to tackling one of the modern world’s biggest challenges: How to move people around without further damaging the Earth.  Jurors found the presentation "remarkable," and a “prime example of the transformative power of television.”

Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent

Andrew Nikiforuk, author of Tar Sands. Credit: Doreen Docherty.

Andrew Nikiforuk for his book, "Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent," published by Greystone Books.

Nikiforuk tells the story of tar sands oil development in Alberta, Canada, which may be the largest single fossil fuel project on the planet, covering an area the size of Florida. Nikiforuk argues that the project is not only bad for Canada but also constitutes a double-barreled threat to the planet as a whole. The jurors noted that Nikiforuk is "a careful and diligent researcher and writer," whose "book makes excellent reading. It is also a valuable and timely reminder of the mounting environmental costs of our addiction to oil."

Chemical Fallout

Susanne Rust (L) and Meg Kissinger

Susanne Rust and Meg Kissinger of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for their series, “Chemical Fallout."

After months of consulting with scientists and studying government databases and peer-reviewed research, Rust and Kissinger determined that the EPA allows companies to keep information about hazardous chemicals secret, despite rules mandating disclosure. They also found evidence that an EPA program designed to warn the public about toxic chemicals favors the chemical industry in reporting possible threats. Grantham Prize jurors noted that the authors' "straightforward, no-hype writing style and good use of tables and graphics made the series a pleasure to read. ‘Chemical Fallout’ exemplifies the good journalists can do given the time and resources."

The Smokestack Effect: Toxic Air and America

This Main Street is home to a tar plant, a steel plant and a middle school.

Blake Morrison and Brad Heath of USA Today for their ambitious series, "The Smokestack Effect: Toxic Air and America's Schools." 

The series took "evidence-based journalism to a new level," according to the Grantham Prize jurors. To report "The Smokestack Effect," Morrison and Heath teamed with academic researchers to pool government data on industrial polluters with the locations of over 127,000 schools, ultimately presenting a surprising picture of air quality near many of the nation's schools. The series prompted EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to initiate a new program that will determine whether industrial pollution impacts air quality outside of the nation's schools.

Grantham Prize Jurors Represent Wealth of Journalism Experience

An independent panel of five jurors evaluated the entries and selected the finalists. The jurors were: Chair Philip Meyer, Emeritus Professor, and former Knight Chair in Journalism at the University of North Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communication; David Boardman, Executive Editor of The Seattle Times; Peter Desbarats, veteran print and television journalist and former Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of Western Ontario; Diane Hawkins-Cox, former Senior Producer for the Science and Technology Unit at CNN; and Robert B. Semple, Jr., Associate Editor of the Editorial Page for The New York Times.

The winner and Award of Special Merit recipients will be formally recognized at a prize ceremony and seminar to be held October 5, 2009, at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.