Cohen wins Nash Award for biz journalism at NY Times

New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet sent out the following announcement on Wednesday:

We’re pleased to announce that Patti Cohen is this year’s recipient of the Nathaniel Nash Award for excellence in business and economics journalism.

In the four years since Patti joined BizDay from Culture, she has been a standout on our economics team, applying her love of storytelling, her mastery of complex subjects and her nose for news to one of the biggest subjects we cover. All have been in ample evidence in the last year as she helped explain the economic realities, tensions and prospects of the Trump era.

Patti is the 20th winner of an award that honors our colleague Nathaniel Nash, a business reporter who died in a plane crash while on assignment in Croatia in 1996. It is given annually to a Times reporter who “excels in business or economic news, nationally or abroad, just as Nathaniel did.”

Past honorees include Andrew Kramer, Hiroko Tabuchi,  Nelson Schwartz, Liz Alderman, Mary Williams Walsh, Mark Landler, Keith Bradsher, Steve Lohr and Dick Stevenson.

Patti came to The Times in 1997 and has worked as both an editor and a reporter. While in Culture, she took on stories with strong business bents, winning the Annette Giacometti Prize, which recognizes work that exposes counterfeiting in the art world, for her coverage of a gallery accused of selling masterpiece paintings that were fakes. She also wrote about the messy intersection of the art world and the Internal Revenue Service.

Over the past year, while examining the impact of the Trump presidency on the economy, she has written about trade and taxes and much more, pivoting to find fresh angles in political developments that have unfolded as fast as a tweet. She has also traveled the country, writing about meatpacking jobs in Storm Lake, Iowa; steelworkers in Huger, S.C.; and health care workers in Mountain Home, Ark.

As both a reporter and editor, Patti has been generous with her colleagues — something that was also central to Nathaniel’s journalism. Patti’s editor, Kevin McKenna, describes her as an anchor of support for her co-workers and a welcoming presence for newcomers. “Dependable, funny, cool under fire — she exemplifies the qualities you would associate with Nathaniel Nash, ones that make both The Times and the world better places,” says Kevin, who recalls being shepherded around the halls of Congress by Nathaniel.

Patti will receive her award at a luncheon in June, where we will be joined by Nathaniel’s widow, Elizabeth, and their children. As is the tradition, Patti will be presented with an inscribed copy of Meyer Berger’s “Story of The New York Times, 1851-1951,” and a cash prize of $1,500.

Please join us in congratulating Patti.