Excellence in Financial Journalism Awards announced

Judges for the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants’ Excellence in Financial Journalism Awards met Thursday and selected the following winners for awards to be presented on May 1 at an awards luncheon in New York City.

These awards recognize reporters from the national and local press who contribute to a better understanding of business topics. All submitted entries submitted were published in 2011.

Book – Business/Financial: Steven Levy, for “In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works and Shapes Our Lives,” (Simon & Schuster) a revealing look into the most successful and admired technology companies of our time.

Print & Online:

Business Category – News: Cam Simpson, Bloomberg News, for “Victoria’s Secret Revealed in Child Picking Burkina Faso Cotton,” an in-depth report on how an effort to address the endemic use of child labor instead created incentives for exploitation in Burkina Faso in West Africa.

Business Category – Features: John Helyar, Carol Hymowitz and Mehul Srivastava, Bloomberg Markets Magazine, for “The Double Life of Rajat Gupta,” a comprehensive profile of Gupta convertly channeling business to his private firm as he ran McKinsey & Co., the world’s most prestigious consulting company.

Business Category – Opinion: Jeffrey Goldfarb, Reuters Breaking Views, for “P&G’s Pringles Partner Warrants Careful Taste,” a journalist’s commentary that upended the proposed $2.4 billion purchase of Pringles from Proctor & Gamble by Diamond Foods.

Consumer Category – News: Michael Hudson, The Center for Public Integrity, for “The Great Mortgage Cover-Up,” an in-depth series into why major banks and mortgage lenders bankrolled a wave of toxic loans that helped throw the nation’s financial system and economy into crisis.

Consumer Category -Features: Justin Rohrlich, Minyanville Media, for “Insider Trading Laws Do Not Apply to Members of Congress. No Seriously,” An investigation of the arcane rules that allow members of Congress to trade using inside information.

Consumer Category -Opinion: Jason Zweig, The Wall Street Journal, for “The Intelligent Investor,” a weekly column that exposes conflicts of interest and risky complexities that many investors would have overlooked otherwise.

Television:

Category – Segment Running 10 Minutes or Less: Tara Lynn Wagner, NY1, for “Money Matters: Golden Years?,” A series focusing on the financial realities facing the baby boomer generation as they approach retirement.

Category –Segment Running More than 10 Minutes: Carol Massar, Matt Miller, Carole Zimmer, Ted Fine, Bloomberg Television, for “Race for the Next Facebook,” an in-depth look at the start-ups and dreamers on the verge of success.

Radio:

Category – Segment Running 10 Minutes or Less: None

Category – Segment Running More than Ten Minutes: Carole Zimmer, Mark Mills, Nick Civatta, Al Maykers, Anthony Mancini, WBBR Bloomberg Radio, “Stalking a Silent Killer,” a documentary examining the business of ovarian cancer.

Judges for the awards included members of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants and the New York Financial Writers Association.