NYSSCPA announces financial journalism award winners

The New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants announced the winners of its 2016 Excellence in Financial Journalism Awards.

The award recognizes reporters from the national and local press whose work was published, posted or broadcast in 2016 and contributed to a better and balanced understanding of business or financial topics. Winners were selected by judges from the NYSSCPA and the New York Financial Writers Association, who ranked submissions on accuracy, quality and thoroughness of research.

This year’s winners will be honored during a luncheon ceremony on May 6 in New York City.

Beat News Reporting: Beth Kowitt, Fortune, for “The War on Big Food.” Kowitt addresses Big Food’s multibillion-dollar challenge as more consumers demand unprocessed ingredients in their food. She shares a detailed analysis of how the removal of artificial coloring/flavoring, pesticides, growth hormones and other similar additives has already cost many Big Food brands millions of dollars, as they are forced to change their normal business processes.

Explanatory: David Enrich, The Wall Street Journal, for “The Unraveling of Tom Hayes.” Enrich tells the story of Tom Hayes, a 33-year-old former banker/trader accused of masterminding a global conspiracy as a way to manipulate interest rates. After convincing Hayes to keep a journal of the days leading up to his trial, Enrich transformed these entries into an intense and dramatic five-part series that gave readers an inside look into Hayes’ life as the events unfolded.

Independent or Affiliated Online Story (Medium to Small): The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, The Huffington Post and other media partners, for their investigative series, “Evicted and Abandoned,” which featured more than 80 journalists internationally who uncovered abusive business practices linked to dams, gold mines and other projects financed by United States’ top development lender, the World Bank.

Commentary: Susan Antilla, TheStreet, used her solid reporting and analytical skills in, “Wall Street Has a Unique Way of ‘Protecting’ Small Investors,” as she exposed Wall Street for its efforts to avoid change that could possibly improve access to stockbroker records. Throughout her research, she also called out the securities industry for its empty arguments that tougher regulations would force brokers to drop smaller investors as customers.

Personal Finance: Kimberly Lankford, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, for “Get the Most out of Medicare.” Lankford’s work comprehensively explained Medicare as a guide to help readers navigate the system, avoid mistakes and make sure they are signed up for everything that they need.

Radio/Online Digital Audio:  Cardiff Garcia, Aimee Keane and Shannon Bond of theFinancial Times are recognized for launching “Alphachat,” the Financial Times’ weekly business and economics podcast in which they cover topics about rebalancing the Chinese economy and the impact of automation on the labor market, as well as the divergence between the policies of major central banks.

Independent or Affiliated Online Story (Large): Heesun Wee, from CNBC.com, for the multimedia package, “How China is changing your dinner plate.” Wee discovered that Pete Olsen, a dairyman from Fallon, Nevada, managed and led the building of a new manufacturing plant from the ground up to produce dairy products primarily for export to overseas markets, including China. With this discovery, Wee dug deeper to figure out how the world’s second-largest economy is reshaping U.S. agriculture, as well as the possible costs that this change could cause.

Investigative: Michael Smith and Esme E. Deprez, from Bloomberg News, for “The Coyotes and the Banks.” Smith and Deprez dug into the $10 billion-a-year human-smuggling business to find the coyotes’ bankers of choice: Wells Fargo, Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.