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Syracuse University announced Politico and Nashville WTVF-TV’s Phil Williams as the winners of the Newhouse School of Public Communications’ 2023 Toner Prizes for Excellence in Political Reporting on Wednesday.

The Toner Prizes, established in 2009, honor late Newhouse alum Robin Toner, the first woman to be a national political correspondent for The New York Times. Two categories of winners, local and national reporting, receive the awards each year for excellence in political reporting. Both winners receive a $5,000 prize.

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney delivered the keynote speech for this year’s event – which was the first in-person ceremony for the Toner Prizes since 2019 – at the Washington, D.C. Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center on Monday.

Politico won the national reporting award for its project “The Supreme Court and Abortion,” which began in May 2022 when the publication broke the Supreme Court’s draft opinion to overturn the 50-year-old super precedent set in Roe v. Wade. The project documents the sequence of events leading up to the overturn of Roe and follows the decision’s effects until the 2022 midterm elections.

“It was the political story of the year, and the extraordinary leak reverberated nationally and locally, galvanizing women and demonstrating the degree conservatives have shaped the judiciary,” said Maralee Schwartz, 2023 judge for the Toner Prizes and retired political editor of The Washington Post, in the release. “It opened the window into how the Supreme Court operates, especially highlighting silent conflicts of interests.”

A joint submission from ProPublica and The Texas Tribune for their project entitled “Church Politics,” which investigated churches’ activity in politics, received an honorable mention for national reporting.

Williams received his prize in recognition of his reporting on the legislative process in the Tennessee General Assembly. His project “NewsChannel 5 Investigates: Revealed” examined the structure of the Tennessee state legislature and the power of its supermajority, which means Republicans can pass bills more easily.

In the release, Christina Bellantoni, a professor at the University of Southern California, praised the way in which Williams was able to clearly convey such an intricate legislative system to his audience.

“It is so hard to crack into the secretive world of campaign cash and lobbying in a state capital — and nearly impossible to do it on video,” Bellantoni wrote in the release. “But somehow Phil Williams managed to do just that in this brilliant series shining light on state lawmaker practices.”

Over 250 people attended the ceremony. Other than Romney, speakers included SU Chancellor Kent Syverud, Newhouse Dean Mark Lodato and Margaret Taley, director of the SU Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship.

In his keynote speech, syracuse.com reported Romney addressed a loss of trust in the mainstream media and recognized how the declining number of news publications makes it more difficult for elected officials to engage with their constituency.

“If democracy dies in darkness, we’re counting on you, and those who are being honored tonight and have shown us the way, to help shed the light of truth on our public electorate,” Romney said in his speech, according to syracuse.com.

Published on March 29, 2023 at 9:20 pm

Contact Claire: charri39@syr.edu