Newsday wins almost 40 first-place awards from the Long Island Press Club

Newsday took home almost 40 first-place awards out of the 125 categories given out by the Long Island Press Club Thursday night in Woodbury.

The first-place awards came in categories that ranged from best headline to best use of social media, breaking news, sports, race and diversity, environment, transportation, digital and visual. Newsday also placed second and third in other categories.

"From in-depth investigations to compelling breaking news, thoughtful features and more, these Press Club of Long Island wins emphasize the scope of Newsday’s commitment to telling the stories that matter to Long Islanders — across all platforms,” said Don Hudson, editor and chief content officer.

In the Breaking News category, reporters Matthew Chayes and John Valenti won for their coverage of the Noyac house fire that killed two sisters. In the Crime and Justice and Investigative categories, Newsday also took first-place for "Inside Internal Affairs," Newsday's series that looked at how the secretive systems for policing the police on Long Island imposed no, or little, penalties on officers in cases involving serious injuries or deaths.

Investigative reporters Sandra Peddie, David M. Schwartz and Paul LaRocco won the press club's highest honor, the Bob Greene Award for Public Service, for their work on "Inside Internal Affairs."

 In the Health, Science and Technology category, reporter Brinley Hineman won for her coverage of how new mothers felt isolated and "deprived of a village," amid the pandemic. And in the Transportation category, Alfonso Castillo, Craig Ruttle, and Jason Roseman won for coverage of the opening of Grand Central Madison in Manhattan.

Newsday also won in the Sports News category for Roger Rubin's coverage of the death of Aidan Kaminska, a lacrosse player from the University of Massachusetts from Port Jefferson who died suddenly at 19.

Newsday's multimedia department took home several first-place awards. The best feature photo went to J. Conrad Williams Jr. for his photograph of Nafia Ikram, an acid attack victim from Elmont. Williams also was part of an award-winning team that included Thomas A. Ferrara, Johnny Milano, Bill Perlman and John Keating for "Dunia, a Journey of Courage," about Dunia Sibomana, an eighth grader from Long Beach who was attacked by chimpanzees.

"Newsday photographers produced excellent work on a wide variety of subjects this year. We are honored to see them recognized by the Long Island Press Club," said Keating, Newsday's director of multimedia newsgathering.

The Newsday video team took home first-place for "The Michael Valva Trial," an in-depth report on the man convicted of killing his son, Thomas, by forcing him to sleep in a freezing garage. And in the Digital category, Newsday won for Best Social Media Video for "This man walked across Long Island" by Gabriella Vukelic, Michelle Romano, and Susan Yale.

For the video Transportation category, Michael DelGiudice, Andrew Siff, Robert Cassidy, Steve Langford, Drew Singh, Chris Ware, Jeff Bachner, and Valerie Robinson all won for "Camp Siegfried: Revisiting a dark chapter of Long Island history."