Newsday wins 44 first-place awards from the Long Island Press Club

Newsday senior education reporter John Hildebrand, who has covered the education beat for Newsday for decades, was inducted into the Long Island Journalism Hall of Fame on Thursday night at the Press Club of Long Island’s Media Awards banquet, where Newsday won 44 first-place awards.

Hildebrand, who joined Newsday in 1970, has written thousands of stories about Long Island’s education system. In a speech, he told stories about his career, including the time he needed a bodyguard to accompany him to a particularly contentious school board meeting.

Former WCBS/880 AM reporter Ellen Mitchell and Timothy Bolger, editor-in-chief of the Long Island Press and Dan’s Papers, also were inducted.

"It was an honor to witness our formidable senior education reporter John Hildebrand’s induction into the Long Island Journalism Hall of Fame after 55 years with Newsday," said Rochell Bishop Sleets, Newsday editor. "His wealth of expertise and commitment to the craft is unmatched." 

Newsday won 105 awards at the ceremony, including 44 in first place in categories that ranged from best use of social media to breaking news, sports, transportation, investigative, digital and visual.

"I am immensely proud of our team. Our talented journalists work hard every day to ensure Long Islanders have the information they need to make informed decisions," Sleets said. "And while we don’t do this important work for awards, it’s always a joy to celebrate our incredible team’s success across all platforms."

Among the winners were Lorena Mongelli, who won first place in the transportation narrative category for "Road Rage Island: Violent incidents are up, but experts have tips for staying safe on roadways," and Alfonso Castillo took home second place in that category with "LIRR riders’ behavior on the wrong track."

Castillo also took first place for transportation in the video category for " 'Ghost’ plate problem worsened despite crackdown, MTA data shows."

Newsday swept the Sports News category with Islanders fans say UBS Arena plagued by traffic’ by Laura Albanese, first place, ‘Decline in number of referees and umpires blamed on verbal abuse’, second place, and ‘28% of Long Island high schools are using Guardian Caps in hopes of making football safer. Will it work?,’ third place.

"One Road, Five Shattered Families" by Robert Brodsky and Vera Chinese, about the effects of the devastating August 2024 floods, was another winner.

Newsday's multimedia department took home several first-place awards.

NewsdayTV won first-place for Best TV News Program for its compilation of local news coverage including "well-produced interviews, writing, and storytelling."

Reporters Virginia Huie and Shari Einhorn won first and second place, respectively, for Reporter of the Year. Randee Daddona took home Best Photojournalist in the video category while Thomas A. Ferrara won the same award for Still Imagery.

Investigative and in-depth video stories garnered first-place prizes for Newsday staff, including Toxic Drums: Uncovering the Truth," package "Suffolk Cop Back on the Job After Crash," and "Fatal Stakes."

NewsdayTV team’s "The Forgotten," on how more than 100 women have been found dead on Long Island since 1976, won first place for In-Depth report in video.

First place for breaking news in video also went to NewsdayTV for "Through Our Lens: Inside the Stony Brook Pro-Palestinian Protest."

"It was great to see our photojournalists recognized for all of their excellent work." said John Keating, Newsday director of multimedia newsgathering. "We are especially proud that Thomas A. Ferrara and Randee Daddona were named Best Photojournalists in the still imagery and video categories. Our team’s talent and dedication is unmatched on Long Island."

Newsday’s social media and digital teams took home a slew of awards for their community engagement in projects like the Newsday WhatsApp channel, "Perfect Fall Day," and best campaign for coverage of fallen police officer Jonathan Diller.