Newsday wins 8 awards from Silurians Press Club

Newsday took home eight awards from the Silurians Press Club in the breaking news, features and sports photography categories as well as for a series on police internal affairs investigations that shielded officer misconduct.

The Silurians Press Club, comprising more than 300 New York journalists, named its Medallion and Merit winners in the 77th annual Silurians Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards for print, online and broadcast reporting.

“These Silurian awards highlight our commitment to working across platforms to tell and present stories that impact our communities,” said Don Hudson, Newsday’s editor and chief content officer. “They’re a testament to the depth and quality of our team.”

Members of Newsday’s investigation team, reporters Paul LaRocco, Sandra Peddie, David Schwartz and videographer Jeffrey Basinger, received the Medallion award in the Minority Affairs Reporting category for their series “Inside Internal Affairs.” The series, resulting from a two-year investigation into the Nassau and Suffolk county police departments after officers’ actions led to the deaths of four people and injuries to four others, found that little to no discipline was meted out to the police officers involved.

Newsday sports reporter Gregg Sarra won the Medallion award for Sports Reporting and Commentary for his feature “Dunia: Journey of Courage.” The Medallion award for Sports Photography, for a photo essay on the story, was given to Newsday photojournalists Thomas A. Ferrara, Johnny Milano, J. Conrad Williams Jr., photo editor William Perlman and Director of Multimedia Newsgathering John Keating.

The winning entry chronicled the story of Dunia Sibomana-Rodriguez, a Long Beach eighth-grade wrestler who survived a chimp attack in his native Democratic Republic of Congo and became a Nassau County high school wrestling champion.

Ferrara also won a Merit award in Sports Photography for a Yankees walk-off win in their 2022 home opener. He also won a Merit award in Features News Photography for his “Witches Paddle” photo.

Photojournalist Alejandra Villa Loarca won the Medallion award in Breaking News Photography for her photos of FDNY firefighter Jesse Gerhard’s funeral in Bay Shore after the West Islip volunteer suffered a medical episode while fighting a fire in Far Rockaway last year.

Newsday editorial board member Dan Janison won a Medallion for a series of editorials on New York’s redistricting map saga last year.

In Arts and Culture Reporting, Newsday special writer Thomas Maier won a Merit award for his story chronicling 50 years since the landmark film “The Godfather.”

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.