"Winter Storm Uri"
Recipient of the STAR BREAKING NEWS REPORT OF THE YEAR award in THE CHARLES E. GREEN AWARDS (2021)
Staff Writers
Corpus Christi Caller-Times
Laramie White and her dogs stay warm in her truck on Tuesday, Feb 16, 2021. Her home was among the thousands in Corpus Christi that were left without power after extremely cold weather moved through Texas earlier in the week." Courtney Sacco/Caller-Times
Judge’s Comments:
Winter Storm Uri piled disaster upon disaster in communities across the state, and in newsrooms big and small, journalists were forced to overcome their own personal hardships to get vital information to readers – but also to tell the story of the storm and its aftermath.
One newspaper stood out in its efforts to not just report but to tell us the story: to take us inside homes and put us next to moms and dads and kids and even pets – to show us, in gripping, vivid detail, the effects of this event on the people of Texas.
Anchored by reporter Kirsten Crow’s masterful storytelling, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times’ coverage of the storm is this year’s winner of the Headliners Foundation’s Breaking News Report of the Year.
Crow went door to door to find people like Laramie White, huddled in a truck with her three sweater-clad dogs, and Emilio and Yvonne Venegas, who “had a houseful of energetic kids – some related, some neighbors – a fireplace, unused rooms sealed and cold-weather clothing to keep them warm.”
Wrote Crow: “Outside, the couple grilled meat – it was preparing to spoil, they said – while perishables, such as cheese, had been stashed in trash bags and immersed in a jacuzzi still with a light glaze of ice.”
Crow’s story gave us the main facts and stats we needed, but even more so, it showed us how people were surviving without power for days on end and with a boil-water notice because of a main break.
That beautifully crafted piece was coupled with the type of additional elements that remind us of the public service mission of a community newspaper: a smart Q&A about the water situation and a live guide providing detailed information about where to find food (brisket, even), water, shelter, propane and more.
“The Caller-Times team was united in providing coverage from multiple angles that helped our community through a disaster,” Editor Mary Ann Cavazos Beckett wrote in her contest letter.
The journalists of the Caller-Times succeeded in that mission, with reporting that was both essential and engaging.
Pauline Arrillaga
Professor of Practice, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Former U.S. Enterprise Editor, The Associated Press
Judge’s Bio:
Arrillaga is a professor of practice and director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Southwest Health Reporting Initiative at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Arrillaga leads a team of students who focus on providing in-depth health care coverage on underserved communities across the Southwest. Prior to joining Cronkite in 2019, Arrillaga served as the U.S. enterprise editor for The Associated Press. Her work helped shape coverage examining the effects of President Donald Trump’s immigration policies on children and families. That coverage was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in national reporting and was a winner of an RFK Journalism Award and also the John Seigenthaler Prize for Courage in Reporting. She oversaw the AP’s series on missing and murdered Native American women, winner of the Dori J. Maynard Award for Justice in Journalism, the Les Payne Award for Coverage on Communities of Color, and other honors.
Arrillaga began her career in Dallas as an intern for the AP. She later covered state politics in Austin, the space program and the prison system in Houston, served as a desk supervisor in Dallas, and was the company’s correspondent on the Texas-Mexico border, writing about immigration and the growing influence of Hispanics in America. She later was named Southwest regional writer based in Phoenix, and she was promoted to the coveted role of national writer in 2002, specializing in long-form narratives and covering major news events from presidential elections to the attack on Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Her stories have captured numerous accolades, Including a 2005 Livingston Award for “Doors to Death,” an investigative series examining human smuggling across the border. As both a writer and editor, Arrillaga has long focused on issues affecting Latinos and Native Americans and has reported from Native American communities across the West.
To see the prize-winning coverage from the Corpus Christi Caller-Times for its coverage of the historic winter storm in Texas, click the links below:
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