I've won a number of awards in journalism. The awards might matter when a reader is trying to determine if this web site, me, the reporting done here, is legitimate and credible. I list them because I'm unaffiliated out here on the web, independent -- but I want readers to know that my work has been vetted, that my reporting has a history, that my work can be trusted.

Awarded $10,000 Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism 2003-2004.  One of six fellows chosen nationally to spend the year studying selected topics related to mental health or mental illness.  Fellows work with President Jimmy Carter’s Carter Center staff and the Fellowship Advisory Board and Mental Health Task Force (made up of nationally recognized authors, journalists, doctors, and scholars) 

Invited to participate in 19th Annual Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Mental Health Policy/ President George Bush’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health

Winner 2000 Online Journalism Awards (administered by The Online News Association & Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism)   --   Creative Use of the Medium category for  “The Great Basin Murders, ” an in-depth package on a regional serial homicide investigation published on APBnews.com

Winner in 2000, Livingston Award in international reporting for “Japanese Prisons: Brutality by Design” published on APBnews.com  (the $10,000 Livingston Awards  are the largest all-media, general reporting prizes in the country for journalists under age 35)

Finalist in 2000, Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Award in Web Reporting for “The Great Basin Murders”

Profile published in Columbia Journalism Review.  Four page article discussing my work in journalism.  March/April 2000

Winner 1999 National Mental Health Association Award for excellence in mental health reporting for “7½ Days,” published in City Limits  June/July 1998
 
Finalist in 1999, Investigative Reporters and Editors Award in magazine journalism for “7½ Days”

Article “7 1/2 Days ” reprinted in textbook, “Perspectives:  Introduction to Social Work,” edited by Christine Lowery, University of Wisconsin    Coursewise Publishing   1999

Chosen to attend Poynter Institute’s 1999 Investigative Reporting Seminar   

Delivered keynote speech to annual conference of the National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy, a gathering of mental health professionals, lawyers and former patients from around the country  Nov. 19, 1998

Awarded 1998  American Psychiatric Association Certificate of  Commendation for “7½ Days.”   “The entire judging panel was overwhelmingly impressed with your dedication and personal sacrifice for this story.  This level of investigative reporting is certainly unique.”

Winner 1998 National Mental Health Association Award for excellence in mental health reporting for “What Makes Sammy Run?”  published in Dallas Observer  July 1997

Finalist in 1998, Livingston Award in international reporting  for “On the Town With the US Military”  published in  Z Magazine  Feb. 1997

Finalist in 1997, Livingston Award in international reporting  for “Sleeping Rough,” published in City Limits  Jan. 1996