THE AWARD

The award was founded in 1994 by ASCE President James W. Poirot to honor outstanding news coverage of civil engineering.

The news media wield tremendous impact on public opinion about civil engineers and infrastructure. For example, news coverage can influence legislation about vital infrastructure, licensing laws, and building codes. Coverage also can affect talented young people's decisions to pursue careers in civil engineering.

By honoring reporters whose superior news coverage improves public understanding of civil engineering, the ASCE Excellence in Journalism Award will encourage other reporters to cover engineering fairly, accurately and positively.

The award includes a certificate and a cash prize determined annually by and subject to the approval of the Society Awards Committee based on the income from the award endowment.

CRITERIA

• The award is known as the ASCE Excellence in Journalism Award, and is given annually to a reporter or reporters whose news coverage enhances public understanding of civil engineering.

• Usually given at the ASCE Annual Convention & Exposition, the award is judged by the Committee on Communications (CCOM). CCOM can present the award to one or more nominees, make runner-up awards, or make no awards at all.

• CCOM judged nominees on how well they a) fairly cover all sides of the civil engineering project or issue; b) accurately describe the civil engineering project or issue; c) effectively explain how the project or outcome of the issue benefits the community or region; d) clearly show the civil engineer's role; e) include the most knowledgeable civil engineering experts; and f) advance public knowledge and understanding of civil engineers, our issues and profession.

• The award is self-supporting; expenses are funded from an endowment created by contributions.

• The award encourages participation by ASCE Sections and Branches: Entries should be nominated by a Section or Branch. CCOM, however, can separately nominate a reporter if the ASCE Section or Branch reporter's coverage area does not participate in the journalism award program.

• Only reporters from general (non-trade) print publications are eligible. The publications must be regional or local.

• News stories must be published a) in English; b) primarily in North America; and c) between April 30 of the calendar year in which the award is given, and May 1 of the previous year.

• If a story is coauthored, at least one writer must be a full-time journalist.

NOMINATION TIMING
Eight copies of each nomination should reach the ASCE National Office by June 1. Nomination forms are available from the Honors and Awards Program in the ASCE National Office.

PREVIOUS WINNERS
1994
Chris Kelley, Dallas Morning News
1995
Robert Lee Hotz Kenneth Reich, Los Angeles Times
1996
Linda J. Johnson, Youngstown, OH Vindicator
1997
Mariana Greene, Dallas Morning News
1998
Jerry Needham, San Antonio Express-News
2000
George Hohmann, Charleston Daily Mail
2002
James Glanz , NY Times
2003
John McQuaid & Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune

2004 NOMINATIONS SUBMITTED TO TEXAS SECTION BY PR COMMITTEE
Thanks to James Mercier, three articles were submitted to the Texas Section for consideration this past year. The articles were about the collapse warning safety lighting system designed and installed on the Queen Isabella Causeway, which collapsed 2 ½ years ago after being hit by a barge. The warning mechanism is a first-in-the-nation fiber-optic system designed by our own James Mercier and Mark Bloschock with TxDOT.

2005 NOMINATIONS SUBMITTED TO TEXAS SECTION BY PR COMMITTEE
Two nominations were made this year: Steve Scheibal and Ricardo Gandara for the Excellence in Journalism Award.  Steve Scheibal’s article Facing a Boom along Texas 130, was published in the Austin American Statesman on February 13, 2005.  The article focuses on the potential future development along the new State Highway 130 corridor and the impacts the new development will have in Central Texas. Ricardo Gandara’s article Road Warriors was published in the Austin American Statesman on August 8, 2004.  The article is about the engineers, project staff and others who worked to keep the Lamar Street Reconstruction Project on track and ahead of schedule.

2005 TEXAS SECTION EXCELLENCE IN JOURNALISM AWARD WINNER
The Texas Section Award Winner for the Excellence in Journalism Award was selected and one of our Austin Branch submittals won the award! The Texas Section selected Ricardo Gandara’s article Road Warriors, published in the Austin American Statesman on August 8, 2004. The winner of the Texas Section Excellence in Journalism Award will be presented at the Fall 2005 meeting in El Paso. The Texas Section has also forwarded this nomination to National ASCE for consideration in the national competition.