NEW YORK – May 7, 2024 – THE CITY, an independent nonprofit newsroom dedicated to serving the people of New York, is proud to announce it has been awarded two Silurians Press Club awards for its devotion to investigative journalism and best digital video.
The nonprofit newsroom won best investigative reporting for its coverage of three separate stories.
The first package of stories, “Ethics Violations Plague Eric Adams Campaign Fundraising Efforts,” takes an in-depth look at New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ 2021 campaign and discovered multiple illegal straw donations, some from sources now under federal investigation.
The seven-month investigation, conducted in collaboration with the nonprofit newsroom Documented, raised crucial questions about the integrity of fundraising efforts and exposed potential loopholes in the city’s public matching funds program.
The stories part of the winning entry include:
- New Questions Arise Over Adams Donors: One Says She Was Reimbursed, Others Say They Never Gave – By George Joseph, Bianca Pallaro, Haidee Chu, Katie Honan, Tom Robbins And April Xu (Documented)
- Mayor’s Asian Affairs Liaison Raised Big Money—and Big Questions About Her Conduct – By Yoav Gonen, Bianca Pallaro, Katie Honan, Tom Robbins And Haidee Chu
- Department of Investigation Opens Inquiry into a Key Adams Aide, Winnie Greco – By Yoav Gonen, Bianca Pallaro And Katie Honan
The second investigation, “top-ranked officers in the NYPD, Chief Jeffrey Maddrey, intervened to have him released just hours after his arrest.
The investigation, which also won the inaugural category of Best Digital Video, led to levied the maximum penalty against Maddrey.
Shortly afterward, the department’s first woman and third Black commissioner abruptly announced her departure from the NYPD. A source close to Sewell told THE CITY that in making the decision to discipline Maddrey, the commissioner “knew her days were numbered.”
The third story to garner recognition from the Silurians Press Club is Stiff Prices, Unfulfilled Orders: How the Private Contractor Running Rikers Commissary Serves Detainees – a two-month investigation by Pallaro and Reuven Blau looking into a multimillion-dollar no-bid contract that chronically price gouged and delivered terrible service to thousands of detainees at New York’s Rikers Island. Their investigation involved the deep backgrounding of a company beset by criticism, legal challenges, and bribery scandals in numerous states.
Recent honors and accolades for THE CITY this year include recognition from Toner Prizes. For more on THE CITY’s reporting, visit thecity.nyc
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ABOUT THE CITY: THE CITY (thecity.nyc) is a nonprofit digital news platform whose mission is to produce free-to-read, local reporting that serves the people of New York City. Launched in 2019 to fill critical local reporting gaps, THE CITY covers New York’s uncovered neighborhoods, holds the powerful to , and helps make sense of the greatest city in the world. THE CITY Scoop, its flagship newsletter, is delivered weekdays and Sunday, while additional newsletters serve New Yorkers with news they can use on housing, jobs and civic engagement.
ABOUT THE SILURIANS PRESS CLUB: The Society of the Silurians was founded in 1924 by a group of maverick Park Row newspaper veterans at the old Hotel Lafayette on Ninth Street and University Place in Greenwich Village during the heyday of New York City newspapers. Charles Edward Russell, a muckraker, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, prolific author, and co-founder of the NAA, was the Society’s moving force and became its first president.
