The eighth annual Izzy Award was presented April 6, 2016, to INSIDE CLIMATE NEWS for its series “Exxon: The Road Not Taken” and independent journalists JAMIE KALVEN (of the Invisible Institute) and freelancer BRANDON SMITH for exposing the Chicago police cover-up of the killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.
Also, Democracy Now! host and executive producer AMY GOODMAN was inducted into the I. F. Stone Hall of Fame. All honorees spoke eloquently at the ceremony, which was held at Park Hall Auditorium (plus a filled overflow lecture hall through livestream). Accepting the award on behalf of Inside Climate News was its founder and publisher, David Sassoon, for the Exxon series written by Neela Banerjee, Lisa Song, David Hasemyer and John H. Cushman Jr. The ceremony launched Amy Goodman’s 100-city book tour for “Democracy Now!: 20 Years Covering the Movements Changing America,” coauthored by David Goodman and Denis Moynihan. Goodman had received the first Izzy Award (along with Glenn Greenwald) in 2009.
- Announcement of the winners
- Democracy Now! report on ceremony
- Official program for the ceremony (PDF)
- Ithacan article on ceremony
- Photos from the ceremony