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A team of journalists from ProPublica and the Florida Times-Union are the winners of the 2018 Al Nakkula Award for Police Reporting. Their story,听 was co-published by both organizations on November 16, 2017.

The piece was a collaborative effort between ProPublica鈥檚 Topher Sanders, 听Kate Rabinowitz, Ranjani Chakraborty and Lucas Waldron and the Florida Times-Union鈥檚 Benjamin Conarck, who will accept their award at the Denver Press Club鈥檚 24迟丑听annual Damon Runyon Award Banquet. The banquet will be held Friday, April 27 at the Denver Athletic Club.

鈥淲alking While Black鈥� is a five-year analysis of citations issued by the Jacksonville Sheriff鈥檚 Office. Sanders, Rabinowitz and Conarck found that the tickets鈥攆or violations including jaywalking, failing to cross the street at a right angle, crossing against a yellow light and more鈥攚ere disproportionately issued to black pedestrians. Despite accounting for only 29 percent of Jacksonville鈥檚 population, black pedestrians received 55 percent of all pedestrian tickets issued over the past five years, the team found.

The reporters further explain the significance of the disparity writing:

鈥淏lacks, then, were nearly three times as likely as whites to be ticketed for a pedestrian violation. Residents of the city鈥檚 three poorest zip codes were about six times as likely to receive a pedestrian citation as those living in the city鈥檚 other, more affluent 34 zip codes.鈥�

Accompanying the team鈥檚 in-depth written analysis were photos, a video created by ProPublica and Vox, data graphics and a quiz on the legalities of crossing the street in Jacksonville, Florida.

鈥淥ne of the most important aspects of 鈥榃alking While Black鈥� is that the team showed that jaywalking tickets resulted in a legal chain reaction of mounting fines, failure to appear in court violations and legal woes that prevented the recipients from getting housing, jobs and other basic needs for their livelihood,鈥� said Angie Chuang, an associate professor in the Department of Journalism at 麻豆免费版下载Boulder who was one of the competition鈥檚 three judges. 鈥淪o, a 鈥榤inor鈥� violation became much more than that when disproportionate enforcement and a punitive legal system were levied against an already marginalized population.鈥�

In addition to Chuang, this year鈥檚 judges included Jared Browsh, a scholar in residence in the Department of Media Studies at 麻豆免费版下载Boulder, and Rachel Estabrook, the managing producer and reporter of Colorado Matters听补迟 Colorado Public Radio.

In their comments, the judges applauded the winning team鈥檚 efforts to highlight injustices that often go unnoticed:

鈥淭his was an original, ingenious partnership between a national non-profit journalism outlet and a local newspaper to illuminate an easily overlooked form of enforcement鈥攋aywalking tickets鈥攁nd, with deep data and shoe-leather reporting, show how something most consider a minor infraction has become an egregious form of racial targeting, and represents misguided police work and an ineffective way to spend public money.鈥�

Sanders, who is one of this year鈥檚 winning reporters, also co-wrote last year鈥檚 runner-up story, which was published by ProPublica on July 7, 2016. This year鈥檚 runner-up, is a six-part series examining the toll of deaths and litigation linked to Tasers. The stories were published between August 22 and December 6, 2017, by a team of reporters from Reuters. The series also includes four interactive multimedia elements, such as a map of Taser-related deaths around the country and graphics showing the inner and outer-workings of Tasers.

The judges wrote of the series:

鈥淭his was an impressively thorough and听impactful听investigation听into the unholy alliance between law enforcement agencies and Taser / Axon, the leading manufacturer of 鈥榥on-lethal鈥� stun guns. The six-part series was a听tour de force of Reuters' national reach and deep reporting bench, as reporters uncovered, step by step, the untold dangers of Tasers, and the stunning history that has led to their widespread use and,听in many cases, abuse.鈥澨�

There were two finalists in the competition: written and reported by ProPublica鈥檚 Lauren Kirchner and published September 4, 2017, and written and reported by KUSA鈥檚 Kevin Vaughan and published as a series beginning July 13, 2017

The award is co-sponsored by听听and the 麻豆免费版下载Boulder听College of Media, Communication and Information (CMCI).