Recipients of Second Risser Prize Announced
Risser Prize Website: http://knight.stanford.edu/risser/ THE RISSER PRIZE FOR WESTERN ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISM The North American West shares some environmental problems with the rest of the continent, but many of its water, resource, land uses and wildlife issues occur only in this region. The James V. Risser Prize for Western Environmental Journalism recognizes excellence in reporting on these problems by print, broadcast and online journalists. Co-sponsored by the Bill Lane Center for the Study of the North American West and the John S. Knight Fellowship Program for Professional Journalists, the Risser Prize is given in the name of two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and director emeritus of the Knight Fellowships program. It was established in 2005 and is open to print, broadcast and online journalists writing about environmental issues in western regions of Canada, Mexico and the United States. The award is given each year for work published or broadcast during the previous year. The winner receives a $3,000 prize and participates in a public symposium at Stanford with journalists, academics and others whose work focuses on Western environmental issues. In judging the awards, preference is given to stories about environmental issues that are distinctively Western. The judges have placed a premium on stories that explained complicated situations, stories that exposed undiscovered or covered-up problems and stories with ramifications beyond the immediate dimensions of the issue being covered. The award is co-sponsored by the Bill Lane Center for the Study of the North American West and the John S. Knight Fellowship Program for Professional Journalists which annually brings 12 outstanding mid-career U.S. journalists and as many as eight from other countries to study at Stanford in a one-year program. For more about the Prize, see The Risser Prize Web Site 2007 RISSER PRIZE WINNER ANNOUNCED Judy Pasternak, of the Los Angeles Times, won the 2007 Risser Prize for her series, “Blighted Homeland,” which revealed how the U.S. government took uranium from Navajo land to build its nuclear arsenal during the Cold War and then abandoned the Navajo people when they began to die. Pasternak’s four-part series, published in November 2006, was the result of two years of
reporting about how the mining of uranium had left behind wastes that sickened
generations of Navajos on Navajo Nation land in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
One of the judges characterized the series as “great writing, great history and
investigative work; overall, a great story that hasn’t been told.” A team from the Sacramento Bee was also recognized with a special citation for a series about the California capital's vulnerability to flooding because of levee problems. "Tempting Fate" was written by Bee staff writers Matt Weiser, Deb Kollars and Carrie Peyton Dahlberg. "Tempting Fate", Sacramento Bee Judges of the 2007 contest were: 2006 RISSER PRIZE WINNER ANNOUNCED Matt Jenkins, writer for High Country News has won the 2006 James V. Risser Prize for Western Environmental Journalism.
He won the $3,000 prize for his story, "Squeezing Water from a Stone," which chronicled Las Vegas' efforts to increase its water supply during negotiations with the agencies that draw water from the Colorado River. Teams from two other newspapers were recognized with special citations. Robert McClure and Lisa Stiffler of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer were cited for their series, "A License to Kill," which disclosed deals the federal government was making with timber companies and developers that allowed the killing and harming of endangered species. And Jim Erickson, Judy DeHaas and Michael Hall of the Rocky Mountain News were cited for their occasional series, "A Change in the Air," which reported the impact of climate change in the high altitudes of the Colorado Rockies. The award and citations were announced by James Bettinger, director of the John S. Knight Fellowships for Professional Journalists. The Knight Fellowships program and the Bill Lane Center for the Study of the North American West co-sponsor the award. Jenkins' story described the efforts of Southern Nevada Water Authority to gain concessions that would allow Las Vegas to significantly stretch its water resources. Subsequent to the story, the negotiating parties reached an agreement that gave the city those concessions; Las Vegas continues to seek federal and state approval for a major new groundwater-pumping project in the Great Basin. The judges had high praise for Jenkins' story, describing it as a "beautiful, well-written piece about one of the last frontiers of the West...It took a complex subject and made it readable." Jenkins came to Stanford and participated in a symposium on the issues raised in his story. High Country News, based in Paonia, Colorado, is a bi-weekly newspaper that covers natural resources, public lands, and changing communities in the 11 Western states. At the time he wrote the story, Jenkins was associate editor. He is currently West Coast correspondent, based in Grants Pass, Oregon. The judges also praised the Post-Intelligencer and Rocky Mountain News series. One judge said of the Post-Intelligencer series, "it was a major commitment, artfully and persuasively executed, in my judgment, on a topic that is absolutely essential to the environment in the West - development." Another judge said of the Rocky Mountain News project, "they took on a broad topic of extreme importance to the western states and wrote about the science clearly and in a very balanced way." Judges of the 2006 contest were:
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