The Virginian-Pilot and Style Weekly win VPA's highest awards
The Virginian-Pilot and Style Weekly were named Saturday as the recipients of the Virginia Press Association's awards for journalistic integrity and community service, the organization's highest award.
The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk won in the daily category for Tim Eberly's series on Virginia's "three-strikes law" which denies felons the opportunity for parole. Eberly also was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for Investigative Reporting, announced yesterday for this same series.
The judges wrote about the series, "Good journalism can change lives. Great journalism can save them. Tim Eberly's series on Virginia's almost incomprehensively cruel three-strikes law did just that.
Suspects had been imprisoned after taking plea deals, only to find out decades into their sentences that they would not be eligible for parole because the three-strikes law had been retroactively applied to their cases. That is until Tim Eberly picked up the story.
Because of his careful research, reporting, and follow-up with the authorities, many of these inmates had their cases reconsidered by the parole board, and several have been freed. This is investigative journalism at its best."
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