March 10, 2017

    Silver Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts finalists announced

    The American Bar Association today announced the 19 finalists for the 2017 Silver Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts, which recognize outstanding work that fosters the American public’s understanding of law and the legal system. This is the ABA’s highest honor in recognition of this purpose. 


    “The ABA’s Gavel Awards Screening Committee members were challenged to select finalists among so many worthy entries,” said Stephen C. Edds, chair of the Standing Committee on Gavel Awards. “We congratulate our finalists and look forward to identifying awardees among an already select group.”

    The winners will be announced on May 10. 

    No more than one Silver Gavel is presented in each category. Honorable mentions are also awarded, but awards are not presented in every category in every year.

    The ABA Gavel Awards Screening Committee, composed of 45 lawyer-members of the ABA, selected the 19 finalists from 156 entries received in all eligible categories, which include books, commentary, documentaries, drama and literature, magazines, multimedia, newspapers, radio and television.

    Selection criteria include how the entry addresses the Gavel Awards’ purpose and objectives; educational value of legal information; impact on, or outreach to, the public; thoroughness and accuracy in presentation of issues; creativity and originality in approach to subject matter and effectiveness of presentation; and demonstrated technical skill in the entry’s production.          

    The association has presented these awards each year since 1958, which makes 2017 the 60th annual presentation. The 18-member ABA Standing Committee on Gavel Awards makes the final award decisions. ABA President Linda Klein will present Silver Gavels and Honorable Mentions on July 18 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. 

    To learn more about the Silver Gavel Awards, go to www.ambar.org/gavelawards.

    The following is a complete list of finalists, with links to their work:

    BOOKS

    “Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy”
    Heather Ann Thompson, author
    Penguin Random House/Pantheon Books

    “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City”
    Matthew Desmond, author
    Penguin Random House/Crown Publishers

    “The Framers’ Coup: The Making of the United States Constitution”
    Michael Klarman, author
    Oxford University Press

    “Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck”
    Adam Cohen, author
    Penguin Random House/Penguin Books

    “Vagrant Nation: Police Power, Constitutional Change, and the Making of the 1960s”
    Risa Goluboff, author
    Oxford University Press

    COMMENTARY

    “It’s Been 40 Years Since the Supreme Court Tried to Fix the Death Penalty — Here’s How It Failed”
    The Marshall Project
    Evan Mandery, professor
    John Jay College of Criminal Justice

    DOCUMENTARIES

    “Admissions on Trial: Seven Decades of Race and Higher Education”
    Villita Media for KLRU-TV
    Lynn Boswell, producer, director and writer
    Paul Sweeney, Editor

    “Do Not Resist”
    VANISH Films
    Craig Atkinson, director
    Laura Hartrick, producer

    “Trapped”
    Trilogy Films
    Dawn Porter, director
    Marilyn Ness, producer

    MAGAZINES

    “Where the Death Penalty Still Lives”
    New York Times Magazine
    Emily Bazelon, staff writer
    Ilena Silverman, features editor

    MULTIMEDIA

    “Doubled Up In Solitary Confinement”
    National Public Radio and
    The Marshall Project
    Joseph Shapiro, correspondent, NPR
    Christie Thompson, staff writer, The Marshall Project
    Ruth Baldwin, director of communications, The Marshall Project
    Robert Little, senior supervising editor, Investigations, NPR

    NEWSPAPERS

    “A Cry for Help”
    Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
    Jennifer Bjorhus and Kelly Smith, reporters
    Jeff Hargarten, Interactive data journalist
    MaryJo Webster, Data editor
    Richard Tsong-Taatarii, Visual journalist

    “Forsaken: Florida’s Broken Mental Health System”
    Sun Sentinel (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)
    Dana Banker, managing editor
    Megan O’Matz, Sally Kestin and Stephen Hobbs, reporters
    John Maines, database editor

    “No Money, No Mercy”
    The New York Times
    Andrew Lehren and Shaila Dewan, reporters
    Christine Kay, enterprise editor
    Scott Blumenthal, deputy editor, Interactive News

    RADIO

    "...and justice for all."
    Alabama Public Radio
    Pat Duggins, news director
    Stan Ingold, assistant news director
    Alex AuBuchon and Mackenzie Bates, news hosts/reporters

    “More Perfect”
    WNYC Studios
    Jad Abumrad, executive producer, host, creator
    Suzie Lechtenberg, executive producer
    Kelsey Padgett, producer, reporter
    Sean Rameswaram, correspondent
    Tobin Low, producer

    “This Land Is Our Land”
    Oregon Public Broadcasting
    Anna Griffin, news director
    David Blanchard, producer

    TELEVISION

    “The Border”
    FOX5 Las Vegas
    Christine Maddela, news anchor

    “48 Hours: The Fight for Melissa”
    48 Hours/CBS News
    Erin Moriarty, Correspondent
    Lourdes Aguiar, Gail Abbott Zimmerman and Charlotte Fuller, producers
    Judy Tygard, senior producer