The American Bar Association Annual Meeting in Chicago rolls out the red carpet for the 2024 Silver Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts.
The annual ABA award honors outstanding creative work from the past year that best fosters the American public’s understanding of law and the legal system.
Inventive approaches to tough topics like police misconduct, politics of the Supreme Court and conservatorship for mental illness are just a sample of the big legal issues examined by the works being recognized this year.
"Killers of the Flower Moon" may have had a bumpy ride at the Academy Awards, but the film by Martin Scorsese takes center stage among the winners.
The Oscar-nominated film and several other eye-opening endeavors will be honored at a ceremony presided by ABA President Mary Smith at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 3 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.
Come mingle with the honorees. Michelle Carney, who produced the documentary “No Accident,” Kyle Whitmire, writer of a commentary on the disenfranchisement of Black voters in Alabama, and American Bar Foundation fellow Gloria J. Browne-Marshall, our multimedia production winner for “Your Democracy,” will be on hand. And don’t miss the Bloomberg Law reporters who investigated the “dark side” of court guardianship.
This year, we are awarding nine Silver Gavels and four Honorable Mentions among 29 finalists identified from 176 entries.
Join us to celebrate these great works:
- “Killers of the Flower Moon,” a film directed by Martin Scorsese, tells the story of the Osage Nation in the 1920s in Oklahoma. After oil is discovered on their land, the indigenous residents are met with racial injustice, greed and serial murder.
- “What Makes a Murderer,” a magazine article devoted to unraveling a “draconian” legal doctrine known as felony murder, which has disproportionately imprisoned young Black people.
- “Your Democracy,” a multimedia production on YouTube that explores the judicial branch of government and how a case makes it to the United States Supreme Court.
- “In the Name of Protection: The Dark Side of Guardianship,” an investigative story by Bloomberg Law that delves into the adult guardianship industry and how its lack of regulation opens up the potential for exploitation of the elderly and disabled.
- “Shielded: How The Police Became Untouchable,” a book in which author Joanna Schwartz details how laws have made it impossible to hold police accountable for misconduct.
- “Alabama’s Desperate Bid for a Milligan Do-over,” a commentary about how Black voters in Alabama were wronged and new congressional districts had to be redrawn.
- “No Accident,” a documentary about the aftermath of the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottsville, Virginia, and the challenges of holding leaders liable.
- “The Nocturnists: Post-Roe America Podcast,” a seven-episode series that features the stories of abortion providers.
- “Warehoused: The Life and Death of Tristin Murphy,” a television documentary that reviews the treatment of the mentally ill in Florida’s criminal justice system.