New York University

• Title:

  Literary Reportage Student Wins Multiple Awards

• Date:
  June 01, 2011
• Description:

  

   

  Patrick Arden's (Lit Rep 2011) story for City Limits' September 2010 issue, A Risky Play: Was New York City's shift to artificial grass a 300-million-dollar mistake?, has recently won several awards:

  • Winner, 2010 Sigma Delta Chi Award for investigative reporting in a local or regional magazine, Society of Professional Journalists [link to PDF of story]
  • Winner, 2011 Ippie Award for Best Investigative/In-depth Story, the Independent Press Institute and the New York Community Media Alliance
  • Winner, 2011 Sidney Gross Award, Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, New York University
  • Winner, 2011 Political Reporting Award, New York Press Club

  The story's abstract:

  In 1998, New York City began installing synthetic turf fields in parks and playgrounds, saying the artificial material would be more durable than grass. But a City Limits investigation finds that many turf fields are falling apart. How did an administration that prides itself on financial acumen dive headlong into a heavy investment in an untested material? And why has it remained steadfastly committed to buying more artificial turf? The answers lie in the story of how New York City became the world’s biggest buyer of fake grass.

Arthur L. Carter
Journalism Institute
New York University

20 Cooper Square, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10003
212-998-7980