mikemcguff.com: KHOU 11's Greenblatt wins Livingston Award for Young Journalists

Playing catchup from the last few weeks while I was visiting the possibly soon to be deceased European Union (according to many pundits), here is news about KHOU 11. Investigative Reporter Mark Greenblatt has won a 2009 Livingston Award for Young Journalists, a national honor widely regarded as one of the industry’s most prestigious prizes for young journalistic talent from what I understand.

This dude has been winning stuff left and right within the last year. Once again the source of the prize was his story "Under Fire: Discrimination and Corruption in the Texas National Guard":

The Livingston Awards hail as the largest all-media, general reporting prizes in the nation with entries from broadcast, print and online journalists competing collectively against one another. Created to honor and support the next generation of journalists, a total of three Livingston Awards are presented each year to journalists under the age of 35 in the categories of Local, National, and International Reporting. Each award is also accompanied by a $10,000 prize.

Judges for the 2009 awards included Christiane Amanpour of CNN, Tom Brokaw of NBC News, Ken Auletta of The New Yorker and other notable journalists from Newsweek, ABC News and more. Past winners include the aforementioned Amanpour, Thomas Friedman of the New York Times and an impressive list of other talented reporters, many of whom went on to win the Pulitzer Prize several times over.

“Mark (Greenblatt) has always displayed tenacity, empathy and perspective in his reporting and the “Under Fire” investigation was no exception,” said Keith Connors, KHOU Executive News Director. “It is no surprise to us that he is now considered one of the best young journalists in the nation.”

Greenblatt emerged from a list of 45 finalists from organizations such as CNN, NPR and The New York Times. His entry, “Under Fire: Discrimination and Corruption in the Texas National Guard,” was the presentation of a two-year investigation that exposed ongoing sexual discrimination and financial corruption throughout the highest ranks of the Texas National Guard. Reports by Greenblatt and the 11 News Defenders investigative team led to nearly unprecedented action and reform including the removal of three commanding generals by the Governor and the firing of a separate base commander, ongoing D.A. and FBI criminal investigations, hearings by the Texas Senate Finance committee and new laws to prevent similar problems in the future.