Post & Courier wins 2008 award for investigative journalism

The 2008 Taylor/Tomlin Award for Investigative Journalism was awarded to two provocative investigative journalism series by The Post and Courier of Charleston. The judges felt both were outstanding efforts that shed light on why nine firefighters lost their lives in June 2007 in the Sofa Super Store fire and how the condition of the state-owned school bus fleet endangered the lives of South Carolina school children.

The in-depth investigative series on the tragic deaths of nine firefighters by Post and Courier reporters Ron Menchaca, Glenn Smith, Tony Bartelme, Robert Behre, David Slade and Doug Pardue probed how a simple trash fire could end up as a deadly conflagration, according to Bill Hawkins, Executive Editor. Hawkins said the series revealed that the firefighters and their leaders did almost everything wrong and failed to follow numerous nationally recognized firefighting guidelines that might have prevented the tragedy. The series led to the Charleston fire department’s complete overhaul of its training, procedures and equipment. See series>

The second series by Post and Courier reporters Ron Menchaca and Mindy Hagen revealed that South Carolina owns and operates the oldest, least safe and most polluting school bus fleet in the country. The three-day series in March 2007 provoked a swift and immediate outcry that ultimately led to a new South Carolina law providing for the annual purchase of about 375 new buses at a cost of nearly $30 million per year, Hawkins said. See series>

The Taylor/Tomlin Award for Investigative Journalism recognizes enterprising, perceptive and beneficial reporting by journalists whose work is published in a South Carolina daily or weekly newspaper or wire service. The award seeks to stimulate and honor the work of investigative journalists who ask the extra question, see more than the tip of the iceberg and probe beyond superficiality.

South Carolina businessmen Joe E. Taylor Jr. and Donald R. Tomlin Jr. created the award and its $5000 prize in 2005. The School of Journalism and Mass Communications administers the annual competition and the South Carolina Press Association coordinates the judging. Previous winners are Ron Menchaca and Glenn Smith, The Post and Courier, 2006, and David Wren, The Sun News (Myrtle Beach), 2007.

Previous Winners:
2007
Wren wins Taylor-Tomlin Award for Investigative Journalism for Five River Community series
2006
Charleston's 'Tarnished Badges' Wins First Taylor-Tomlin Award