WASHINGTON, D.C. May 1, 2002 — The Center for Public Integrity has won the Society of Professional Journalists' prestigious 2001 Sigma Delta Chi Award for excellence in journalism. The Center won the award in the "Public service in online journalism (independent)" category for its report "Watchdogs on Short Leashes," released Dec. 13 last year.

The report tracked ethics enforcement in all 50 state legislatures. It found that more than half of the states had no independent oversight of lawmakers’ ethical conduct. Only 23 states had independent commissions that have at least minimal authority to investigate or enforce violations of ethics rules, the report noted.

“Watchdogs on Short Leashes” was written by Meleah Rush, the Center’s director of States Projects, and former Center associate Ken Vogel, who is now the state capitol correspondent for The (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) Times Leader.

“This investigative work is very lonely, time-consuming and exhausting. So we are very excited and grateful for this recognition, and immensely proud of Leah and Ken and their remarkable patience and perseverance,” Center Executive Director Charles Lewis said.

“The Center is a terrific team, and every report we do involves researchers, writers, fact-checkers, editors and Web production folks, in addition to general support personnel. So, really, everyone here can bask for a few seconds in the glow of this award.”

SPJ, the largest journalism organization in the United States, Wednesday named winners in 42 different categories, including newspapers/wire services, magazines, art/graphics, radio, television, research and online reporting. Among other winners are the Associated Press, The Washington Post, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek and Time.

This is the second SPJ Public Service Award and the fourth national journalism award the Center has won in six years. Center reports have been named finalists or runners-up for national SPJ or Investigative Reporters and Editors awards seven times, in the same period. This is the second successive year that the State Projects team has won a major journalism award.

“Our Private Legislatures,” which documented the private financial interests of state legislators,” won the 2000 IRE Award in online category. That study, released May 21, 2000, found startling conflicts of interest and other flaws in the system of state government, affecting policy decisions on everything from education to nuclear waste, from taxes to healthcare.