Heat City first broke the news nearly two weeks ago, but it became official Monday. Two Arizona reporters have been named winners of a 2008 George Polk Award, one of the top honors in American journalism.
Reporters Ryan Gabrielson and Paul Giblin won in the justice reporting category for a series published last year in the East Valley Tribune called “Reasonable Doubt” which showed the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office was pursing minor immigration infractions at the cost of violent crime investigations and emergency response times.
Giblin now writes for the online political news upstart, the Arizona Guardian, as does Patti Epler, who oversaw and edited the series. Gabrielson remains at the East Valley Tribune.
The award puts the reporters in the company of the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times and television’s “60 Minutes,” which are also among the news organizations receiving Polks this year.