Reboot Illinois Publisher Madeleine Doubek won two prestigious Peter Lisagor awards in the 39th annual journalism contest sponsored by the Chicago Headline Club.
Doubek won the award for best individual blog post for her commentary about the killing of a 16-year-old Chicagoan, "Laquan McDonald's killing and the judgment for all of us." Doubek reflected on the killing of McDonald, shot 16 times by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke, and how it is symptomatic of a pattern of corruption in our public institutions in Chicago and throughout the state.
She also won a Lisagor award for best continuing blog post for a series of posts dissecting divided government in Illinois, including "Dear Gov. Rauner, Let's talk about your turnaround for Illinois," "Quiet, please. Speaker Madigan is about to deliver his very important messages about Illinois spending," and "Rauner, Madigan and caucus leaders responsible for wrecking business foundation."
The Lisagor awards honor the best in Chicago and Illinois journalism across print, online, television, radio and independent media platforms. They are named for Peter Lisagor, who served as the Chicago Daily News Washington bureau chief from 1959 to 1976.
Doubek and the Reboot Illinois staff also will be honored at an annual benefit dinner hosted by the not-for-profit children's advocacy organization, Voices for Illinois Children to be held Thursday, June 2, in Chicago.
Voices for Illinois Children will honor Doubek, Chicago Sun-Times Columnist Mark Brown and WBEZ Chicago Public Radio State Politics Reporter Tony Arnold for work covering state challenges that affect children and their families. The event will feature a panel discussion moderated by CBS Chicago Anchor Rob Johnson.