Arizona Daily Star reporter wins state's top journalism award

Amy Silverman, who was an Arizona Daily Star reporter and a fellow with ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in 2020, has won the state’s most prestigious journalism award.

Silverman was named Virg Hill Journalist of the Year by the Arizona Press Club for what the judging panel called her “fantastic work highlighting issues within the state for those with disabilities.”

In writing for the Star and ProPublica about how often Arizonans with disabilities are denied services they desperately need, Silverman was determined that her work be for people with disabilities, not just about them.

Her passion led to groundbreaking work to directly involve people with various disabilities, the highlight of which was translating the story into plain language text, a format that streamlines and clarifies information rather than talks down to people at a lower reading level. This was the first time a mainstream media organization made such an attempt.

“I like my story I forward it to my parents. I am going to forward it to my ddd person,” wrote Cassie Camacho, who has an intellectual disability and whose mostly failed attempts to get services were featured in the story. “I hope you can see me complete in special Olympics one day!”

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Young journalist LaRae Meadows wrote that the plain language translation inspired her to do more to reach and serve her audience.

“Thank you for teaching me how I could do this better. Thank you for enriching how I see my job to share ideas. Thank you for showing me how I can do it better. Your translation touched me more than anything I have read this terrible year,” she wrote. “What good is a story about a community that people in that community cannot understand?”

Judges for the Virg Hill award included Glenn Smith, watchdog and public service editor at The Post and Courier; Laura Dennis, executive editor of the Odessa American; and Kyle Hopkins, special projects reporter for the Anchorage Daily News and winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for public service reporting.

The award is named for Virg Hill, a popular and witty political columnist and reporter for The Phoenix Gazette who died of a heart attack in 1969 while covering the Arizona House of Representatives. The Virg Hill Award goes to the writer or editor who, in the opinion of the judges, had the best portfolio of work during 2020.