Two writers for the Hudson Reporter chain received awards for stories published in 2003. The New Jersey Society of Professional Journalists’ annual competition issued awards to staff writers Al Sullivan and Dave Hoffman.
Sullivan won first place in Enterprise Reporting for the concluding story in a series of stories on a deal to put two billboards on city-owned land in Secaucus.
Hoffman shared second place for Series Writing and Reporting for his part in a series published while he was still employed at the South Bergenite weekly newspaper in East Rutherford.
Hoffman currently covers Secaucus for the Reporter newspapers. Sullivan covers Bayonne and writes a weekly political column for all of the Reporter papers.
Sullivan’s story, “A Question of Motive,” concluded a year-long inquiry into the details behind the leasing of town-owned property for the construction of billboards near the New Jersey Turnpike.
The deal, which was designed to provide revenues for the Friends of the Library and for a group called The Municipal Youth Alliance, took on statewide significance when the Philadelphia Inquirer reported possible political influence by the two billboard company owners who eventually became cabinet members of Gov. Jim McGreevey’s staff.
The Secaucus Reporter story showed that while the local library director had implored the chairman of the state Department of Transportation to issue necessary waivers for the deal, the attorney for the billboard company was giving Mayor Dennis Elwell thousands of dollars in campaign contributions.
The story also recently won second place for Investigative Reporting for the Garden State Journalists Association. Hoffman’s award came as part of his contribution to a series of stories written about various aspects of life in local communities in Bergen County. Each of the reporters involved with the project contributed stories over four weeks in an attempt to reflect the way life went on during a week.
In this series, “A Week in the Life of…,” Hoffman drove around with a police patrol in Lyndhurst, visited a senior center in North Arlington, attended churches in Rutherford, interviewed a diner own in North Arlington, and wandered into the night life of Carlstadt and East Rutherford (stopping off in the Giants Stadium parking lot to interview fans waiting to see a Bruce Springsteen concert).
Sullivan also won second place for Series Writing for the Garden State Journalists Association for his coverage of the trial of former Freeholder Nidia Davila-Colon, who was convicted of carrying bribes from a vendor to then-County Executive Robert Janiszewski. The stories covered the trial as well the principal participants in an attempt to bring a better understanding to the circumstances leading up to the conviction.
History of awards
For Sullivan, this is the eighth straight year his stories have been honored by journalism groups including the NJSJP, the New Jersey Press Association, the North Jersey Press Club, and the Garden State Journalists Association in areas from Investigative Journalism and Public Service Reporting to Feature Writing and Personality Profiles.
In 2001, Sullivan was named the NJPA’s Weekly Journalist of the Year, and a collection of personality profiles was published at a book, Everyday People: Profiles from the Garden State by Rutgers University Press that same year. Sullivan has worked as a staff writer for the Hudson Reporter since 1992. He also worked for the Worrell Newspaper Group, the Today Newspapers in Wayne, and other newspapers since 1979. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Billboard Magazine and numerous literary publications.
For Hoffman, this is his first newspaper award. He has worked at the Hudson Reporter since December, 2003, before which he worked for the North Jersey Media Group that included reporting for the South Bergenite and a position as a news desk clerk for The Record. Hoffman also writes a weekly entertainment column for Steppin’ Out Magazine, and has written for The Jewish Standard, New York Blueprint, North Jersey Jewish News, and the Rockland Jewish Reporter. Recently he has become the Faculty Advisor for Stevens University’s Student Newspaper, The Stute.
This year, the Reporter chain also saw Hoboken beat reporter Tom Jennemann win an award from the New Jersey State Press Association for an investigative story about political interference in the Hoboken Board of Education.