Freelance writer Michelle L. Quinn won first place in business or consumer affairs reporting for her story on the plight of Hobart apartment dwellers impacted by the emergency closing of their complex.

Quinn also took third place in the government/politics category for a story about the conflict when a Highland firefighter won a town council seat last year.

Freelance writer Jim Masters won second place for investigative reporting on stories about Griffith town festivals losing money.

Masters also won third place in the same category for a story about the president of the Griffith Town Council earning a lucrative salary for taking on more duties.

Senior content editor and writer Amy Lavalley won second place in the Arts and Entertainment category for a story on Valparaiso University’s plans to sell core works of art to finance dormitory improvements.

Lavalley also won third place in the non-deadline story category about the impact of a shuttered Northwest Indiana homeless shelter putting clients at risk.

Freelance writer Anna Ortiz won third place in the Arts and Entertainment category for a feature about preserving the past and increasing tourism at paranormal sites in Northwest Indiana.

The Indianapolis Star team of Tony Cook, Alexandria Burris, Dayeon Eom and Ryan Martin won the Story of the Year award for its investigative series called “Bad Bars,” that explored how influential public officials allowed bad bars to remain open.

Lee V. Gaines of WFYI was named Journalist of the Year for covering a range of issue stories on education issues and children.

The Enterprise Desk at the Indiana Daily Student at Indiana University won the Student Journalist of the Year award for reporting and investigating issues that impact IU students.

The Indiana Public Access Counselor’s Office, headed by Luke Britt, received the First Amendment Award. Britt is the state’s longest-serving public access counselor, appointed by Mike Pence in 2013.

Click here to sign up for the newsletter and catch up on the latest politics news here.

“Stalled Justice,” led by Tribune reporters Joe Mahr and Megan Crepeau, investigated why Cook County murder cases take so long to reach a resolution. The defendants in these cases are routinely locked up for years — sometimes up to a decade or more — without a trial. That’s longer than in any other major American city reporters could study.

Defendants and victims’ families both described feeling confused and hopeless as they wait year after year for closure. Reporters found frequent breakdowns at every phase of a criminal case, failures that have become so common that courthouse insiders barely register them as problems. Judges have the power to strike a better balance between fairness and efficiency but rarely exercise it.

The Tribune also found Cook County courts have ignored their own case management standards for years, as well as repeatedly disregarding recommendations for reform. The result is a justice system that has failed in its fundamental duties of fairness and competency.

To reach their findings, Tribune reporters observed hundreds of court hearings, interviewed victims’ families as well as defendants, analyzed millions of lines of raw data, and reviewed five decades’ worth of studies chronicling Cook County court delays.

“The presumption of innocence in our criminal justice system tends to be more myth than reality. But the Chicago Tribune treats the presumption seriously in this exceptional series on the impact of stunning delays in the Cook County courts,” said Taylor judge Ken Armstrong. “The series accounts for all the people hurt by the court system’s failures, be they a relative of a murder victim or a defendant awaiting trial. This could have been a laborious read, full of procedural jargon. It’s anything but. The reporting is deep and thoughtful, the writing clean and clear.”

The Taylor award recognizes work from across the country that exemplifies fairness in news coverage. It is administered by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.

“The Chicago Tribune’s ‘Stalled Justice’ series represents the best in local journalism. The series had a very clear mandate, based on principles of fairness, and the reporters went to great lengths to seek out sources from all sides — from defendants to relatives to prosecutors to judges and administrators,” said another Taylor judge, Wonbo Woo. “They further took steps to ensure those sources were well-informed about their participation and were thoughtful in their approach to covering very sensitive issues.”

The team named as this year’s winner also includes Tribune photojournalist Brian Cassella and editors Jeff Coen and Kaarin Tisue.

The Tribune won 2017’s Taylor award for an investigation that exposed Cook County’s unfair property tax assessment practices, with ProPublica Illinois contributing. In past years, the Taylor award also has recognized the Tribune for reporting on Chicago’s corrupt red-light camera program, for a series on toxic flame-retardant chemicals, for exposing a clout-filled admissions process at the University of Illinois and for coverage of race issues in America.

Click here to sign up for Immigration Bulletin. And catch up on the latest immigration news.

Para leer en español, haga clic aquí.

Haga clic aquí para registrarse para recibir el boletín de inmigración.

Click here to sign up for What to Watch.

Akbar was born and raised in Saginaw, Michigan, and moved from New York to Pilsen in 2022.

He began his journalism career at Buzzfeed and BuzzFeed News covering American Muslims, food and culture for four years. For the last five years, he split his time between freelance food writing and audio reporting; he wrote for Eater, Bon Appetit and America’s Test Kitchen, and hosted shows for Vox and Crooked Media.

His podcast “See Something Say Something” won a Wilbur Award and his 2022 Eater article on the underground WhatsApp mango trade won the James Beard Award in feature reporting.

Akbar graduated from the University of Michigan and holds a master’s degree from Harvard Divinity School. You can follow him on Twitter @radbrowndads.

Click here to sign up for the White Sox Insider. And catch up on all the White Sox happenings here.

Click here to sign up for the Cubs Insider. And catch up on all the Cubs happenings here.

Here’s what you need to know about the new chicagotribune.com and answers to frequently asked questions.

Faster load times

Our simpler, cleaner design loads faster so you can spend less time waiting – and more time reading our award-winning local journalism.

Use any device

The site can easily be viewed on mobile, desktop or tablet devices, each with a custom view. We’ve also reduced the number of widgets and other intrusions that detracted from the reader experience.

Better navigation

The streamlined site navigation is better organized, making it easier to find the sections and topics that interest you.

Sign up for newsletters and alerts

A sign-up button is prominently displayed on the homepage below Latest Headlines and in the main navigation bar.

Feedback

While we’ve tried to fix what you didn’t like about the old site, we realize there’s always room to improve. We will continue to make tweaks based on your feedback. What do you like? What isn’t working for you? Please let us know at feedback@chicagotribune.com.

—

Still have questions about the new site? Here are answers to some common queries.

How do I log in? Why does the login screen look different?

To log in on mobile devices, tap the silhouette of a person in the upper right corner (to the left of the magnifying glass) and then tap the blue “Log in” button. On desktop, the “Log in” button will show automatically.

When the login screen opens, you’ll notice some changes. First, it has a different URL (mng-prod.auth0.com) from the rest of the site. You’ll also notice the login screen has a different layout.

You still have options to sign in with a Google, Facebook or Apple account; you can tap one of those options and follow the prompts. Or if you have a dedicated site login, you can enter your email address and password and tap the “Log In” bar.

Note: You can no longer sign in with a Twitter or Yahoo account.

What if I don’t want to sign in with a Google, Facebook or Apple account, and I don’t have a dedicated site login?

From the login screen, tap the Sign Up tab, enter your email address and create a password to register for a free, limited-access account.

Where is my favorite section?

Tap on the All Sections button (three horizontal lines) in the top left corner of the site to browse our sections and topics, then tap a section name to see a list of subsections (for example, tap “Sports” to find the “Chicago Bears” section).

How do I search for a specific story or page?

Tap the magnifying glass in the top right corner.

Where is the eNewspaper?

You can find the eNewspaper — a digital replica of the day’s print edition — link in the top left corner under the date on desktop or under the pop-out menu on the left side on mobile. Unlimited access to the eNewspaper is reserved for subscribers.

Where can I find news obituaries and death notices?

There is a link to our news obituaries section in the navigation list across the top of the site on desktop or under the pop-out menu on the left side on mobile. You can find death notices in the same place.

How do I contact someone in the newsroom?

Here’s how to contact us for customer service and subscription questions — and much more.

Will this change impact my smartphone app?

Changes to our smartphone app should be limited.

How do I subscribe?

From the All Sections button in the top left corner of the site on desktop, tap the blue “Subscribe Now” button to see our current best offers.

I am already a subscriber. How do I manage my account online?

Make sure you are logged in to the site. Then tap on your avatar to the left of the magnifying glass in the top right corner of the site on desktop. From the drop-down, select “Account Settings.”

You can also contact us for customer service and subscription questions.