Star Tribune Wins Third Gerald Loeb Award in Five Years for Excellence in Business Journalism

MINNEAPOLIS – June 29, 2015 – Star Tribune Media Co., Minnesota’s largest media company, today announced that reporters Chris Serres and Glenn Howatt have earned a prestigious Gerald Loeb Award, the highest honor in business journalism, for their stories exposing fraud and mismanagement in Minnesota’s publicly supported home healthcare system.

Their acclaimed 4-part series, “Unchecked Care,” documented millions of dollars in fraudulent billing by home healthcare providers and limited prosecution and recovery of those funds by the state. This is the Star Tribune’s third Loeb Award in the past five years. Serres and Howatt also won in 2011 for a series of articles on abuses in the debt-collection industry, and a team of reporters won in 2013 for their coverage of Best Buy.

“Ambitious journalism that’s in the public interest is a top priority of our newsroom, and we believe this is an excellent example of it,” said Rene Sanchez, Star Tribune editor and senior vice president. “Chris and Glenn were determined to shed new light on this important subject for thousands of Minnesota families whose loved ones are not receiving proper care. We’re proud of what they’ve done.”

The Loeb Award is the latest in a steady drumbeat of prizes and honors for Star Tribune. In recent weeks, its newsroom has been lauded in numerous areas by several professional organizations:

• Star Tribune’s business team won first place nationally for general excellence in the Society of American Business Editors and Writers’ 20th annual “Best In Business” awards.
• Business reporter Adam Belz won first place nationally in SABEW’s feature-story competition for his series on people who have been left behind in the economic recovery. Belz also was a finalist in SABEW’s explanatory reporting category for those stories.
• Chris Serres was named “Journalist of the Year” by the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists.
• Brian Peterson took first place in the U.S. for feature photography in the National Headliners competition for his stunning image of the Lake Superior ice caves.
• Renee Jones Schneider won first place in the U.S. in the National Press Photographers Association’s “Best of Photojournalism” awards for her videography in the Star Tribune’s “Bees on the Brink” project.
• Star Tribune’s photo department received an Award of Excellence from the National Press Photographers Association.
• Star Tribune also earned more than 40 separate honors in the Society for News Design’s “Best of News Design” awards.

About Star Tribune Media Company
Star Tribune Media Company LLC is a locally owned, award-winning media company serving Minnesota and the upper Midwest. With the seventh-largest Sunday and 12th-largest daily circulation newspaper in the U.S., the most-visited local website, a range of home-delivered advertising solutions, and a popular arts/entertainment publication and mobile app, Star Tribune reaches more consumers than any other Minnesota media brand. www.startribunecompany.com

Media contact:
Steve Yaeger
612-673-4256 (office)
651-357-3036 (mobile)
steve.yaeger@startribune.com