Globe wins online journalism national award for series on mislabeling of fish

By Colin A. Young, Globe Correspondent

The Boston Globe won a national award for online journalism for its series on the mislabeling of fish at restaurants and grocery stores in the 2012 National Press Club Journalism Contest, the National Press Club announced this week.

Reporters Jenn Abelson and Beth Daley won the Joan M. Friedenberg Online Journalism Award for their “Fishy Business’’ series, which was published last October. The award is given to reporters who have “done original reporting and have taken advantage of online technology in order to provide a thorough and graphically attractive report,” according to the National Press Club.

“It’s terrific for reporters Jenn Abelson and Beth Daley to receive recognition from their peers for their outstanding work that showed consumers were being cheated,” said Globe health and science editor Gideon Gil. “For the Globe, winning in the online category is especially gratifying because it validates our success as a multimedia journalism enterprise.”

The series was the result of a five-month investigation that found Massachusetts consumers routinely and unknowingly overpay for less desirable fish. DNA testing of samples collected from more than 100 restaurants, grocery stores, and seafood markets found that 48 percent of 183 samples turned out to be a different species than what was advertised.

“This was a series that resonated immediately and viscerally with readers,” Globe editor Martin Baron said. “We’re pleased that it found similar resonance among judges for this prestigious national award. Notably, judges recognized how effectively the Globe’s journalism was delivered online, at the frontier of storytelling.”

The series also received an honorable mention in the consumer journalism-newspapers category for the series. The top award in that category went to Michael Berens and Ken Armstrong of the Seattle Times.

In February, the Globe series won in the feature and explanatory categories in the Society of American Business Editors and Writers’ annual Best in Business contest.

On its website, the National Press Club calls itself “a social and business organization dedicated to supporting the ongoing improvement of the profession of journalism.” Award winners will be honored at an awards dinner July 24 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.