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LCA Alumni Associations announces Newsday's Mike Gormley is winner of the 2020 Walter T. Brown Award for excellence in coverage of state government and politics.
NYSNYS News

NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATIVE CORRESPONDENTS ALUMNI ASSOCIATION


May 21, 2020
Contact: Marc Humbert (518) 766-5480


NEWSDAY JOURNALIST WINS LCAA AWARD


ALBANY, N.Y. – Michael Gormley, a reporter for Newsday, the Long Island-based newspaper, has won the Walter T. Brown Legislative Correspondents Alumni Association (LCAA) 2020 Award for excellence in coverage of New York state government and politics.

The award, which carries a $500 prize, has been presented annually by the LCAA since 1947. (Please see the attachment for a list of previous winners).

“Mike is a veteran reporter who long ago earned his stripes when it comes to covering New York state government and politics,” said LCAA President Marc Humbert in announcing the 2020 award.

Gormley, the author of two books on baseball, previously worked for Albany’s Times Union newspaper and The Associated Press (with Humbert) before joining Newsday in December 2013.

In announcing the award, the LCAA cited Gormley’s strong coverage of the current pandemic and its impact on the people of New York, including those least able to care for themselves.

“Gormley shows a keen eye for the many ironies, mostly sad, of our current situation: the mental patient unable to comprehend, let alone assist, efforts to keep them well; the displaced person frustrated at their inability to document to government's satisfaction their personal history; the many 'lessons learned' from the pandemic of 1918 being ignored in the pandemic of 2020; the individuals, schools and businesses yearning for a 'return to normal' that are unlikely to see that normal again,” said David Ernst, the chairman of the LCAA’s board of directors and a former Albany bureau chief for the Buffalo News.

“The entry is good solid plain old-fashioned real reporting, without a hint of the hysteria that sometimes infests stories about the covid-19 pandemic,” added LCAA member Carol Richards, a former Albany correspondent for the Gannett News Service who later served as deputy editor of Newsday’s editorial page.

In announcing the award, Humbert said also that the LCA as a group deserved praise for its coverage of how New York’s government and its leaders reacted to the pandemic.

“The reporters covering the state Capitol showed us the good, the bad and the ugly,” said the LCAA president. “Those reporters deserve the thanks of all New Yorkers and demonstrated why reporters are considered essential workers.”

While the LCAA award is normally presented in conjunction with the annual Legislative Correspondents Association Show, this year’s event, which was to have been the group’s 120th show, was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In addition to the cash stipend, Gormley’s name will be inscribed on a plaque on permanent display in the Legislative Correspondents Room on the third floor of the State Capitol.

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