USA TODAY reporter Brad Heath is the winner of the national Al Nakkula Award for Police Reporting, sponsored by 抖阴旅行射鈥檚 College of Media, Communication and Information and the Denver Press Club.
Heath won for an investigation that revealed police and prosecutors nationwide secretly allowed almost 200,000 fugitives to escape justice by crossing state borders.
Heath will discuss his work in a Fireside Chat at the , 1330 Glenarm Place in Denver, at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 23.听 The presentation, sponsored by the college and the Society of Professional Journalists鈥� Colorado Chapter, is free and open to the public.听He will receive the Nakkula award Friday, April 24 at the press club鈥檚 annual Damon Runyon Dinner. For tickets visit www.blacktie-colorado.com and go to April 24.
Heath鈥檚 series of articles led prosecutors in at least four states to reconsider or reverse policies that let thousands of fugitives avoid arrest.
"Brad Heath and USA TODAY showed incredible tenacity and perseverance to get the data to uncover how tens of thousands of fugitives are allowed to roam free to keep committing crimes. It was eye-opening,鈥� said contest judge Burt Hubbard, a veteran of the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post.
The 鈥淣ak鈥� award honors the memory of the late Al Nakkula, a 46-year veteran of the Rocky Mountain News whose bulldog tenacity made him a legendary police reporter.听 In addition to Hubbard, the contest judges were former Rocky Mountain News staffers Tustin Amole, Tonia Twichell and Kevin Vaughan.
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