The Well News Wins Features, Beat-Writing Awards at SPJ DC Dinner
WASHINGTON — The Well News garnered first place nods for online Beat Reporting and Feature Writing Tuesday night at the Society of Professional Journalists D.C. Chapter’s 2025 Dateline Awards ceremony at the National Press Club.
In the Beat Reporting category The Well News and writer Dan McCue were honored for their coverage of the 2024 presidential primaries.
In the Feature Writing category, McCue and The Well News were honored for his feature “Ghosts of the Delta Still Walk the Halls of Chess Records,” a sidebar to his coverage of the 2024 Democratic Nominating Convention in Chicago, Illinois.
The Well News was also recognized as a finalist in a number of categories including Features (“David Schechter Brings Climate Change Coverage Home for Viewers of CBS News”), Business (“At Hydrogen Summit Euphoria Gives Way to the Practical”), Breaking News (“Supreme Court Overrules Chevron Doctrine”), and Breaking News (again for our presidential primary coverage).
Each year, the Washington, D.C., Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists honors the best and brightest in journalism in the D.C. Metro area.
Serving as master of ceremonies for this year’s event was Kojo Nnamdi, host of National Public Radio’s “Politics Hour.”
The evening started with the induction of three new members into the chapter’s Hall of Fame.
These were Voice of America Director Michael Abramowitz, newsroom diversity advocate Richard Prince, and longtime owner and publisher of The Washington Informer, Denise Rolark Barnes.
The chapter’s Distinguished Service Award, recognizing journalists’ commitment to the pursuit of excellence in the profession, went to Stephenie Overman, SPJ Region 2 coordinator, successful freelance writer, and longtime supporter of SPJ’s freelance community.
The Well News was just one of several organizations recognized for their contributions to local journalism. In all, Dateline Awards winners and finalists were recognized across 69 categories.
“This has been a challenging year for all of us. But tonight we celebrate. We are honoring D.C.’s best and brightest, the people who exemplify a profession that strives to be diverse, inclusive and independent,” said SPJ-DC Board President Celia Wexler early on in the festivities.
Wexler added that the quality of this year’s entries proves that “journalism in the DMV is thriving, despite the political and financial headwinds that buffet our industry.”
A special award — the Robert D.G. Lewis Watchdog Award — is presented each year to an entry — in any category — that best exemplifies journalism aimed at protecting the public from abuses by those who would betray the public trust. The award comes with a prize of $1,000.
The award is named in honor of the late Robert D.G. Lewis of Newhouse Newspapers, who was an SPJ national president as well as chairman of its Freedom of Information Committee.
The Watchdog award this year went to Caresse Jackman, Daniela Molina and Owen Hornstein.
Their entry, “Lead Out: Investigating the Removal of America’s Lead Pipes,” for InvestigateTV/Gray Media, is a thorough investigation into the nation’s water system.
The judges praised “how this story took a look at individual states’ progress on replacing lead pipes” and its “excellent use of public record requests to find out how states are handling or resisting those efforts.”
A complete list of the Dateline winners and finalists by category can be found here.
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