Newsday takes top honors in National Headliner Awards, for Gilgo serial killings coverage, photo categories

Newsday took home top honors in the 90th National Headliner Awards Monday, including first-place spots for photographers and in the breaking news category for the coverage of the Gilgo Beach serial killings.

The Gilgo Beach coverage was cited for its “riveting” profile of defendant Rex A. Heuermann, and the “informative” stories on the victims in the case. The judges also pointed to “spare” but “impactful” video used in the coverage, as well as “deep historical angles” and graphics.

“All bases were covered,” the judges said and the coverage was a “textbook education” on a story Newsday “has owned for more than a decade.”

“We are honored to receive top recognition for our comprehensive coverage on the Gilgo Beach killings arrest by the National Headliner Awards,” said Rochell Bishop Sleets, Newsday's managing editor. “I am proud of our news team who worked tirelessly to give readers detailed, exclusive reports on a case that has haunted Long Islanders for over a decade and has garnered national interest.”

Newsday photographer Thomas A. Ferrara’s “The Soul of the Game” also came in first in the Single Day Photo Story category.

Ferrara not only captured men playing baseball as it was played in 1864 with historically correct gear and by the rules of that era, but used a camera and development method of the late 1800s to make tintype portraits of the athletes cited by the judges as “spectacular” and looking “as if they were made 150 years ago.”

Ferrara also scored two second prizes; in the Sports Action or Sports Feature Photography category for “Runaway Racehorse” and in the Portrait category for “Vintage ‘Base Ball’ player Andy ‘Renman’ Lembo.”

Newsday's J. Conrad Williams Jr. scored first place in Sports Action or Sports Feature Photography for capturing Yankees star Aaron Judge giving autographs to a crowd of fans at spring training. He also placed first in Individual Photo Portfolio.

Randee Daddona won first place in the Portrait category for a photo of Jermaine Owens, a fisherman that captures much needed “feel good” moments in journalism, judges said.

Newsday photographer Howard Schnapp came in second for “Meatballs” in Feature Photography. Steve Pfost won two third-place prizes, in Individual Photo Portfolio as well as Single Day Photo Story for “The Dance, A Father, A Daughter and their Dream.”

John Paraskevas took third in “Pictorial” for “Sunset Silhouette.”

Newsday also won first place in the Staff Photo Portfolio category.

John Keating, director of multimedia newsgathering and photography, said that the photo awards are a testament to the depth and talent of the team.

“We are very proud of the strong showing by Newsday photographers in the National Headliner Awards,” Keating said.

This year, Newsday TV was also recognized in the “broadcast or cable television stations newscast” category, receiving third place for its coverage of LI Votes 2023.