Now in its 19th year, the Association of Health Care Journalists’ annual Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism is a professional and public affirmation of the importance of health care as a beat. To select the most powerful, poignant and effective stories from all the submissions requires significant time, dedication and care. For that, we thank the dozens of volunteer judges who make it all possible.
The 2022 contest drew 429 entries in 14 categories and winners were announced at the annual national conference in St. Louis in March. Judges work in teams of two, over two rounds, to select the winners, and judges say the work is gratifying and inspiring. Many have donated their time to AHCJ’s contest for several years while others volunteered this year for the first time.
Each volunteer judge — all of whom are current or retired journalists or journalism instructors — plays a crucial role in maintaining the integrity and independence of the annual awards. Those who agreed to be publicly recognized are named below. Our most sincere thanks to everyone for volunteering!
- Reed Abelson, The New York Times
- Debbie Abrams Kaplan
- Jill Adams
- Ira Allen, retired journalist
- Julie Appleby, Kaiser Health News
- Rita Baron-Faust, St. Francis College
- Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor
- Liz Beltran, The Wall Street Journal
- Karen Blum
- Sarah Boden, 90.5 WESA News, Pittsburgh’s NPR station
- Barbara Brody
- Barbara Burgower Hordern, Retired journalist
- Cheryl Clark, MedPage Today
- Dennis Dailey, Mobile Health Times
- Meryl Davids
- Mia de Graaf, Insider
- Mat Edelson
- Ellen Eldridge, Georgia Public Broadcasting
- Blake Farmer, WPLN/NPR/Kaiser Health News
- James Gaines, Knowable Magazine
- Philip Galewitz, Kaiser Health News
- Carol Gentry, retired journalist, founder of Health News FLA
- Toni Gerber Hope
- Lisa Gillespie, Primary Care, Medscape and WebMD
- Dan Gorenstein, Tradeoffs
- David Gorn
- Ariel Hart, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- Joshua Hatch, The Chronicle of Higher Education
- Erica Hensley, The Fuller Project
- Andrew Holtz, HoltzReport
- Charlotte Huff
- Stefanie Ilgenfritz, The Wall Street Journal
- Christopher Intagliata, NPR
- Carla Johnson, The Associated Press
- Brian Jones
- Erin Jordan, The (Cedar Rapids) Gazette
- Sandra Jordan
- Alla Katsnelson
- Jeremy Kohler, ProPublica
- Amy Kraft, Everyday Health
- Sandra Lamb
- Tony Leys, Kaiser Health News
- Robin Lloyd, Scientific American
- Rosalba Mancuso, Modernhealthinfo.com
- Robin Marantz Henig
- Suzanne Marmion, Everyday Health, Migraine Again
- Patrick McGroarty, The Wall Street Journal
- Naseem Miller, The Journalist’s Resource
- Rachel Nania, AARP
- Ben Nathanson, AnCan Foundation
- Charles Ornstein, ProPublica
- Candace Page, Seven Days
- Janice Paskey, Mount Royal University
- Charlene Rhinehart
- Karen Robinson-Jacobs, Lee Enterprises
- Bram Sable-Smith, Kaiser Health News
- Anne Saker, retired journalist
- Liz Scherer
- Donna Shaw, The College of New Jersey
- Nisha Shetty
- Joanne Silberner
- Paula Span, New York Times
- Tony Stasiek, OneCare Media
- Wendy Thermos
- Zachary Tracer, Insider Inc.
- Karen Weintraub, USA TODAY
- Sandy West
- Susan White, Public Health Watch
Interested in volunteering as a judge for the 2023 contest? Sign up here.
The contest needs new judges each year, and serving as a judge does not bar you from entering the contest. Our committee works to avoid conflicts of interest for judges as well as reporters/entries from their outlet. For questions about judging or if you are an AHCJ member interested in serving on the contest committee, please contact AHCJ Membership Manager Tina England at tina@healthjournalism.org.
Oversight and support for the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism come from the AHCJ Contest Committee, co-chaired by AHCJ board members Carrie Feibel and Christine Herman. The committee also includes board members Joyce Frieden, Sebastián Martínez Valdivia, and Sabriya Rice and member volunteers Pauline Arrillaga and Jonathan Rockoff.
