The Trace’s reporting on the dangers domestic gun violence poses to children was recognized by the New York City chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists with a 2024 Deadline Club Award at an awards ceremony on May 16, 2024.
Senior news writer Jennifer Mascia’s sweeping piece, “Dangerous Homes: Guns and Domestic Violence Exact a Deadly Toll on Kids,” which was published in partnership with USA TODAY, won for Newspaper or Digital Enterprise Reporting.
The Deadline Club judges wrote: “Backed by data analysis and often heartbreaking interviews with relatives of children killed as a result of domestic violence, The Trace offers an eye-opening expose on legal loopholes, lax gun regulations and other problems that often leave children unprotected in dangerous situations. The Trace’s reporting avoids sensationalism and leaves the reader with facts backed by deeply researched data.”
The months-in-the-making reporting ran on the front page of USA TODAY in March 2023.
The Deadline Club’s competition recognizes journalism from across all media types in the New York City metropolitan area. This year, the contest received more than 550 entries, from which judges chose 35 winners.
Two other Trace stories were named finalists for the 2024 awards: “The Gun Industry Has a Suicide Problem” by Mike Spies, which was published with The Atlantic, in the Magazine Profile category, and “Shoot, Don’t Kill,” by contributor Ted Alcorn, in the Business Feature category.
The Trace was also recently named a 2024 finalist for a National Magazine Award in Reporting for “One of America’s Favorite Handguns Is Allegedly Firing on Its Owners,” by Champe Barton, published in partnership with The Washington Post. Mensah M. Dean’s “Hope and Disenchantment as Police Flood Philly’s Most Violent Areas” was nominated for a National Association of Black Journalists’ Salute to Excellence award, for which the winners will be announced this summer.
This coincides with two important announcements related to our newsroom’s growth: The coming launch of The Gun Violence Data Hub and the hiring of two editorial staffers. Founded in 2015, The Trace remains the only news outlet dedicated to covering America’s gun violence crisis. To follow The Trace’s reporting, sign up for its newsletters here. As a nonprofit organization, The Trace relies on grants, philanthropic gifts, and reader donations to sustain its work.
Almost a year after publishing “Dangerous Homes,” Mascia heard from Angela Brooks, whose story of losing her daughter and granddaughter in a domestic violence shooting was included in her reporting. “I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for getting my message out,” Brooks wrote, before noting that the shooter was sentenced to life plus 50 years, a deal he took to avoid the death penalty.
