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M.L. Elrick wins Scripps Howard award for watchdog columns
Detroit Free Press columnist M.L. Elrick nabbed another national honor this June.
The longtime investigative journalist won the Scripps Howard Journalism Award for excellence in opinion writing June 10 for his 'On Guard' columns. Named alongside Elrick and the Free Press was 'Eye On Michigan,' a nonprofit, independent student investigative reporting program that Elrick launched.
Elrick, who previously won the Pulitzer Prize, 'exposes politicians and public officials who break the rules or fail to do their jobs, providing the public with crucial information they can't find elsewhere to make informed decisions,' according to a listing on the Scripps Howard Fund and Scripps Howard Foundation website.
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Among the work that earned Elrick his latest honor were pieces that laid bare the checkered past of a probate judge candidate, exposed a Monroe County commissioner planning to serve an elected term while in federal prison, and took on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and then-state House Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit, amid the controversial lame duck session at the end of 2024.
Elrick's work is a valuable service, said Nicole Avery Nichols, editor and vice president of the Free Press.
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'M.L.'s brand of accountability journalism is uniquely Free Press, holding the powerful to account on behalf of metro Detroiters,' she said, later adding: 'Equally exciting is that the collegiate journalists of 'Eye on Michigan,' have also been honored for their investigative work.
"Coaching and inspiring the next generation of journalists is something that M.L., and the Free Press, is deeply committed to.'
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The Scripps Howard Journalism Awards honor work "that spurs action' and teams 'that go the extra mile to expose previously undisclosed or misunderstood information,' according to its website.
The fund named winners across 12 categories from nearly 600 entries nationwide.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: M.L. Elrick wins Scripps Howard award for watchdog columns
