"A Matter of Dignity," the Star Tribune's investigation into segregation and neglect facing Minnesotans with disabilities, has won first place for public service in the National Headliner Awards, one of the oldest and largest national journalism competitions.

The award, announced Friday by the Press Club of Atlantic City, went to reporters Chris Serres and Glenn Howatt and photographer David Joles.

The five-part series examined an interlocking set of state policies that consign thousands of Minnesotans with disabilities to segregated workplaces and isolated group homes. The reporters found that Minnesota ranks No. 1 nationally in the use of sheltered workshops, cloistered workplaces where many workers wind up in poverty and dead-end jobs. They also mapped the remote locations of state-licensed group homes that leave many residents vulnerable to neglect and abuse. One installment profiled the state of Vermont, a national leader at integrating people with disabilities into mainstream work and community life.

In the wake of the series, Minnesota's state workforce agency announced plans to phase out subsidies to sheltered workshops and replace them with incentives to move more people with disabilities into the general workforce. In addition, the state has reformed the distribution of billions of dollars in Medicaid assistance and has moved to eliminate prolonged waiting lists for disability benefits.

The series also won first place in investigative reporting this week from the Association of Health Care Journalists at its national conference in Cleveland.

The Star Tribune has won top honors in the Headliner competition twice before. In 2014, reporter Josephine Marcotty won first place for environmental writing and reporters Jeff Meitrodt and Kim McGuire won a first-place award for an investigation of special education in Minnesota.

Howatt

STAFF REPORT