ASA - American Society on Aging

2001 Awards Programs
Recognizing Excellence in the Field of Aging

Award Winners

The ASA Media Awards recognize journalists whose work has had an exceptional impact on public awareness of issues related to aging at the national and local/regional levels. Copies of the winning entries are on display in the Exhibit Hall. The Media Awards are sponsored by The Senior Network Inc. The Senior Network is the leading marketing communications company providing access to and expertise in the mature market.

2001 MEDIA AWARDS

NATIONAL LEVEL

Wendy Bonifazi

Fort Collins, CO
Freelance Writer

Wendy Bonifazi's goal as a journalist is to improve the lives of elders who will need long-term care services for themselves or their families.

Personal and professional experience led Ms. Bonifazi to recognize the shortcomings of eldercare services. She realized it would take more than consumer advocacy, marketplace dissatisfaction and regulations to improve them. She now writes for trade journals such as Contemporary Long Term Care so she can reach the providers who exert influence over consumer care and can persuade them to consider changes. As a contributing writer and columnist, she has produced more than 65 features, investigations and news stories since 1998.

Her articles are also read by regulators, policymakers, consumer advocates and consumers nationwide. Contemporary Long Term Care receives more positive reader response for her work than for that of any of their other writers. Even her research stimulates change: When she asked regulators what counseling is mandated for rape victims in long-term care facilities, they said they had never thought about mandating counseling but vowed to promote new state requirements.

Ms. Bonifazi comes up with topics herself by identifying elder needs, problematic issues, and questions. She examines highly publicized programs and researches extensively, seeking little-known, unpublicized eldercare practices and developments in aging. Her articles challenge established thinking by providing hard-hitting examples and accurate, practical information focusing on best practices and proven innovations. "It's not enough to convince readers that their beliefs and policies are misguided," she says. "They need real successes and practical how-to's to change for the better . . . I must often appeal to readers' self-interests, to convince them to improve quality of life."

Wendy Bonifazi's reputation for diligence, objectivity and fairness has persuaded providers to speak candidly on their failures and problems as well as successes.

Her work in 2000 included features on the importance of personal possessions to institutionalized elders; their need for intimate and sexual relationships; facilities' responsibility for widespread malnutrition; families' need for support and respite; rethinking relationships between providers and ombudsmen; and improvements in frontline staffing.

Ms. Bonifazi seeks out varied perspectives and insights for her articles, going beyond industry, government and research sources to include the voices of elders themselves. "By quoting elders who are patients, family members and caregivers, I remind readers who they are supposed to serve, while countering ageism and showing that elders themselves have answers to many provider questions and problems," she says.

Bonifazi's journalism awards reflect the breadth and scope of her work on aging and caregiving. In 2000 she earned the American Academy of Neurology's Media Fellowship for science/neurology reporting. "A Day in the Life of a Certified Nursing Assistant," which profiled the difficulties and dedication of a long-term care CNA, won the 1999 Association of Rehabilitation Nurses Media Excellence Award. Ms. Bonifazi also received recent awards from the American Society of Business Press Editors and the American Business Press.

Ms. Bonifazi earned an associate degree in nursing and bachelor's degrees in psychology and journalism from Utica College of Syracuse University. She has taught journalism at Colorado State University. In addition to working and raising her family, Ms. Bonifazi volunteers as the special projects ombudsman for Larimer County, Colo.

Honorable Mention

John F. Wasik, MA

Consumer's Digest

John F. Wasik is an award-winning editor and writer. He has written eight books and his articles have appeared in major national periodicals. He is currently the special projects editor of Consumers Digest magazine, which has a readership of 7 million.

The two pieces ASA is honoring appeared in the magazine's "special report" series in 2000. They examined two different financial subjects affecting older adults. Each detailed illicit practices frequently aimed at elders, described consumer protection measures, and examined how little government agencies were doing to protect the most vulnerable members of our society.

"The Fleecing of America's Elderly" took an in-depth look at how legal devices such as power of attorney are routinely abused--often by family members--to steal money and property from frail or disabled elders. The article estimated that some 5 million older adults may be victimized by this silent crime, which is rarely reported and is not even tracked by FBI Uniform Crime Statistics. Mr. Wasik researched the story by reviewing data from academic studies and adult protective services agencies in every state and by interviewing experts on crimes against elders. The article described how these crimes are usually carried out and enumerated steps that family and community members can take to prevent the crimes.

"Avoiding the Cemetery Trap" tackled cemetery pricing and regulation. Cemeteries are not regulated by the Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Rule and are monitored only loosely by state agencies--most states have no cemetery regulation. Elders are overcharged frequently and quietly. His article presented common pricing abuses, comparisons of cemetery costs by metropolitan area, and suggestions on how to save money on burial expenses. Like financial abuse of elders, this subject is rarely covered in the mainstream media. Mr. Wasik's research uncovered predatory industry practices that merit attention by federal and state authorities.

In addition to his writing, Mr. Wasik has spoken and lectured around the United States. His investigative reporting has received numerous honors, such as the National Press Club Consumer Journalism Award and the "Best of the Best" Award for business writing. He received a bachelor's in psychology and a master's in communication from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

LOCAL/REGIONAL LEVEL

Maureen West and Betty Reid

The Arizona Republic

Betty Reid and Maureen West, reporters for the Arizona Republic, collaborated to research and write a series of articles on an underexamined issue in the Southwest. Adults across the continent struggle to help their aging parents. For urban Native Americans whose elderly parents live in remote hogans on distant reservations, the duties of family present difficult sacrifices.

Every two weeks, Betty Reid, a Navajo tribe member, drives four hours to be with her mother and aunt in an isolated one-room home with no electricity, running water or phone. Ms. Reid chops wood, carries water from their well and helps herd their sheep. Her mother and aunt think of their lives as raditional and normal. What is not traditional, however, is the absence of young people, who now typically live in cities where jobs are available.

Ms. Reid joined with Maureen West, a veteran writer on aging and demographic issues, to examine the situation of older Native Americans living alone in remote areas. Because 80 percent of Navajo elders do not speak English, Ms. Reid and Ms. West traveled as a team to interview people. They would arrive at each home with a customary sack of flour or sugar as a household gift.

Their story, titled "Old and Alone," as well as their subsequent coverage of medical and social issues on the reservations, has led to increased state support of traditionally underfunded reservation services. The public's reaction to their coverage has been overwhelmingly positive. Urban Arizonans can easily forget that a large portion of Arizona is reservation land. These articles have helped fill in the picture of the diverse elder population of the Southwest.

Ms. Reid is a Navajo journalist who writes for the "Arizona Diary," a Sunday section in the Republic. She joined the paper in 1992, and has since covered law enforcement, education and local news; she also writes feature stories about Navajo life. Before she joined the staff of the Republic Ms. Reid worked for the Gallup Independent and at the now-defunct Navajo Times TODAY, where she wrote about Navajo affairs. She is a graduate of the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Ms. West covers aging and health stories for the Arizona Republic. She has worked at the Arizona Republic and at its now-defunct sister publication the Phoenix Gazette for 10 years. During the 1996-97 academic year she studied aging issues at Stanford University as a Knight Journalism Fellow. In 2000 she received the International Longevity Center's first Hugh Downs Award for excellence in reporting on aging. This is her second ASA Media Award since 1999. West graduated from the University of Iowa School of Journalism, and has reported for newspapers in Lexington, Ky.; Daytona Beach, Fla.; and Fayetteville, N.C.

Honorable Mention

Marsha King

The Seattle Times

Marsha King, a veteran reporter with the Seattle Times, has won many regional journalism awards. Two years ago, she started the newspaper's first beat on aging, giving readers a regional perspective on the major aging-related issues emerging across the country. Her stories have received a tremendous response because they touch the issues that her readers find most critical.

The Seattle Times is the largest newspaper in the Pacific Northwest. It has a stated commitment to providing original, in-depth coverage of aging issues. In her two years on the “age beat,” Ms. King has written about the plight of inner-city African American elders, the politics of Social Security, the trend toward corporations providing eldercare benefits to their employees, the search to make spiritual connections with Alzheimer's patients, and the anxious quest by aging boomers to reinvent themselves. She has investigated the local track record of a troubled nursing home chain. And she pioneered a story about a local couple suing for visitation rights to their grandchildren -- a case that led to a groundbreaking Supreme Court decision on grandparents' rights.

Ms. King's stories often play directly off the news, offering an original perspective on key issues. Before most of the national media and politicians discovered the issue of prescription drug prices, she wrote about elders in the Seattle area who traveled to Canada to purchase their medication at lower prices.

In an earlier career, she was director of communications for a statewide banking corporation. A graduate of the University of Missouri, Ms. King lives in Seattle with her reporter husband, two college-student daughters and a Labrador retriever.