The New York Times Creates Awards to Give to Its Own Staffers

Brian Zak/Sipa Press (via AP)

The New York Times has reportedly created a new set of awards to recognize the journalistic achievements of its own staffers.

According to a Tuesday report from Intelligencer, Times staffers were invited last year to begin nominating co-workers for what would eventually be called the Ochs Awards. Finalists for the 25 awards were announced Monday, and winners will be announced at an event on February 10. Cash prizes will also be given.

Award categories include Best Scoop, Writer of the Year, and Rising Journalist. One Times writer joked that the idea was “delightfully insane.”

Although it’s believed the awards were meant to spotlight Times staffers outside of the company’s big names, one staffer claimed they largely fell short of that goal. The report continued:

The awards are seemingly an effort to recognize a broader group of people at the paper beyond its multi Pulitzer Prize–winning reporters, media-celebrity podcast hosts, and, increasingly, video stars. “They did not succeed,” one staffer said. “It’s all the usual suspects.”

The Daily, The Ezra Klein Show, and Popcast are finalists for Best Podcast Episode. Maggie Haberman is part of two of the three teams competing for Best Scoop and is also a finalist for The Punch Sulzberger Award for Reporting Without Favor. (“First of all,” one reporter said, “who is reporting with favor? That’s hilarious.”) Lydia Polgreen, M. Gessen, and David French are the Opinion Writer of the Year finalists.

Another newsroom staffer argued that the awards would only “make everyone more insecure.”

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