ABA announces winners of the 2021 Silver Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts

The American Bar Association on Thursday announced its selections for the 2021 Silver Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts, which recognize outstanding work that fosters the American public’s understanding of law and the legal system. This is the ABA’s highest honor in recognition of this purpose.

The Silver Gavel Awards are highly selective — this year the ABA is presenting only six Silver Gavels and six Honorable Mentions among 22 finalists identified from 130 entries received in all eligible categories, which include books, commentary, documentaries, drama and literature, magazines, multimedia, newspapers, radio, and television.

“The American Bar Association engages in a deliberative and thorough judging process to select winners of the Silver Gavel Awards,” said Sharon Stern Gerstman, chair of the ABA Standing Committee on Gavel Awards. “We congratulate all of our 2021 awardees for their exceptional efforts to advance the American public’s understanding of law.”

The work being recognized focuses on such matters as court secrecy and open justice, racial justice, criminal justice system reforms and women’s rights.

The 2021 Silver Gavel award winners are:

• “Marriage Equality: From Outlaws to In-Laws,” in which authors William Eskridge and Christopher Riano and editor William Frucht presents a history of America’s marriage equality debate while highlighting personal stories and the constitutional debate.

• “Driving While Black: Race, Space and Mobility in America,” a moving documentary about how the invention of the automobile brought “mobility and freedom” for African Americans, but also exposed them to discrimination and violence that still is prevalent today.

• “Fear, Illness and Death in ICE Detention,” an investigative magazine article by Seth Freed Wessler, reporting fellow at Type Investigations, about how a protest grew on the inside of a Georgia detention facility to “raise the alarm” about conditions during the pandemic.

• “American Injustice,” a multimedia collaboration by Reuters reporters examines the “institutional failings” through four projects about police unions, local jails, judges and qualified immunity.

• “Targeted,” a newspaper investigative series by the Tampa Bay Times about how a transformed sheriff’s office became a “cutting-edge data-driven machine,” which evolved into an “operation that monitors, intimidates and harasses families.”

• “Buried Truths Season 3: Ahmaud Arbery,” a thought-provoking podcast series by WABE, which investigates the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery and examines details about the case that are “both disheartening and inspiring.”

The ABA has presented the Silver Gavels each year since 1958. The 18-member ABA Standing Committee on Gavel Awards makes the final award decisions.

No more than one Silver Gavel is presented in each category. Honorable mentions are also recognized, but awards are not presented in every category every year.

Selection criteria include how the entry addresses the Silver Gavel Awards’ purpose and objectives; educational value of legal information; impact on, or outreach to, the public; thoroughness and accuracy in presentation of issues; creativity and originality in approach to subject matter and effectiveness of presentation; and demonstrated technical skill in the entry’s production.

ABA President Patricia Lee Refo will present Silver Gavels and honorable mentions on July 13 during a virtual event at 6 p.m. David McCraw, vice president and deputy general counsel at The New York Times Company, will be the featured speaker.

The event is free and open to members of the media and the public, but registration is required.

The following is a complete list of Silver Gavel honorable mentions:

—Books
“Supreme Inequality” Penguin Press, Adam Cohen, author

—Documentaries
“Belly of the Beast” Idle Wild Films, Erika Cohn, director/producer, Angela Tucker, Christen Marquez and Nicole Docta, producers “The Vote” “American Experience,” a 42nd Parallel Films production for “American Experience,” Michelle Ferrari, writer, director, producer; Connie Honeycutt, producer; Nancy Novack and Ilya Chaiken, editors; Mark Samels and Susan Bellows, executive producers

—Magazines
“The 1857 Project” Gateway Journalism Review; William Freivogel, publisher; Steve Edwards, illustrator; Amelia Blakely and Kayla Chamness, student reporters

—Newspapers
“Myon Burrell Walks Free” Associated Press; Robin McDowell and Margie Mason, reporters; Sasha Aslanian, producer; John Minchillo, photographer

—Radio
“Louder Than a Riot” NPR; Rodney Carmichael and Sidney Madden, hosts/reporters; Rachel Neel, senior supervising producer; Michael May, Matt Ozug, Dustin DeSoto, Adelina Lancianese and Sam Leeds, producers; Chiquita Paschal and Chenjerai Kumanyika, editors; Steve Nelson, senior programming director; Lauren Onkey, senior music director