The Society of Environmental Journalists Honors
NJN’s Environmental Reporter Ed Rodgers
With Outstanding Environmental Journalists of ’03-’04 Award for Beat Reporting

STATEWIDE – The Society of Environmental Journalists honored Ed Rodgers of NJN Public Television & Radio with an award for beat reporting at its Third Annual Awards for Reporting on the Environment at the society's annual conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, October 20.

SEJ recognizes outstanding work in nine print, broadcast and online categories. Winners were selected by independent judges from among 253 entries submitted by reporters from throughout North America. Topics covered spanned the globe, from the search for signs of global warming in Antarctica to pollution in a municipal lake in Texas and to the changing environment and lifestyles of Georgia's traditional communities. The number, quality and diversity of entries vying for this year's awards signaled a renewed interest in environmental journalism after a year in which the nation's attention — as well as the news media's — had been focused on terrorism and war.

Rodgers was recognized for the solid construction, exceptional story choice and consistent quality of his reporting on environmental issues. The judges hailed this veteran environmental reporter for producing stories that matter in a state with a unique combination of urban, suburban and parkland issues. According to the judges, “The people of New Jersey are well served by his work, and he is deserving of SEJ's recognition.” Stories entered for awards had to be published or aired between March 1, 2003 and February 29, 2004.

Rodgers is NJN News' award-winning environment reporter and producer of the weekly public affairs programs – Reporters Roundtable with Michael Aron and On the Record. He is producer of NJN’s public affairs specials including NJN's election coverage.

“Ed Rodgers is well known to the residents of the state and his colleagues at NJN as a journalist dedicated to reporting the environmental news in New Jersey with accuracy and insight,” states Elizabeth Christopherson, executive director of NJN. “We are delighted that he has received this significant award, conferred by his fellow journalists on a national level, for a job well done in service to the public.”

Rodgers joined NJN in 1985 as a writer after working as a reporter at radio station WADB in Point Pleasant and as a freelance reporter for the UPI Radio Network. He has worked as assignment editor at NJN News in both its south Jersey and Trenton bureaus. In 1996, Rodgers earned an Environmental Quality Award from the US Environmental Protection Agency for the consistency and quality of his environmental coverage on NJN News. Rodgers wrote the lead story on President Bill Clinton's visit to a New Jersey Superfund Site for the March 1996 NJN News, which won an Emmy for best newscast in the 1995-1996 Mid-Atlantic Chapter.

Rodgers has produced documentaries on the return of New Jersey's black bear population and the World Series of Birding, which takes place in New Jersey each year. He broke the story about mercury contamination in freshwater fish in 1994, which lead to the establishment of a permanent advisory on consumption of these fish.

The Society of Environmental Journalists, with more than 1,500 members, is the world's largest organization dedicated to reporting on the environment. Founded 14 years ago, the nonprofit group of working journalists, educators and students has as its mission improving the accuracy, quality and prominence of reporting on complex and often controversial environmental topics.

Judges for the contest were selected by an Awards Committee appointed by SEJ's board of directors. To avoid any appearance of insider influence, committee members were barred from entering, as were board members, unless they had played an insignificant part in a team reporting effort. Judges were not allowed to review any categories in which they had entered. For more information on SEJ and links to the awards, visit http://www.sej.org/contest/index4.htm.