City Paper’s Daniel Denvir wins Public Service Award
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
Photo: Jacques-Jean TiziouA series of three articles by senior staff writer Daniel Denvir has won the 2014 Public Service Award from the Association of Alternative Newsmedia (AAN).
The stories focused on the Pennsylvania Innocence Project’s effort to win a new trial for Lance Felder and Eugene Gilyard, who were convicted of murder and were serving life sentences. The pair claimed they did not commit the 1995 murder of North Philadelphia shop owner Thomas Keal, and their conviction was based on questionable eyewitness testimony. Judge Rose Marie DeFino-Nastasi ultimately ordered a new trial and freed the men on bail. District Attorney Seth Williams, who had long fought to uphold their conviction, announced in June that he was dropping charges against the men.
Denvir’s reporting helped bring forth a critical witness who testified about his brother’s alleged involvement in the killing. The stories were published in 2013, on May 16, July 25 and Oct. 10.
The judges wrote that the articles “were well-researched and written” and praised the outcome.
This year’s AAN contest drew entries from 77 weekly alternative newspapers from across the nation. City Paper won first place in the Public Service Award category for papers with over 50,000 circulation.
DA Refuses to Give Possibly Innocent Man Chance to Prove His Case (May 16, 2013)
Battling DA and Code of the Street to Prove Their Innocence (July 25, 2013)
New Trial for Two Men Serving Life, Setback for DA (October 10, 2013)
