EHN reporter wins Golden Quill award for "Fractured" reporting

EHN reporter Kristina Marusic won an award at the 2022 Golden Quill Awards for her reporting on the health impacts of fracking.

The Golden Quills competition, held by the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania, honors excellence in print, broadcast, photography, videography and digital journalism in western Pennsylvania and nearby counties in Ohio and West Virginia. This was the 58th year for the annual awards, which were presented at an awards dinner in Pittsburgh on May 24.

Marusic was presented with an award for Excellence in Written Journalism in the Science/Environment category for her four-part series Fractured: The Body Burden of Living Near Fracking, which documented exposure to harmful chemicals in Pennsylvania families living near fracking wells.

In the investigation, Marusic collected air samples, water samples, and urine samples, and found that five families who live near oil and gas wells are exposed to higher-than-average levels of a long list of toxic chemicals used by the industry, prompting a group of more than 30 state lawmakers to call on Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf to do more to protect Pennsylvanians.

Marusic also won two Golden Quill awards in 2020 for her reporting on air pollution and cancer in western Pennsylvania, including a Best in Show Ray Sprigle Memorial Award.