The Syracuse Press Club presented nine awards to Central Current during their awards dinner on Saturday night, highlighting coverage that ranged from a photo essay on the housing crisis to reporting on emerging partnerships between local law enforcement and ICE.
The event celebrated the Syracuse-area news community, with awards categories including print/digital, television, audio, and student journalism, among others. Central Current participated for the fourth time and earned nine awards, including:
- 1st place for Best News Website
- 1st place for Still Photography – Photo Essay: in recognition of Michelle Gabel, Michael Greenlar, and Janet Gramza’s photo exhibit “A Place to Call Home“. The series provided a tenant-focused look at the Syracuse housing crisis and was displayed at the ArtRage gallery in February and March 2025.
- 1st place for Non-Daily or Special Interest Human Interest Feature or Series: in recognition of Sean Kirst’s column “On Valley hillside, bond of revered lacrosse coach, beloved stickmaker lives on in one young tree“. The story memorialized influential coach and stickmaker Alf Jacques.
- 2nd place for Print/Digital News Feature or Series: in recognition of Patrick McCarthy’s article “ICE rattled a Central New York village. Then, its police chief partnered with ICE.” which explored emerging partnerships between local law enforcement and federal immigration agents.
- 2nd place for Print/Digital Investigative News Feature or Series: in recognition of Patrick McCarthy’s article “Federal immigration agents accessed Syracuse drivers’ data through secret Flock Safety deal“. McCarthy’s investigation uncovered how surveillance data collected by Syracuse Police vendor Flock Safety was being shared in a national database network that included searches from U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents.
- Honorable Mention for Print/Digital Spot News: in recognition of Patrick McCarthy’s story, “Nedrow’s Dragon China shuttered. ICE detained its owner.“
- Honorable Mention for Print/Digital News Feature or Series: in recognition of Chris Libonati’s story “Before the Deportation“, which took readers inside the apartment of a longtime Syracuse resident reflecting on his near-arrest by ICE and making the decision to leave the country.
- Honorable Mention for Print/Digital Sports Story: in recognition of Sean Kirst’s column “Sean Kirst: In this city so rich in hoops history, why I asked my students to remember Lawrence Moten“, which profiled one of Syracuse University’s most enduring basketball icons.
- Honorable Mention for Student Print/Digital News Story: in recognition of “Three Baldwinsville police officers took ‘demeaning’ photo of prisoner in 2005, documents reveal” by Ahna Fleming, Ellie Rockoff and Brian Cohen which explored police misconduct as part of a partnership with USA Today Network and Syracuse University.
In total, Central Current has been awarded 25 Syracuse Press Club awards, including first place for investigative journalism in 2025.
2026 Syracuse Press Club Award Winners
A PLACE TO CALL HOME
Over the last 18 months, Central Current contributors Michelle Gabel, Mike Greenlar and Janet Gramza have captured Syracuse’s housing crisis in words and photos. This is what they saw.
Sean Kirst: On Valley hillside, bond of revered lacrosse coach, beloved stickmaker lives on in one young tree
At a high place at Onondaga Valley Cemetery, Roy Simmons Jr. and his sons plant a tiny hickory sapling in honor of Alf Jacques.
ICE rattled a Central New York village. Then, its police chief partnered with ICE.
Seven days after ICE took a beloved Camden restaurant owner, Police Chief Sean Redden signed an agreement with ICE to allow Camden police officers to enforce immigration law.
Federal immigration agents accessed Syracuse drivers’ data through secret Flock Safety deal
Privacy and civil rights watchdogs have called on Syracuse to terminate its Flock contract. SPD says it’s comfortable contracting with the company, which is facing Congressional investigation.
Nedrow’s Dragon China shuttered. ICE detained its owner.
Last Tuesday, City of Syracuse officials investigated a reported sighting of ICE agents in the city’s University Neighborhood. A day earlier, ICE quietly detained Nedrow resident Li Xing Chen.
Before the deportation
ICE agents came looking for a French national and the husband of a beloved Hawley-Green business owner, forcing the couple to contemplate a new, uncertain future.
Sean Kirst: In this city so rich in hoops history, why I asked my students to remember Lawrence Moten
Recalling the profound impact at a critical moment made by Moten, a Syracuse University basketball legend who died at 53
Three Baldwinsville police officers took ‘demeaning’ photo of prisoner in 2005, documents reveal
Photograph ‘had great potential to bring discredit to the Baldwinsville Police Department,’ disciplinary records show. Officers took the photo shortly after U.S. military’s Abu Ghraib scandal.
