The Norwood News took home a first place award for Heather Haddon’s investigation of the Pinnacle Group at the New York Press Association’s annual convention in upstate Saratoga last weekend.

Haddon, who was a reporter for this paper from 2002 to 2006, first learned about the large landlord when a tenant called to suggest that the paper take a picture of her building’s new flowerbeds.

When Haddon returned to the office, she looked the property up on the city’s on-line housing database. She discovered that the new landlord had recently purchased hundreds of properties in the Bronx and throughout the city. She kept digging, talking to tenants, building staff and former Pinnacle employees, and poring through court records at Bronx Housing Court.

Over the ensuing weeks and months, Haddon documented Pinnacle’s efforts to force out tenants through fabricated major capital improvement increases and by taking hundreds of them to court. Following Haddon’s first article on Pinnacle in October 2005, no other media followed suit until May 2006, when the Daily News ran a story on the Housing Court actions, and called it an “exclusive.”

Haddon now works for the Herald News, a daily in Paterson, New Jersey.

The NYPA, the state’s association of weekly newspapers, gives out annual awards in its Better Newspaper contest. This year, 227 newspapers competed in a wide variety of categories. The News’ first place award was in the “in-depth reporting” category.

The judges, who were from the Oklahoma and New Jersey Press associations this year, said of Haddon’s work:

“This is NOT in-depth reporting — this is investigative journalism at its finest. Powerfully written, Haddon never has to add chrome to this — the plain facts catch the eye, the mind and the heart. Clearly the best in a field of excellent competitors.”

Haddon’s work was judged in a division with the state’s highest circulation community newspapers. (Despite its small staff, the Norwood News’ circulation of 15,000 is similar to newspapers that employ many more reporters. 

“We are extremely proud of Heather and this award,” said Norwood News editor Jordan Moss. “We already knew she had done an incredible job researching and reporting this important story. But we couldn’t be more honored by this vote of confidence from our journalistic peers.”

Ed. note: Links to some of Heather Haddon’s articles on the Pinnacle Group can be found on the West Bronx News Network’s blog at http://westbronxnews.blogspot.com/