The Seattle Times wins Emmy Award for ‘Disappearing Daughters’

The Seattle Times won an Emmy at the 42nd Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards on Tuesday.

The award for Outstanding Interactive Media: Arts, Lifestyle and Culture went to “Disappearing Daughters,” an interactive visual project that introduced readers and viewers to the stories of women in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, as they searched for justice after losing their daughters.

“We wanted to highlight the strength and resilience of women, mothers who fight for justice when the system fails them,” photojournalist Erika Schultz said. Schultz worked on the project with video journalist Corinne Chin and interactives developer Lauren Flannery.

“Violence against women happens everywhere. Whose stories, and how they are shared, is important,” Schultz said on Wednesday.

Danny Gawlowski, a Seattle Times assistant managing editor who coordinated this project, said, “This Emmy Award is a validation of the powerful journalism that The Seattle Times publishes. It’s an honor to be recognized alongside the most impactful journalism of the year and to be the only regional newsroom to be recognized this year.”

“I’m proud to work with this team of exceptional journalists,” Gawlowski said.

The project was created with support from the International Women’s Media Foundation and the Pulitzer Center and featured the work of Washington State Poet Laureate Claudia Castro Luna.

“The deaths and disappearances of women of color have historically received little media attention, and when they do make it into the news, the coverage is often sensational and dehumanizing,” Chin said. “Claudia Castro Luna’s poetry flipped the script on that, and we’re so grateful for her collaboration.”

“Sexism and misogyny are pervasive in our culture globally, and femicide doesn’t only happen in Mexico. We wanted the project to show viewers that we each have a role to play in keeping our communities safe,” Chin said.

This is The Seattle Times’ first national Emmy Award win. The Times was previously nominated for the prestigious award for Sea Change, a project showing how ocean acidification could disrupt marine life on an almost unfathomable scale.