New York Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez received the 2010 George Polk Award for Commentary for exposing massive fraud of more than $720 million by consultants hired to overhaul a computerized payroll system for New York City. Gonzalez’s reporting helped lead to the federal indictment of four consultants and three associates on charges of fraud.
Long Island University bestows the George Polk Award annually to honor the best in American journalism. It is the second time that Gonzalez has won the prestigious honor, receiving it 1998 for his investigative reporting.
In addition to being a staff columnist for The New York Daily News since 1987, he is a co-host for the past fourteen years of Democracy Now, a daily morning news show that airs on more than 700 public radio and television stations across the U.S. and Latin America.
Gonzalez has written extensively on Ground Zero illnesses. He was the first reporter in New York City to write on the health effects arising from the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Gonzalez is one of the original founders of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ), and a former president. He was elected to its Hall of Fame in 2008.
Born in Puerto Rico, Gonzalez grew up in East Harlem and Brooklyn, New York. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia University, and was recently given an honorary JD from the City University of New York Law School.
During a career that has spanned more than thirty years, Juan Gonzalez has emerged as one of the country’s best-known and most-respected Latino journalists.
