Seattle Times reporter wins two more awards for 'Seniors for Sale' series

Seattle Times staff reporter Michael J. Berens has won two more prestigious awards for his "Seniors for Sale" series about abuses and neglect at Washington's adult family homes.

Berens' stories about the adult-family-home industry resulted in new legislation and increased state training and oversight of people who care for vulnerable adults.

The National Press Club selected Berens' series for its 2011 Consumer Journalism Award for newspapers. He will receive the award at an August reception.

Berens also was recognized at a June banquet in New York for his series, which won a 2011 Gerald Loeb Award. The UCLA Anderson School of Management Loeb awards seek to recognize journalists "whose contributions illuminate the world of business, finance and the economy for readers and viewers around the world," according to a news release about the award.

The series has won five other national awards this year: the Edgar A. Poe Award, given out at the White House Correspondents' dinner, an Investigative Reporters and Editors Award, the Worth Bingham Prize for investigative reporting, plus first-place honors from the Association of Health Care Journalists and the Society of American Business Editors.

"We are thrilled and gratified that 'Seniors for Sale' has received so much recognition from our peers locally and nationally," said David Boardman, executive editor of The Times. "Much more importantly, though, we are proud that the series is leading to significant reforms in how our most vulnerable citizens are being treated in adult family homes."