ChicagoCrime.org Google Maps mashup wins $10,000 award

Hats off to Adrian Holovaty over at ChicagoCrime.org for winning the big prize in the Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism! Adrian's Google Maps mashup has obviously caught the attention of the entire field of journalism and I would personally like to wish him well as he starts his new career at the WashingtonPost.com! I think we've only seen the start of what Adrian's mind will dream up for us.

chicagocrime.org Wins $10,000 Batten Award

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The Web site chicagocrime.org, an innovative overlay of the city’s reported crimes with Google's online mapping technology, today won the $10,000 Grand Prize in the Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism.

The site, created as a free public service by online journalist Adrian Holovaty with design input by Wilson Miner, was credited with “setting a new standard for interactive journalism.” Chicagocrime.org allows users to search by the type of crime, the street and neighborhood, or the date and pinpoint the location on a satellite map. One can even track crimes that occur en route to work.

"It is one journalist's ability to see all the pieces and put them together," the Batten judges said, "but every city should provide this as a public service."

(full news release)