Patch's Mark Konkol Wins 2020 Lisagor Award

CHICAGO — For the second year in a row, Patch's Mark Konkol has won a Lisagor Award in the best continuing blog - affiliated category for his columns on Gov. J.B. Pritzker's handling of the coronavirus, police misconduct and a wide range of other issues important to Chicagoans.

John Ferak, who reports for Joliet Patch, was also nominated for a Lisagor in the best neighborhood/community news category.

Named for Peter Lisagor, a Chicago Daily News columnist from 1959 until his death in 1976, the awards celebrate the "best journalism produced throughout the Chicagoland region, spanning all mediums, including print, radio, television and digital," according to the Chicago Headline Club, which manages the awards.

For the second year in a row, the winners were announced online rather than at the group's annual banquet due to the coronavirus pandemic. Winners were selected by an impartial chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists from outside the Chicago area, according to the group.

Konkol, a lifelong White Sox fan, adds his second Lisagor at Patch to a 2011 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting for his Chicago Sun-Times columns documenting neighborhood violence. He was a producer, writer and narrator of the 2014 CNN documentary series "Chicagoland."

After leaving the Sun-Times, Konkol joined DNAinfo, an online neighborhood newspaper, and stayed there for four years, leaving shortly before the website folded in 2017. Konkol began writing for Patch later that year.

Read some of Konkol's award-winning columns below:

Emails, Secret Report Show Politics Of Science Guiding Pritzker

A look behind the statistics used by Pritzker to decide virus restrictions shows that better science got disregarded.

More Than A Protest: Chicagoans Fight City's Knee On Their Necks

Looting, mayhem isn't just a protest. Chicagoans fight against a city that has held a knee to their neck for generations.

How To Talk To Your Stubborn Parents About Coronavirus Precaution

If your stubborn, high-risk parents won't listen to CDC advice for avoiding COVID-19, doctor recommends trying a guilt trip.