Sun’s story, photos of family’s plight honored

Wednesday, June 13, 2007 | 7:25 a.m.

Las Vegas Sun

Two Las Vegas Sun journalists have won national recognition for documenting a family's struggle with poverty and homelessness in the shadow of the Las Vegas Strip.

Writer Marshall Allen and photographer Tiffany Brown were honored in the 2007 Casey Medals for Meritorious Journalism contest for exemplary reporting on children and families.

More than 700 journalists entered the contest's 14 categories. Allen and Brown placed second for best story in publications with circulation between 75,000 and 199,999.

They told the story of Jason and Elizabeth Butterworth, who moved to Las Vegas from Southern California in 1999 to be near family. They were looking for a fresh start, but bad luck, drug addiction and unemployment led the couple - with their three young children in tow - on a complex journey through homes, apartments and weekly motels.

Their story put a face on census figures showing that about one in five children in Nevada lives in poverty. That's 111,000 impoverished children, enough to fill about 4,500 classrooms.

Judges said of the Sun journalists' work: "Eloquent, empathetic writing characterizes this fresh look at a family's struggles with poverty amid plenty."

The competition was sponsored by the Casey Journalism Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan program of the University of Maryland's journalism college.