Crime scoop earns US award for NZ journalist

Coverage of the dark side of American university football has earned a former New Zealand Herald reporter a prized journalism award.

Nick Perry, now with the Seattle Times, was presented the George Polk Award for Sports Reporting at a ceremony at Long Island University on Friday.

Perry received the honour for a four-part series called "Victory and Ruins" which focused on how a community turned a blind eye to the criminal histories of its champion University of Washington football team.

The team won the Rose Bowl in 2001 despite having at least 24 players who had been arrested while enrolled at the school, some for violent crimes.

He revealed how the players had their crimes - including rape, robbery and assault - ignored not only by coaching staff but by local police, prosecutors and judges.

The award judges said in "exposing the exceptions that were made and the crimes that were ignored, [co-author] Armstrong and Perry provided an incisive look into the often permissive culture of college football."

Past winners of the coveted American journalism honour include Norman Mailer, Studs Terkel and Christiane Amanpour.

The series also earned Mr Perry and Mr Armstrong the US$25,000 ($44,000) Michael Kelly award which recognises a journalist exemplifying "the fearless pursuit and expression of truth". Judges said the winners risked alienating themselves and their newspaper by exposing a dark side to a sport embedded in the American psyche.