Six Michigan journalists will be honored with this year's Wade H. McCree, Jr. Award for the Advancement of Justice. The McCree Awards will be presented during the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Saturday, April 21, 2001 at Michigan State University's Kellogg Center in East Lansing.

The Detroit Free Press will be honored for a series of stories by David Ashenfelter, Suzette Hackney and Joe Swickard entitled "Lethal Force, Lasting Questions." The year-long series examined Detroit Police shootings and the handling of those shootings by the police department.

Ashenfelter is a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for the Detroit Free Press where since 1982, he has worked as an investigative reporter, editor and courts reporter. He currently covers lawsuits in downtown Detroit courts as well as the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission. Before joining the Free Press he was a reporter with the Detroit News, where he covered the suburbs, then-Detroit Mayor Coleman Young, former Michigan Gov. William Milliken and Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker's 1980 Republican presidential campaign. This is his ninth McCree Award.

Hackney is the criminal justice reporter for the Detroit Free Press, and she covers breaking crime news, the police department administration, and criminal court proceedings. She has been with the paper since 1998. Prior to her work with the Free Press, she was the Detroit city hall reporter for the Detroit News and spent two years as a suburban reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer covering politics, education, cops and courts and development in a number of communities. She has received the Detroit Free Press Intern of the Year Award, and Best of Gannett award for her Detroit News city hall coverage.

Joe Swickard has been a staff writer and editor with the Detroit Free Press since 1979 specializing in major crimes, trials and criminal justice issues at the state and federal level. Swickard has appeared on panels addressing the State Bar of Michigan, Michigan State University school of criminal justice and the National Judicial College at Reno. His work has been recognized by the Associated Press, the Detroit Press Club Foundation, the State Bar of Michigan, and the American Bar Association. Before joining the Free Press, Swickard worked in suburban Chicago and Florida.

The Grand Rapids Press will be recognized by for its five-part series entitled "Kids Behind Bars" by reporter Ken Kolker and Gary Schroder, Assistant Metro Editor. The series looked at whether an adult prison is the right place for children.

Ken Kolker has been with the Grand Rapids Press since 1986, and he has worked as a police reporter and on projects. Before working at the Grand Rapids Press, Kolker worked at the Saginaw News covering the police beat and projects. He has won state and national awards for writing and reporting, including the Investigative Reporters & Editors Award, the Wade H. McCree Award, and the Michigan Associated Press Sweepstakes Award.

Gary Schroder is the assistant news editor for business coverage at the Grand Rapids Press. Before moving to the news desk last year, he was deputy metro editor and coordinated police and crime coverage. Prior to his work at the Grand Rapids Press, Schroder worked for nine years as a reporter and editor at the Saginaw News.

Michigan Lawyers Weekly will be honored for an article by C. Jesse Green. "New On-Line Service Offers Quick and Easy Settlements: Insurance Negotiations Enter Cyberspace Realm" looks at the advantages and disadvantages of using Internet services to negotiate and settle lawsuits -- a trend in the legal community.

C. Jesse Green joined Lawyers Weekly shortly after sitting for the Michigan bar exam in 1999 and works as a legal-journalist analyzing and reporting legal news. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of the Lake Michigan College Journal and the editor-in-chief of the Valparaiso University School of Law Forum.