The Minneapolis Star Tribune is the winner of the 2024 Al Nakkula Award for Police Reporting, a prestigious award sponsored by the University of Colorado’s journalism department. Many see the award as a precursor to the Pulitzer Prize winner.

Crime and police reporter Andy Mannix was selected by a judging panel of CU Boulder graduates to win the award for his coverage of Heather Mayer’s death. Police in Minneapolis ruled her death a suicide, largely due to her being in a relationship involving bondage, dominance, submission and sadomasochism (BDSM).

Over the course of roughly two years, Mannix uncovered a pervasive abuser in the community who allegedly murdered Mayer. His reporting uncovered a string of abuse with multiple victims charmed by Ehsan Karam, who allegedly used BDSM as a front for abuse.

“The fact checking was tough. As you look over photos and videos of abuse like this over a long period of time, it is somewhat easier. But over the course of nine days straight, it got tough,” Mannix told CU News Corps students. “But I was the only one doing this story, and this is why I wanted to be a journalist: To tell stories that give victims a voice.”

The fact check was one of the last stages of the story and the final hurdle before the Star Tribune could publish. Because Karam is a private citizen, this process had to be meticulous as the bar to sue for libel is much lower than for a public official, Mannix told students.

And the process weighed heavily on everyone. Mannix, Editor Abby Simmons and their lawyer Randy Lebedoff needed nine days to sift through the lengthy story, often taking half days and mental breaks after watching videos and reviewing photos of abuse that included Karam extinguishing cigarettes on Mayer’s skin.

Mannix’s reporting, complemented by visuals by Renee Jones Schneider, told the story so well, the barrage of emails that came after the story ran were largely positive, Mannix and Simmons said. Members of the BDSM community thanked them for their sensitivity and respect, something Mannix said he wanted to focus on early due to his lack of knowledge on the subject. 

Journalism professor Chuck Plunkett, who runs the News Corps capstone class, called it a “gutsy piece of journalism,” done with a healthy dose of heart and empathy.

“A lot of newsrooms would have run screaming away from that one: ‘You want do what?’” Plunkett said in a CU Boulder news release. “It’s clear they went the extra mile and then some to do right by the subject matter.”

Former Colorado Politics state house reporter Hannah Metzger also served as a judge for the award, and praised Mannix for getting the victims to speak on the record about their abuse. She also hoped the story will prove impactful and change how police and society view “non-perfect victims.”

“It’s a shining example of the power of local journalism,” she said.

Plunkett made a conscious choice to have CU graduates judging the competition, he said. The journalism department is going through its re-accreditation process and, being a fan of pageantry, Plunkett wanted to “celebrate our own.”

“It made me think about our mission and what matters most about what it is we do,” he said. “And I thought of you guys, and how much I enjoyed working with you as I was just beginning at CU … It offered a nice symmetry.”

The award is named for Al Nakkula, the 46-year veteran of the Rocky Mountain News — a legendary and tenacious police reporter. The Denver Press Club sponsors the award alongside CU.

Metzger, a staff writer at Denver Westword, graduated in 2020. Tory Lysik, a data visualization journalist at Axios, and Denver Gazette reporter Alex Edwards both graduated in 2021.