The Detroit chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists has awarded Detroit News political reporter Beth LeBlanc its top prize for investigative reporting for her coverage of a legislative earmark that's now the subject of a criminal investigation.

LeBlanc's reporting on the unraveling of a $20 million earmark was the first-place winner of the inaugural SPJ Detroit A-Mark Prize for Investigative Journalism on Tuesday evening during an awards ceremony at Atwater Brewery in Detroit.

Judges called LeBlanc's reporting “a strong example of why journalists are needed, what news outlets are supposed to do.”

LeBlanc's reporting detailed the anatomy of a June 2022 legislative earmark received by Oakland County businesswoman Fay Beydoun that is now being investigated by the office of Mic

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