Club Members Epstein & Nordland Win Deadline Club Awards

National Press Club members Keith Epstein of BusinessWeek and Rod Nordland of Newsweek.com are among the 2009 winners in the Deadline Club's journalism competition.

The New York city-based Deadline Club is one of the larger Society of Professional Journalists chapters in the nation.

Epstein shared the business news award with colleagues for "Cyberwar" stories focusing the vulnerability of the nation's computer networks to successful attacks by thieves, spies and terrorists. The stories examined seemingly unrelated online security breaches at several federal agencies that revealed wider problems.The Pentagon revamped its contracting procedures and briefing policy for military and intelligence officers as a result of the series.

In March, Investigative Reporters and Editors gave "Cyberwar" its magazine/specialty publication award. Epstein is based in BusinessWeek's Washington bureau.

Nordland won the Deadline Club's award for best newsblog. Nordland's winning entry was "Zimbabwe: An Underground Diary", which detailed the political, economic and social turmoil he witnessed during undercover trips to the African nation ruled by strongman Robert Mugabe.

Deadline Club winners got their awards and a dinner at the tony Waldorf-Astoria Hotel this month.