Harvard Public Health article on guns and suicide wins top award

A spring 2013 Harvard Public Health magazine article titled “Guns & Suicide: The Hidden Toll” has won the Grand Gold Award for Best Article of the Year from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). The article topped 74 other entries in CASE Districts I and II, which include colleges and universities throughout New York, New England, the Mid-Atlantic region, and much of Canada.

The article, by Harvard Public Health editor Madeline Drexler, shines a spotlight on the fact that far more people kill themselves with a firearm each year than are murdered with one. The 12-page special report explored why this disturbing public health fact is overlooked, which conditions raise the risk of gun suicide, and what can be done to stop these highly preventable tragedies. The article included interviews with academic researchers; with family members of those who’ve killed themselves with a gun; with gun dealers; and with state-level investigators of gun suicides. The article also drew on data from research studies, government agencies, and advocacy organizations.

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