Genevieve Lucchesi died on a cold February morning this year in a parking lot in midtown Sacramento. She was 77 and had been living homeless for more than 20 years. Who was Genny? And how is it an elderly woman came to live and die on the streets? Manny Crisostomo The Sacramento Bee
Genevieve Lucchesi died on a cold February morning this year in a parking lot in midtown Sacramento. She was 77 and had been living homeless for more than 20 years. Who was Genny? And how is it an elderly woman came to live and die on the streets? Manny Crisostomo The Sacramento Bee

Local

‘Genny’s World’ receives top McClatchy honor

Bee Staff

February 04, 2016 04:01 PM

Sacramento Bee reporter Cynthia Hubert has been recognized with a McClatchy Co. President’s Award for her compelling story on Genevieve Lucchesi, a woman who died in a midtown alley last year, at age 77, after living homeless in Sacramento for 20 years.

“Genny’s World,” published in October 2015, traced Lucchesi’s life, from her Catholic school upbringing through her descent into mental illness and homelessness. Hubert chronicled the fallout of Lucchesi’s experiences on two distinct “families” – the relatives she hurt and abandoned along the way, and the well-meaning residents who fed and clothed her during her years on the streets.

The judges called it “a complicated, aggravating and deeply nuanced story” that gave Bee readers “more insights into the causes and reality of homelessness than any stack of statistics ever could.”

The President’s Awards, now in their 16th year, recognize the best work annually by McClatchy’s 29 newsrooms. The company gave out 12 awards in 2015 for outstanding journalistic efforts.

  Comments