DENVER -- 7NEWS' investigation into the deaths of children who were supposed to be under the protection of the Denver Department of Human Services won the prestigious George Foster Peabody Awards, the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication announced on April 1.

"Motivated by the starvation death of a 7-year-old boy, the station's persistent investigation turned up systemic incompetence in Denver's Department of Human Services, and then broadened into a statewide story," the judges said. (See video of the announcement.)

The investigation, titled "Failing the Children: Deadly Mistakes," was part of a year-long series of stories by reporter John Ferrugia, producer Art Kane, producer Tom Burke, and photojournalist Jason Foster.

The stories exposed how incompetence, lack of oversight, poor management and ineffective training contributed to the deaths of children in care of DDHS. The relentless series of reports led to a major overhaul at DDHS, including the hiring of 40 new caseworkers, restructuring of the department, and the infusion of hundreds of thousands of dollars from the state for enhanced training and better oversight.

On Monday, May 18, Kane, Foster, Burke, and Ferrugia as well as KMGH General Manager Byron Grandy picked up the award at a ceremony in New York.

7NEWS was one of only three local TV stations in the country to be awarded the prize. The other two news stations were in Las Vegas and New Orleans. Other winners include the New York Times, CBS' 60 Minutes, PBS, CNN, and HBO. See additional list of winners.

The Peabody is one of the highest awards in journalism and electronic media. This is the second Peabody the station has won since 2003, when 7NEWS was awarded the Peabody for work on the Air Force Academy investigation.