At the 2020 Arizona Newspapers Association’s awards ceremony held Thursday, Oct. 15, Larson Newspapers won a total of 30 journalism awards and eight advertising awards.
The Camp Verde Journal competes in Division I, newspapers with non-daily circulation under 3,500, and won 17 awards. The Sedona Red Rock News competes in the larger Division II, non-daily papers with circulation between 3,500 to 10,000, and won 13 awards.
Larson Newspapers won 21 journalism awards last year and 14 in 2018, 12 in 2017 and 11 in 2016.
For the top prize of General Excellence, which adds up all the journalism awards, the JOURNAL won second place and the NEWS took third place in the state.
The Camp Verde Journal
Individually, three JOURNAL writers each won second place:
■ Sports reporter Michael Dixon for Best Sports Story for “Mingus survives tense final inning to beat Greenway,” describing a narrow 6-5 win in a March 4 game.
■ News reporter Jon Hecht for Best Feature Story for “The Death of John Waddell,” honoring the late Cornville sculptor.
■ Managing Editor Christopher Fox Graham for Best Column, Feature or Commentary for “County limits our COVID-19 information,” conveying public frustration about getting statistics on COVID-19 infections from the Yavapai County Community Health Services.
The JOURNAL’s photojournalist, Daulton Venglar, won seven individual awards in four categories.
In the Best News Photograph category, Venglar won first for “Out of Africa now drive-thru wildlife park,” third for “Cliff Castle hosts fire evacuation drill,” third place for Best Sports Photograph for a photo of high jumper Noah Zimmerman leaping over the bar, first place in Best Feature Photograph for “Duncan Brings Dancing to Camp Verde,” depicting San Carlos Apache hoop dancer Tony Duncan, and “Nighthawks,” a photo of Northern Arizona Cartoonist Association members participating in a 24-hour comic book drawing marathon that echoed Edward Hopper’s 1942 oil painting of the same name depicting a late-night Chicago diner.
Venglar also won first place in Best Feature Photo Layout Or Photo Story for “Happy Fourth of July,” which featured flowerlike time-lapse photos of fireworks, and third place for “Clowning Around in Clarkdale,” capturing the Piccolo Zoppé traditional Italian circus.
As a whole, The JOURNAL won six awards: First place for both Best Use of Photography and Newspaper Website, second place for both Editorial Page Excellence and Community Service/Journalistic Achievement for extensive COVID-19 coverage by Venglar, Hecht and Graham, and third place for Departmental News & Copy Editing Excellence and Page Design Excellence.
Sedona Red Rock News
As a whole, the Sedona Red Rock News won six awards: Second place for Reporting & News Writing Excellence, Departmental News & Copy Editing Excellence and Newspaper Website. The NEWS placed third for Editorial Page Excellence.
In the Community Service/Journalistic Achievement category, the NEWS placed third for its COVID-19 coverage and online daily reporting of statistics and charts and photography to illustrate these stories. This was an award shared by reporters Ron Eland, Alexandra Wittenberg and Jon Hecht, photojournalist David Jolkovski and Managing Editor Christopher Fox Graham.
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The NEWS also took third for Special Section or Magazine for three publications: The Fall 2019 Lifestyles of Sedona magazine, the 2019 History of Sedona special section and the Winter 2019 edition of the Visitor’s Guide.
Individually, three NEWS journalists each won third place:
■ Best Sustained Coverage or Series for news reporter Scott Shumaker’s series on issues at the Sedona-Oak Creek Airport Authority
■ Best Team, Sport or Sports Beat Coverage for sports reporter Michael Dixon’s coverage of the 2019-20 Sedona Red Rock High School Girls Basketball Team.
■ Best Feature Story for senior reporter Ron Eland’s feature story, “Mother meets her daughter 54 years later,” about a mother-daughter reunion.
Sedona’s photojournalist, David Jolkovski, won three individual awards: First place in Best Sports Photograph for the Race Pace Club, a Sedona swimming team; first place in Best Feature Photograph for lightning strikes titled “Electrical Illumination,” and third for Best News Photograph for “Woman dies near Midgley,” showing the aftermath of a truck that went off State Route 89A near Midgley Bridge.
“We have always done well at the state journalism convention, but this year I am especially proud of our team,” Graham said. “This year, all of our staffers won at least one award for their work, which demonstrates the skill and quality our newsroom staff brings to the Verde Valley communities we cover.”
Advertising
Larson Newspapers won eight prizes in the Excellence in Advertising Awards. In General Excellence, The Camp Verde Journal took third place overall in the state.
The JOURNAL’s General Manager Kyle Larson won second place for Best Pro Bono/Public Service Ad for a Pecan and Wine Festival ad and account executive Maryann Snyder and Production Manager Tina Smith won second place in Most Effective Use of Paid Small Space for creating the Mingus Pet Cremation ad.
Account executive Derek Chase won third place in Best Black & White Ad for The BBQ Cleaner and Larson Newspapers won second place for Best Classified Section.
The Sedona Red Rock News won three advertising awards, taking second place for Best Online Ad – Static, for a Sedona Real online ad, and second place in Best Pro Bono/Public Service Ad for Jan Marc Quisumbing’s ad promoting the city of Sedona’s Wet Fest event. Public notice clerk Tammy Newton won third place for Best Public Notice Section.
This year, 32 newspapers entered 745 entries in the Better Newspapers Contest. The contest consists of eight categories that measure the overall quality of the newspapers and 18 categories that honor individuals. The New Mexico Press Association judged entries this year.
The Arizona Daily Star and Casa Grande Dispatch won Arizona Newspaper of the Year in the daily and non-daily categories, respectively.
Kelly Presnell of the Arizona Daily Star and Arianna Grainey of Scottsdale Independent were named Photographers of the Year.
The duo of Ian James and Rob O’Dell, from The Arizona Republic, and Genesis Lara, from Nogales International, were named the Journalists of the Year.
