At the 2021 Arizona Newspapers Association’s awards ceremony, held on Thursday, Oct. 6, Larson Newspapers won a total of 17 journalism awards.
The Camp Verde Journal competes in Division 4, newspapers with a circulation under 3,500, and won 11 awards. The Sedona Red Rock News competes in the larger
Division 3, for all papers with a circulation of 3,500 to 10,000, and won six awards.
The Camp Verde Journal
As a whole, The JOURNAL won two awards: First place for Editorial Page Excellence and third place for Best Website.
Individually, two JOURNAL journalists each won awards for their work.
Managing Editor Christopher Fox Graham won first place in Best Column, Feature or Commentary for “Parents’ nightmare was tragic end of traumatic week,” lamenting the tragedy of Faith Moore, a Mingus Union High School student who was swept away in a flash flood. A massive community search recovered her body four days later.
Graham also took third place in the same category for “Developer’s idea for water resort is silly ‘eyesore’” about a 741- acre, billion-dollar water-themed development in Cottonwood.
Photojournalist Daulton Venglar cleaned up in numerous categories. He won seven awards:
- First place in Best Sports Photograph for “Mingus football fall” and third place for “Makena Watson’s home run.”
- First place in Best Feature Photograph for “Utahraptor” and third place for “Paws to Read.”
- First place in Best Feature Photo Layout or Photo Story for “8 Seconds to Glory,” a photo package about rodeo riders, and third place for “Bite-Sized Nuggets.”
- Second place in Best News Photograph for “Backbone Fire.”
Daulton Venglar/Larson Newspapers
Sedona Red Rock News
Individually, two NEWS journalists each won three awards for their work.
Sports reporter Austin Turner won second place in Best Team, Sport or Sports Beat Coverage for stories about the Sedona Red Rock High School girls’ basketball team; third place in Best Sports Story for “Ragtag group saved Sedona baseball”; and third place for Best News Story for “#Poopgate,” a story about the temporary closure of the SRRHS track due to alleged defecation around the track by out-of-town runners.
The “poopgate” story was also covered by Women’s Running magazine, Running Magazine, Trail Runner Magazine and The New York Times.
Photojournalist David Jolkovski won second place in Best News Photograph for “Rafael Fire from ground and air”
and third place for “July Lightning over Sedona.”
Jolkovski won third place for “On the Line of the Rafael Fire,” in Best Feature Photo Layout or Photo Story, for his photo spread after the U.S. Forest Service allowed him beyond the line to photograph the 78,065-acre fire.
This year, 35 newspapers submitted 813 entries to the Better Newspapers Contest. The contest consists of eight categories that measure the overall quality of the newspapers and 15 categories that honor individuals.
The Nevada Press Association judged entries this year.
The Arizona Daily Star and Navajo Times won Arizona Newspaper of the Year in the daily and non-daily categories, respectively.
Angela Gervasi of the Nogales International was named Journalist of the Year.
Kelly Presnell of the Arizona Daily Star was named Photographer of the Year. This is Presnell’s fifth consecutive win.
