Seven members of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette staff and four from Arkansas Life magazine were named winners Friday in the Great Plains Journalism Awards.
Wyndham Wyeth of Arkansas Life was recognized as the Great Plains Magazine Writer of the Year by judges of the annual regional competition sponsored by the Tulsa Press Club. Wyeth won for a portfolio of his articles in 2017 in the magazine, a specialty publication of the newspaper's parent company.
Philip Martin, an entertainment and culture writer for the Democrat-Gazette, won awards for his reviews of film and popular music and for an entertainment feature on women in popular music. Artist and cartoonist John Deering was also named in the entertainment feature award for his illustration accompanying Martin's piece.
The awards honor work in newspapers, magazines, online, television and student media from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota.
Other winners from the Democrat-Gazette staff named at Friday's awards luncheon and journalism seminar in Tulsa were: Mitchell Pe Masilun, general news photography, for a picture of a toddler tearfully hugging her military father as he leaves for deployment; Kelly Brant, for a portfolio of food writing; Emma Pettit, online feature writing, for a story about a cemetery caretaker; Celia Storey and Michael Storey, specialty feature, for an article about opossums; and Editorial Page Editor David Barham, for a portfolio of editorials.
The staff of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette won the special section category and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's online staff won the best website design-overall category.
Arkansas Life staff winners were Arshia Khan for magazine photography-multiple, Jordan Hickey for magazine feature writing and Seth Eli Barlow for magazine column writing.
Newspaper staff members named as finalists were photographer Thomas Metthe, former photographers Benjamin Krain and Stephen B. Thornton, Senior Online Editor Gavin Lesnick, Deputy Online Editor Jillian Kremer, editorial cartoonist John Deering, Assistant Managing Editor/Design and Graphics Kirk Montgomery, News Editor for Night Copy Sandra Tyler, columnist Frank Fellone, and reporters Hunter Field, Amanda Claire Curcio, Eric Besson, Lisa Hammersly, Emma Pettit, Eric Harrison, Brandon Riddle and Sean Clancy.
Finalists from the Arkansas Life staff were Rett Peek, David Priest, Editor Katie Bridges, Emma Devine, Jordan Hickey, Arshia Khan, Wyndham Wyeth, Johnny Sain and Wesley Hitt.
Omar Villafranca, a correspondent with CBS News in its Southern Bureau, received the Distinguished Lecturer Award and gave the keynote lunch address.
The Tulsa World received the Great Plains Newspaper of the Year honor; the Omaha World-Herald, the Website of the Year; and Omaha Magazine, the Magazine of the Year.
Tim Parks of the Omaha World-Herald was recognized as Great Plains Designer of the Year; Josh Dulaney of The Oklahoman as Newspaper Writer of the Year; Sarah Hoffman of the Omaha World-Herald as Newspaper Photographer/Portfolio of the Year; Liz Painter, 605 Magazine, as Magazine Photographer/Portfolio of the Year; and The University Daily Kansan as Student Newspaper of the Year.
Judges reviewed more than 600 entries and named winners and finalists in 72 professional and student categories. Four student journalists were awarded $1,500 scholarships named after former Tulsa Press Club president and ONEOK Inc. executive Dan Harrison.
Metro on 05/05/2018
*CORRECTION: Michael Storey, TV critic and columnist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, also won a Great Plains Journalism Award last week in the specialty feature category. His name was inadvertently omitted in a previous version of this list.