The staff of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette took first place in 11 categories of the 2022 Diamond Journalism Awards, and Pine Bluff Commercial editor Byron Tate received the Garrick Feldman Community Journalism Award for his reporting and editorials on and about Pine Bluff and Jefferson County.
The ceremony was held Thursday evening in Little Rock.
In addition to offering the Community Journalism Award, the contest also presents four other special awards.The Mississippi Free Press took three of them: Kayode Crown was named Diamond Journalist of the Year; Nick Judin won the Charlotte Tillar Schexnayder Public Service Award; and Christian Middleton and Grace Marion won the Robert S. McCord FOI Award. Outstanding New Journalist recognition went to Chad Mira of Fayetteville’s KNWA-TV.
The regional competition is sponsored annually by the Arkansas Pro chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and recognizes journalism excellence in Arkansas and six neighboring states — Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.
The awards honored work published or broadcast in 2021, and they drew 379 entries in more than 80 categories. Members of the Society of Professional Journalists chapters in Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming served as judges.
The first-place winners from the Democrat-Gazette staff were:
BREAKING NEWS, PRINT/ONLINE & TV/VIDEO
“Tornado coverage,” Tess Vrbin, Staci Vandagriff
FEATURES, NEWSPAPERS
“Tom Slaughter series,” Celia Storey (including part one, part two and part three)
BUSINESS, PRINT/ONLINE & TV/VIDEO
“Business coverage,” Noel Oman, John Magsam, Nathan Owen, Staci Vandagriff
EDUCATION, PRINT/ONLINE
“Education coverage,” Jaime Adame
HEALTH, PRINT/ONLINE
“Child abuse investigation,” former reporter Ginny Monk
PODCASTS, PRINT/ONLINE & STUDENT MEDIA
“Capitol & Scott,” Nick Popowitch, Lara Farrar
PHOTOGRAPHY, BREAKING NEWS
“Stuttgart flooding,” Thomas Metthe
PHOTO PORTFOLIO
Staci Vandagriff
DATA VISUALIZATION
“Arkansas congressional district boundaries,” former staffer Jen Para
GRAPHICS/ILLUSTRATIONS
Carrie Hill
WEB/MOBILE DESIGN
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Arkansasonline.com, Democrat-Gazette staff