Another Bit O' Shameless Self-Promotion

The awards were announced Sept. 17 in Scottsdale.

The Weekly won eight individual writing awards, grabbing four first-place honors. The Weekly also finished first in one photography category and won three newspaper-wide awards, including one first-place award.

That first-place award was for Newspaper Online Site/Web Page, for tucsonweekly.com, designed by John Banks and DesertNet. The Weekly finished second in Departmental News/Copyediting Excellence, and earned an honorable mention for Special Section/Newspaper Supplement/Magazine, for Best of Tucson^TM 2004. The judge noted that the Best of Tucson^TM was "strongest in design, with well-placed photos and a clean, spacious layout."

The first-place individual winners:

· Jim Nintzel, in the Best Sustained Coverage or Series category, for his 2005 Legislature coverage. The judge noted: "Wit is evidence of intelligence, and Jim Nintzel demonstrates he has plenty of both in his consistently well-written, knowledgeable series on the 2005 Arizona Legislative session."

· Tom Danehy, in the Best Sports Story category, for "The Haves vs. the Have Nots" (Aug. 19, 2004). The judge noted: "The story is an important one, in Tucson and other communities, and Danehy does a good job of getting at the core. The story was helped by strong layout and photographs in an interesting design."

· Leo W. Banks, in the Best News Feature Story category, for "Under Siege" (March 10, 2005). The judge for the category--who also awarded the Weekly third place for another story (see below)--noted: "It's clear the Tucson Weekly has a firm grasp on what it takes to make great 'News Feature Stories.' Other papers should look to TW's features for the things that make great features: story ideas, execution, writing style and ability, photos, layout and presentation, and play/prominence in the paper."

· Arek Sarkissian II, in the Best Lifestyle Feature Story category, for "119 Days" (Aug. 12, 2004). The judge noted: "Well-written and evocative description of a hard-learned lesson--something that should touch everyone who drinks. Good sense of structure and well-organized; I forgot I was reading."

· Tricia McInroy, in the Best News Photograph category, for her image of Lourdes Lopez on the cover of "The Murder of Dr. David Stidham" (April 28, 2005). The judge noted: "Excellent composition. Out of focus hand in foreground tells the story. Well-printed and cropped."

The second-place individual winners:

· Margaret Regan, in the Best News Story category, for "Friends With Water and Food" (July 1, 2004).

· Regan, in the Best Lifestyle Feature Story category, for "Ninety and Nimble" (Oct. 7, 2004).

· Catherine O'Sullivan, in the Best Column/Analysis/Commentary category, for "When Walking Through the Homeowners' Association Lands, Beware the Suburban Commando" (Aug. 5, 2004).

Finally, Chris Limberis took third place in the Best News Feature Story category for the aforementioned "The Murder of Dr. David Stidham" (April 28, 2005).

The East Valley Tribune and the Payson Roundup were named the Arizona Newspapers of the Year in the daily and non-daily categories, respectively.