Shameless Self-Promotion

The Tucson Weekly won 13 awards in the Arizona Newspapers
Association’s annual contest, covering work done from May 1, 2008,
through April 30, 2009. The awards were announced on Saturday, Oct. 10,
at the Arizona State University Walter Cronkite School of Journalism
and Mass Communication in downtown Phoenix.

The Weekly competed in among the state’s non-daily newspapers
with a circulation of more than 10,000, and the haul included five
newspaper-wide awards—including second-place honors for General
Excellence. The Weekly won first place for Departmental News and
Copy Editing Excellence, second place for Best Newspaper Web Site, and
third place for Page Design Excellence, as well as Editorial Page
Excellence.

The Mississippi Press Association judged the entries. Regarding the
Weekly‘s first-place win for Departmental News and Copy Editing
Excellence, the judge noted: “Terrific mix of news, features and
attitude. We love how the calendar is segmented. Something here for
everyone in (a) well-designed package.”

In the individual writing awards categories, Tom Danehy earned both
first and second place for Best Sports Column, for “Soccer Sends Kids
Like Brianna Caceres to College, So It Can’t Be All Bad” (Oct. 9,
2008), and “Even on Their Way to the Super Bowl, the Cardinals Don’t
Deserve Tom’s Love” (Jan. 29).

Dave Devine took first place for Best Sports Story for “Less Than
Accommodating” (Feb. 12), a story about the role that race played in
bringing spring training to Tucson.

Margaret Regan also took home a first-place award, in the Best
Column: Feature or Criticism category, for “Urban Tales” (Aug. 7,
2008), a review of MOCA’s Invisible City exhibit.

Jim Nintzel nabbed three awards in the contest. He nabbed second
place in the Best Column: Analysis or Commentary category for The
Skinny. He won third place for Best News Story for “Bloodbath at City
Hall” (April 16), his story on the firing of Tucson City Manager Mike
Hein, and second place in the Best Multimedia Storytelling category for
spearheading the Weekly‘s ScrambleWatch ’08 political/election
Web site.

Jon Shumaker earned second place in the Best News Feature category
for “State of the Desert,” his March 5 cover story on the future of the
Sonoran Desert.

The East Valley Tribune and the Payson Roundup were
named the Newspapers of the Year, for their combined excellence in both
the editorial and advertising contests.

This article appears in Oct 15-21, 2009.