The Tucson Weekly earned seven prizes in the 2008 Arizona
Press Club Awards. The winners were announced at a ceremony on
Saturday, May 16, at the Arizona State University Cronkite School of
Journalism and Mass Communication in downtown Phoenix.

All of the awards came in “any publication” categories, meaning the
Weekly was competing with all other newspapers in the state. For
this year’s contest, the Arizona Press Club eliminated the medium-size
newspaper category, which had often been dominated by Weekly writers in years past.

For the third year in a row, James DiGiovanna took the state’s top
honors in the Film, Video and Television Writing or Criticism category,
for “Character-Driven Epic” (Jan. 17, 2008), “A World Less Safe” (April
3, 2008) and “Blood in the Snow” (Dec. 4, 2008). Judge Stephen Kiehl,
of the Baltimore Sun, commented: “DiGiovanna’s funny,
controversial reviews are a joy to read while also rich in knowledge of
the history of film and storytelling. The reviews demonstrate a passion
for film and a clear, well-argued point of view. You always know
exactly how he felt, and why.”

The Weekly‘s primary arts writers, Margaret Regan and James
Reel, took second place and third place, respectively, in the Arts
Writing or Criticism category. Judge Tim Page, a University of Southern
California journalism professor, wrote: “Margaret Regan writes about
photography with remarkable visual acuity and a sense of serving her
community.” As for Reel, he noted: “James Reel seems comfortable in
many genres and inspires a reader’s trust with his accessible but never
condescending style.”

Leo W. Banks earned two awards, both honorable mentions: in the
Environment and Science Reporting category, for “Nature vs. Security”
(May 1, 2008), and in the Health Reporting category, for “They Call Him
Dr. Germ” (Oct. 9, 2008). Judge Liza Mundy, of The Washington
Post, wrote of “Nature vs. Security”: “An enlightening look at the
clash between environmentalists who want to designate a patch of
borderland an official wilderness, and local residents who fear this
will exacerbate the problem of cross-border drug smuggling. This piece
was particularly evocative in showing how pristine patches of
wilderness can sometimes be a magnet for—and
enable—outlaws.”

Tom Danehy won third-place honors in the News Column Writing
category. Judge Sheila Toomey, of the Anchorage Daily News,
noted: “Danehy is a good example of the classic in-your-face columnist
focused on opinion rather than people or story-telling. This type of
column writing is often done badly. Danehy does it very well. … A
reader has no choice but to engage.”

In the Blogging category, Jim Nintzel took third place for Scramblewatch.com, the election 2008
political blog masterminded by the Weekly senior writer.

The Arizona Republic‘s Chris Hawley was named the Virg Hill
Journalist of the Year. James Gregg of the Arizona Daily Star was named the Arizona Photographer of the Year for the second year in a
row; his colleague, Renee Fullerton, was named Arizona Designer of the
Year. Marley Shebala of The Navajo Times nabbed Community
Journalist of the Year honors.

This article appears in May 21-27, 2009.