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.
