Monday, April 28, 2008
Two Vindicator writers won first-place awards in a statewide competition, and others also were honored. TheVindicator competed in Division IV for newspapers in Ohio with daily circulation of 25,000 to 74,999.
Joe Scalzo, a Vindicator sportswriter, was named “Best Sports Writer” and “Best Sports Feature Writer” by the Associated Press Society of Ohio.
Bertram DeSouza, a Vindicator editorial writer, was named “Best Columnist.”
Nominees for awards were announced previously, but the winners were announced at a ceremony in Columbus on Sunday.
John Cruz, a Vindicator graphic artist, was honored twice. He won third place in the “Best Graphic Artist” competition and second place for “Best Informational Graphic” for work he performed to detail a highway truck crash.
William D. Lewis, a staff photographer, won third place in “Best Spot News Photo” for a photograph of a firefighter.
Jeanne Starmack, a staff writer, received honorable mention in the “Best News Writer” competition, in which she submitted a variety of news stories from 2007.
Vindy.com, the newspaper’s Web site, won third place in the “Best Web Site” competition.
Vindicator Editor Todd Franko praised the honorees: “This is a great honor for the individuals and for the newsroom. That the honors cross over many sections of our operation shows the many talented people working to create a daily newspaper for the Valley. This year was better than last year in terms of these annual honors. Next year will be better than this year.”
Seventy-one daily newspapers submitted 3,215 entries in the contest, which featured news and sports stories, features, editorials, columns, graphics, photos, design and videography from 2007.
Entries in Division IV were judged by editors from the Erie (Pa.) Times-News.
The Associated Press is a not-for-profit news cooperative representing 1,500 newspapers and 5,000 broadcast stations in the United States. Members of AP include 88 daily newspapers in Ohio.