Vindicator receives 20 awards at annual Associated Press ceremony


May 15, 2016 at 4:55p.m.

Staff/wire report

COLUMBUS

The Vindicator received 20 awards Sunday for journalistic excellence in the 2015 Associated Press Media Editors competition, including seven first-place rankings.

The newspaper competed in Division IV for newspapers with a daily circulation of 20,000 to 69,999.

Awards were presented at a luncheon in Columbus. Vindicator winners and their rankings include:

General Excellence: The Vindicator, second place.

Best Columnist: Bertram de Souza, first place.

Best Editorial Writer: Bertram de Souza, second place.

Best Feature Writer: Jordyn Grzelewski, third place

Best Graphics Artist: Robert McFerren, third place.

Best Sports Columnist: Ed Puskas, second place.

Best Sports Writer: Joe Scalzo, first place.

Best Photographer: Robert K. Yosay, third place.

Best Sports Enterprise: Steve Wilaj, first place; and sports staff for “Death of Hamzah Ajahmi,” second place.

Best Illustration or Informational Graphic: Robert McFerren for “Oakhill Primer,” third place.

Best Feature Photo: William D. Lewis for “Special Needs Prom,” third place.

Best Sports Photo: David Dermer for “Catching Up,” first place.

Best Video: William D. Lewis for “Thankful: Rev. Steve Popovich,” third place.

Best Public Service: Jordyn Grzelewski and Joe Gorman for “Heroin in the Mahoning Valley,” first place, and Jordyn Grzelewski for “Supreme Court Same-Sex Marriage Decision,” third place.

Best Explanatory Reporting: Staff report on “Mill Creek Park and Youngstown Sewers,” second place.

Best Investigative Reporting: Staff report on “After Woodside,” first place.

Best Full Page Design: Robert McFerren, third place.

Best Digital Presence: The Vindicator, first place.

At the meeting in Columbus, Todd Franko, editor of The Vindicator, was named APME of Ohio’s director representing newspapers with a daily circulation of 15,001 to 50,000.

The Associated Press is a not-for-profit news cooperative serving 1,400 daily newspapers and 5,000 broadcast stations in the United States.