Dispatch staff wins 20 awards in Ohio APME competition, adding to other recent accolades
The Columbus Dispatch and staff members won 20 awards at the Ohio Associated Press Media Editors Awards on Sunday for work in 2022, including first place awards for public service, best daily sports section, best digital project and best spot news coverage.
Dispatch reporter Cole Behrens won the APME's Rising Star-Newspaper award — which recognizes achievement and ability by an individual with five years or less experience in journalism — during the awards ceremony at the Villa Milano Banquet & Conference Center in Columbus.
"Every day our journalists, our photojournalists, and digital staff work to provide the kind of journalism worthy of your time and investment,” said Edwina Blackwell Clark, executive editor of The Dispatch. “These awards are recognition of their great work and a result of our commitment to this community.”
The Dispatch staff, led by public safety reporter Bethany Bruner and members of the Dispatch/USA Today Network Ohio Statehouse bureau, won first place for Best Public Service for “10-year-old rape victim and new Ohio abortion law."
The Dispatch won first place for Best Daily Sports Section for a collection of the staff's work.
Erica Thompson, features editor, and Dispatch staff won first place for best digital project with "Gone But Not Forgotten: The legacy of Black-owned businesses in Driving Park."
Dispatch staff members won first- and third-place awards for Best Spot News Coverage. The first-place award was for "Ohio State president suddenly resigns," and the third-place award went to business reporter Mark Williams for coverage of AEP blackouts.
Dispatch.com, led by Michelle Everhart-Sullivan, managing editor-digital, won second place for Best Digital Presence.
Photojournalist Fred Squillante won two second-place awards, one for Best Photographer, and the other for Best Photo Story for “The Homeless of Heer Park." Third place in that latter category was won by photojournalist Barbara J. Perenic for "Body Painter."
Jose D. Enriquez III won second place for Best Illustration or Informational Graphic for a front-page graphic on guns in schools, and also won second place with fellow designer Aja Diffin for Best Front Page Design.
Other award-winners in the statewide competition for 2022 work were:
Amelia Robinson, Dispatch opinion and community engagement editor, second place, Best Editorial Writer; Bethany Bruner, second place, Best News Writer; Adam Jardy, second place, Best Sports Feature Writer; Laura Bischoff, second place, Best Investigative Reporting for "Ohio youth prison system struggles with violence, staff vacancies;" Ceili Doyle, second place, Best Feature Writer; Bailey Johnson, third place, Best Sports Writer; Bill Rabinowitz, third place, Best Sports Enterprise for his profile on Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud; Sports staff, third place, Best Special Sports Section for "Ohio Stadium Turns 100;" and Courtney Hergesheimer, third place, Best Video for "Burning House."
The Dispatch also won a third-place award for general excellence competing in Division V, which represents the largest newspapers in Ohio.
Other recent Dispatch honors
The reporters behind the Dispatch's Preying on Patients series — Max Filby, Mike Wagner and Jennifer Smola Shaffer— were awarded the Society of Professional Journalists Central Ohio chapter's First Amendment Award. The series investigated the operation of the State Medical Board of Ohio and doctors who sexually abused and harassed patients for decades. The SPJ recognition is the chapter's top honor, and is awarded for work that is "vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable."
The Dispatch sports staff won the coveted Associated Press Sports Editor (ASPE) Triple Crown award, finishing in the top 10 nationally in three of these categories: print portfolio, digital, event coverage and projects. Only nine media outlets nationally accomplished the fete.
The sports staff was recognized by the ASPE with Top 10 designations for digital coverage, print section, projects ("Ohio Stadium at 100"), special section (a commemoration of Rick Nash), and action and feature sports photos by photojournalist Adam Cairns.
Dispatch reporter Danae King was honored by the Ohio Association for Justice, with its 2023 Outstanding Journalist Award for her work in 2022 building a sexual abuse database of priests in the Columbus diocese who have been accused of sexual abuse of children.
"... I wanted those survivors and others to be able to find our when and where accused priests worked," King said.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Dispatch wins 20 awards in Ohio Associated Press Media Editors contest
