The Oklahoman’s Richard Mize has won two national journalism awards for his real estate news reporting and writing.

Mize, senior business writer and The Oklahoman’s real estate editor from 1999 to 2021, won a silver award and a bronze award at the 73rd annual National Association of Real Estate Editors journalism competition. The awards were presented Thursday night at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

The NAREE journalism awards were judged by a panel from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Mize received the silver prize for Best Breaking Real Estate News Story for his story, "Oklahoma City Realtors condemn leadership for taking down American flag."

The judges' comments:

"Reporters find stories by going out into the community and speaking with members about the issues they face. Increasingly, that kind of shoe-leather reporting takes place virtually, since online communities play such a big role in our lives today, and that’s exactly how this reporter broke this story – by seeing Realtors complain on Facebook about the removal of the U.S. flag, among others, from the front of their office building. But the story tied what easily could have been dismissed as an online dust-up to the real-world issues of local, national and international politics."

Mize won the bronze award for Best Residential Mortgage or Financial Real Estate Story-Daily or WeeklyNewspaper, for “INSTANT REGRETS? Selling your home online could cost you, stats show.”

In nominating this entry, The Oklahoman said:

"The story serves the audience by shining local light on what was an exploding national trend in home investment sales and how they affect pricing for people buying homes to live in rather than to rent out, or flip. ... It's innovative in using local data collected and analyzed by a participant in the local market, which, itself, is something of a creative risk. But the data held, and the participant/source’s involvement is made clear to the reader."

Mize previously received an honorable mention for Best Column in the prestigious contest in 2016 for his commentary, "Georgia land auction with Oklahoma ties brings to light a dark history,"

The judges said: “The columnist’s understanding of Oklahoma history, including the Cherokee’s Trail of Tears, gave him a deep perspective on the story of a 2015 Georgia land auction. The 483-acre property was touted with its connections to John C. Calhoun, the seventh vice president of the U.S., but the seller did not mention, or did not know, that Calhoun got the property because the Cherokees were kicked out. After publication of this column, the sale went nowhere.”

The National Association of Real Estate Editors was founded in 1929. Its journalism awards received hundreds of entries for the annual contest. News outlets that took part included the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg News.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: The Oklahoman's Richard Mize wins in national real estate news contest