SPRINGDALE — Several journalists working for the four, local dailies published by Northwest Arkansas Newspapers won awards Saturday in the Arkansas Press Association Better Newspaper Contest for work published in 2012.
Pages designers, photographers and writers for the Benton County Daily Record, the Rogers Morning News, the Springdale Morning News and the Northwest Arkansas Times won seven first, nine second and eight third place awards plus 11 honorable mentions.
First place awards, the journalists and categories are: Tracy M. Neal, Best Beat Reporter; Becca Martin Brown, Feature Story; Doug Thompson, News/Political Column; Dave Perozek, News Story; Rick Fires, Sports Column; Samantha Baker, Single Sports Action Photograph; and Kevin Kinder, Amye Buckley, Misty Gittings, John Gore and Dave Perozek, Coverage of Tourism.
Second place awards, the journalists and categories are: Dan Craft, News Story; Matt Costa, Eric Gilreath, Cody Kinsy, Shawn McLaughlin and Caleb Fort, Best Web Design; Amye Buckley, Feature Story; Ron Wood, Tony Hernandez and Doug Thompson, In-Depth Series Reporting; Carin Schoppmeyer, Headline Writing; Christie Swanson, Coverage of Health; Kelly Barnett, Best Features Page; Dan Craft, Doug Thompson, Tony Hernandez, and Misty Gittings, Coverage of Politics; and Marc F. Henning, Single Sports Feature Photograph.
Third place awards, the journalists and categories are: Doug Thompson, News/Political Column; Andy Shupe and Anthony Reyes, Picture Page; Bob Caudle, News Story; Christie Swanson, Doug Thompson and Dan Craft, In-Depth Series Reporting; Dave Perozek, Editorial; Marc F. Henning, Single Feature Photograph; Staff, Benton County Daily Record, Best Front Page; and Rose Ann Pearce, Teresa Moss, Dan Craft and Dave Perozek, Coverage of Education.
Honorable mentions are: Chris Freiberg and Dan Craft, News Story; Paul Boyd, Sports Feature Story; Paul Boyd, Sports News Story; Alex Abrams, Sports Column; Doug Thompson, Editorial; Greg Harton, General Interest Column; Andy Shupe, Single Feature Photograph; Anthony Reyes, Single News Photograph; Samantha Baker, two for Single Sports Feature Photograph; and sports staff, Best Special Issue.