Northwest Arkansas Journalists Win State Awards

Several journalists and columnists who work to produce the four, local daily newspapers in Northwest Arkansas won awards Saturday in the Arkansas Press Association's Better Newspaper Contest.

The awards, for work published in 2013, were announced during the group's annual convention in Hot Springs.

For a list of other winners, see page XX in today’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Staff members, former staff members and freelance writers for NWA Media's Benton County Daily Record, Rogers Morning News, Springdale Morning News and the Northwest Arkansas Times received 26 awards and 11 honorable mentions.

Those winning first place awards were:

• Staff, Best Front Page, Benton County Daily Record

• Dave Perozek, Amye Buckley, Erin Spandorf and Teresa Moss, Coverage of Education

• Alex Abrams, Sports Feature Story

• Andy Shupe, Sports Feature Photograph

• Samantha Baker, Sports Action Photograph

• Greg Harton, Headline Writing

• Lisa Kelly, Freelance Writing

Staff members winning second and third place awards were:

• Jimmy Carter, Sports Feature Story

• Greg Harton, Editorial

• Staff, Best Front Page, Northwest Arkansas Times

• Amye Buckley, In-depth Series Reporting

• Paul Boyd and Chip Souza, Sports News

• Leeanna Walker, News/Political Column

• Staff, Special Section, LPGA Extra

• Online Staff, Best Web Design

• Alex Abrams, Sports Features Story

• Gary Smith, Humor Column

• Samantha Baker, Sports Feature Photograph

• Staff, Best Front Page, Springdale Morning News

• Joel Walsh, Christie Swanson, Amye Buckley, Scarlet Sims and Greg Harton, Coverage of Tourism

• Tracy Neal and Dave Perozek, Feature Story

• Dave Perozek, In-Depth Series Reporting

• Henry Apple, Sports News

• Marc Henning, News Photograph

• Ben Goff, Single Feature Photograph

• Vance Jordan, Best Sports Page

Staff members receiving honorable mention were: John Gore, News Story; Amye Buckley, Feature Story; Christie Swanson, Doug Thompson and Dan Craft, Coverage of Health; Rick Fires, Sports News Story; Rusty Turner, News Column; Fran Johnson, Headline Writing; Marc Henning, News Photograph; Samantha Baker, Feature Photograph; Jason Ivester, Feature Photograph; and Andy Shupe, Sports Action Photograph and Sports Feature Photograph.

The Herald-Leader of Siloam Springs and The Times of Northeast Benton County in Pea Ridge both won first place in the general excellence category. The Herald-Leader won in the larger weeklies category, while The Times won in the smaller. Both are NWA Media publications.

The Tennessee Press Association judged this year's competition, choosing from 1,865 entries from 21 daily newspapers and 32 weekly newspapers.

NW News on 07/13/2014

Upcoming Events