Missourian Wins 64 Missouri Press Association Awards
Staffed primarily by Missouri Journalism students, the Columbia Missourian regularly beats out the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Kansas City Star and Columbia Tribune for state journalism awards.
Columbia, Mo. (Sept. 19, 2018) — The Columbia Missourian, including Vox Magazine, won 64 awards Saturday in the Missouri Press Association‘s 2018 Better Newspaper Contest.
The Missourian competed in the division of newspapers with circulations from 5,001 to 15,000 and won awards for written stories, photos, ongoing coverage, multimedia, graphics, design and projects published in 2017.
The awards were announced Saturday during the Missouri Press Association convention in St. Louis. The Missourian also won the gold cup award given to the news organizations with the most awards in its division.
First Place
- Multi-Media Reporting: Missourian Staff, for galleries and visuals of the solar eclipse, including time lapse videos of the solar eclipse reaching totality over MU’s Frances and Carnahan quadrangles.
- Best Local Business Coverage: Missourian Staff, for quality coverage of business news and features in this three-issue entry. Among the stories featured in these editions are Siddharth Vodnala’s story about the challenges foreign entrepreneurs face when starting up businesses in the U.S. and Hayley Odom’s feature about the closing of Lucy’s Corner Cafe after 30 years.
- Best News Photograph: Davis Winborne, for his photo of a protester shouting at riot police after St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley, who fatally shot black motorist, Anthony Lamar Smith, was acquitted.
- Best Story About Education: Ruth Serven, for her story about MU’s efforts to increase enrollment.
- Best Business Story: Lauren Pike, for her story about a national trend to reduce food waste by marketing “ugly” fruits and vegetables, or those that are shaped irregularly or smaller than normal.
- Best Front Page: Missourian Staff, for three front pages based on design, layout and quality of content.
- Best Page Design: Missourian Staff, for its sports page cover featuring Missouri football’s win over the University of Tennessee.
- Best Headline Writing: Missourian Staff, for its headline submission based on impact, creativity and word selection.
- Best Editorial Cartoon: John Darkow, for his commentaries on current affairs, political and social issues.
- Best Columnist-Serious: George Kennedy, for columns on a conceal and carry debate at the Columbia Public Library, a wrap-up of the 2017 Missouri General Assembly session, and a reflection on the two-year anniversary of the Concerned Student 1950 protest.
- Best Coverage of Rural Life or Agriculture: Three reporters contributed to this first-place win. Lucille Sherman won a second place award for her story about the challenges one farmer has experienced since a concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO, became his neighbor. Shauna Yates profiled an apple orchard and alpaca farm owner who is preparing to retire. Jared Ridgeway wrote about the widespread problem of Dicamba drift on Missouri crops.
- Best Story About History: Jeremy Turley, for his story on the city’s effort to restore a previously popular fishing and swimming lake after years of being a coal ash collection ground by the Columbia Municipal Power Plant.
- Best News or Feature Series: Vox Magazine Staff, for their coverage of the state of abortion and reproductive health in Missouri.
- Best News Story: Jennifer Lu, for her story about the city’s water testing system, which suggests they are not testing the worst-case homes for lead.
- Best Story About Religion: Claire Mitzel, for her story about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in favor of a Columbia church preschool‘s suit against the State of Missouri to receive a state grant.
- Best News or Feature Obituary: Virginia Ward, for her life story on Brian Simpson, a popular Harrisburg High School teacher and coach.
- Community Service: The outreach staff won first place for the Missourian Progress Awards, which recognizes people who help make Columbia a great place to live. The community can nominate leaders in 10 different categories, including arts, education, social justice and philanthropy.
- Best Sports Photograph: Emily Nevils, for her image of Missouri tight end Kendall Blanton completing a five-yard touchdown pass.
- Best Sports Feature Story: Anne Rogers, for her profile on Missouri defensive back and physics major, Finis Stribling IV.
- Best Video: Photojournalists Emil Lippe and Jared Koller, for their video, “The power of football in Eldon.”
- Best Sports News Story or Package: Sports reporters Ron Davis, Rick Morgan and Jason Lowenthal, for a six-part series about new Missouri basketball coach Cuonzo Martin.
- Best Story About the Outdoors: Daphne Psaledakis, for her profile on conservationist and nature photographer Glenn Chambers.
- Great American Eclipse: Missourian Staff, for the special section “Solar Eclipse 2017,” which featured what readers need to know about the viewing, science and safety surrounding the event.
Second Place
- Best News Photograph: Davis Winborne, for his photograph of Columbia firefighters during a fire simulation exercise.
- Best Military Story: Gina Balstad, for her story about the opening of a new house for homeless veterans.
- Best Business Story: Rachel McKee Taylor, for her story about the University of Missouri System’s policy on intellectual property, patents and inventions.
- Best Photo Illustration: Jessi Dodge, for her photo illustration of local, seasonal beers for Vox Magazine.
- Best News or Feature Series and Best Feature Story: Gabriela Velasquez, for her interviews with five interracial couples on the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Loving decision.
- Best Breaking News Story: Shane Sanderson, for his reporting on the effects of the devastating flood of the Current River on the town of Van Buren, Missouri.
- Best Story About Religion: Katelyn Metzger, for her profile of the Rev. Cathy Rosenholtz, who left Calvary Episcopal Church to accept a new clergy assignment in Washington, D.C.
- Best Feature Photograph: Ellie Cherryhomes, for her photo of seven-year-old roping a “steer” at the 2017 Cattleman Days Rodeo.
- Best News or Feature Obituary: Brendan Crowley, for his life story on Pat Shay, a dedicated volunteer and “Marine to the bone.”
- Best Story About Rural Life or Agriculture: Lucille Sherman, for her story about the challenges one farmer has experienced since a concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO, became his neighbor.
- Best Sports Photograph: Jessi Dodge, for her photograph of Missouri wide receiver J’Mon Moore catching a pass.
- General Excellence: Missourian and Vox Staff, for breadth of coverage, quality of layout, design and its use of photos and artwork on all pages.
- Best Sports Feature Story: Tyler Kraft won second place for his profile on Missouri wrestler and 2016 Olympic bronze medalist J’den Cox.
- Best Information Graphic: Jiwon Cho, for a graphic of the changes in leadership at the University of Missouri, UM System, including its curators, since November 2015.
- Best Sports Columnist: Brooks Holton, for columns about SEC football, including the firing of Florida head coach Jim McElwain, and his attempt to sit through 48 straight hours of high school basketball.
- Best Story About the Outdoors: Andrew Withers, for his story on rock climbing, including an explanation of climbing terminology and lingo.
- Best Sports Pages: Missourian Staff, for a three-issue package that was evaluated for writing, scope of content, layout, design and photography.
Third Place
- Best News or Feature Special Section: Missourian Staff, for the 2017 Homecoming Guide.
- Best Photo Illustration: Luke Brodarick, for his photo of irregularly or smaller than normal fruits and vegetables for a story about “ugly” or “misfit” produce.
- Best Story About History: Jeremy Turley, for his story about a salvage sale of furnishings from a historic cafe that also hosted a weekly livestock auction.
- Best Investigative Reporting: Anna Brett, for her investigative story about the unknown number of untested sexual assault evidence kits statewide. Anna’s story prompted the Missouri attorney general’s office to conduct an audit of unprocessed kits.
- Best Photo Package: Missourian Photo Staff, for their package, “Homespun Moments” featuring photographs from two local homecoming games.
- Best Feature Photograph: Nate Compton, for his photo of a welder at work.
- Best News or Feature Obituary: Katherine Herrick, for her life story on Brian Cottle.
- Best Overall Design: Missourian Staff, for their three-issue entry judged for consistent quality of layout and design of the entire newspaper.
- Best Information Graphics: Lauren Langdon, for her graphic showing how an HPV infection can affect the body.
- Best Online Newspaper or Website: The Missourian, for its online news site.
- Best Sports Photograph: Davis Winborne, for his photo of Rock Bridge High School’s Payton McCallister at the state basketball tournament semifinals in the Mizzou Arena.
Honorable Mentions
- Best News Photograph: Evan Cobb, for his photograph of members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol officers standing during the inauguration of Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens.
- Best Story About Education: Bennito Kelty, for his story about Lincoln University’s fight to stay afloat amid significant budget cuts.
- Best Business Story: Megan Schaltegger, for her story about the Meriwether Cafe and Bike Shop in Rocheport.
- Best Story About History: Quinn Malloy, for his story on the number of racial terror lynchings in the state of Missouri between 1877 and 1950, the second highest number of lynchings outside the south.
- Best News or Feature Series: Vox Magazine Staff, for their November 16, 2017 edition “White Space,” an essay series exploring white privilege.
- Best Breaking News Story: Shane Sanderson, for his story about the cause of death of 17-year-old Kenneth Suttner as determined by a jury at the Howard County coroner’s inquest.
- Best News Story: Claire Mitzel, for her story about a bill that would ban crisis pregnancy centers from receiving state funding unless the services provide medically accurate, unbiased information to its patients.
- Best Investigative Reporting: Brittany Crocker and Marisa Anz, for their story about the arrests of two men who were charged with running a brothel out of their Columbia home. The arrests brought to light questions about sex trafficking of both minor and adult sex workers.
- Best Photo Package: Monique Woo, for her collection of photos from the True/False Jubilee masquerade ball.
- Best Sports Feature Story: Peter Baugh, for his profile of Missouri defensive line coach, Brick Haley, his impact on players, and his son’s impact on him.
- Best Information Graphic: Lauren Wrigley, for her timeline graphic of Missouri’s compliance with the Real ID Act, 10 years later.
About the Columbia Missourian
The Columbia Missourian is a digital-first publication founded in 1908 as a community newspaper and working laboratory for students at the Missouri School of Journalism. The Missourian regularly beats out the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Kansas City Star and Columbia Tribune for state journalism awards.
Updated: November 5, 2020