Newspaper wins 19 awards; reporters Curcio, Monk recognized.
Monk ’18 top new journalist
Amanda Claire Curcio of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette was named the 2018 Diamond Journalist of the Year on Thursday and was among 19 top winners from the newspaper in the annual Diamond Journalism Awards competition.
The awards, sponsored by the Arkansas Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, recognize outstanding journalism by professionals and students from Arkansas and bordering media markets in Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. They were presented in a ceremony in Little Rock.
Ginny Monk, another Democrat-Gazette reporter, was named 2018’s Outstanding New Journalist. The award goes to a journalist in any medium who has worked professionally for five or fewer years.
Monk and Curcio won on the basis of a portfolio of their work published between July 2017 and June 30 this year. Curcio’s portfolio included several articles about Arkansas’ troubled juvenile justice system.
Monk’s articles included stories about a father who lost his wife to disease and a 7-year-old daughter to accidental gunshot within three months; the way Arkansas school districts teach sex education, or don’t; and a Japanese-American family that continues to feel the impact from an older generation’s World War II internment in Arkansas.
The Robert McCord Freedom of Information Award went to Democrat-Gazette reporter Eric Besson and former Democrat-Gazette reporter Aziza Musa for their coverage of the relationship between the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville athletic department, a public institution, and the Razorback Foundation, a nonprofit that considers itself exempt from the state’s public records laws.
The award is named for Robert S. McCord, considered the father of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act of 1967. McCord also served as national SPJ president in 1975-76.
The Associated Press’ Ryan Foley and Andrew DeMillo took the second-place McCord Freedom of Information Award for reporting on the growing number of state legislatures, including Arkansas’, seeking to cut back on the public’s access to information.
Reporters for nola.com/ The Times-Picayune won the first-place Community Service Award for a multimedia report titled “The Children of Central City” about the effects of routine violence on children in part of New Orleans and efforts to help them.
The Democrat-Gazette’s Monk and former reporter Ryan Tarinelli won first place for news reporting about police finding the remains of a young woman who disappeared in 2015 only feet away from her abandoned car at a park.
Hunter Field of the Democrat-Gazette took first place in the political reporting category for his coverage of the state’s attempts to license its first medical marijuana cultivators.
The newspaper took all three places in the sports coverage category, with the top award going to former staff member Brooks Kubena for a report about the feasibility of starting a football program at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
David Barham, editorial page editor at the Democrat-Gazette, won first place for a portfolio of editorials about how tariffs affect Arkansas.
Photographer Staton Breidenthal won first place in the photography category for a picture of a soldier embracing his wife upon his return from active duty.
Mitchell Pe Masilun won three first-place awards on his own — one for a published package of photographs that captured Oaklawn’s opening day of horse racing, for a portfolio of his photography for the Democrat-Gazette, and for an online video marking the 20th anniversary of the Jonesboro school shooting.
Masilun also shared first place for best specialized online site with Democrat-Gazette reporter Jeannie Roberts and Senior Online Editor Gavin Lesnick for their detailed look at the Jonesboro school shooting 20 years later.
Feature writer Sean Clancy and photographer John Sykes Jr. took first place in the leisure interests category for a story about a new type of bicycle intended for dual use on paved or unpaved routes.
Former Arkansas Online reporter-editor Brandon Riddle won best slideshow for a presentation about central Arkansas restaurants that opened and closed during the year.
Democrat-Gazette journalists also received nine second-place awards and nine third-place awards in the competition, which drew 147 entries and was judged by other professional journalists from outside the contest area.