Dispatch wins 9 categories at Ohio awards
Includes Dispatch.com for best digital presence
The Columbus Dispatch and its staff won nearly two dozen awards Sunday in the annual Ohio Associated Press Media Editors contest — including nine firstplace awards — competing against Ohio’s largest newspapers.
First-place awards included Dispatch.com for best digital presence — the fourth year in a row the website has received that recognition — and the Dispatch sports staff for best daily sports section.
The Dispatch also won first place in the best spot news coverage category for coverage of the death of 16-year-old Ma’khia Bryant, who was fatally shot on April 20, 2021 by a Columbus police officer, sparking outrage and protests throughout the city. The Dispatch additionally placed second in that same category for its coverage of the death of Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Matiss Kivlenieks in a fireworks incident.
A Dispatch team led by Sheridan Hendrix and Céilí Doyle won first place for best digital project for “Descendants of Hope: The Legacy of Ohio’s Underground Railroad.” The Dispatch placed third in the same category for “Broken Pledge,” a podcast and story series about fraternity hazing and the death of Collin Wiant, a student at Ohio University.
Other first-place winners were photojournalist Adam Cairns for best feature photo for “Snowpocalypse,” an image of a man in a horse mask sledding down a hill following a snowstorm; and photojournalist Joshua A. Bickel, best photo story for a series of images of Drum Major Austin Bowman with the Ohio State University Marching Band.
Amelia Robinson, Dispatch opinion and community engagement editor, was chosen as best editorial writer, while Danae King was selected as the best news writer, both for a collection of their work.
King also won a second-place award for best explanatory reporting, while Cairns won a second-place award for best sports photo.
As it did the previous year, The Dispatch led by now-retired sports editor Ray Stein took first place for best special sports section for its “High School Scholar Athletes” profiles.
In addition, Alan D. Miller, who retired in January as executive editor of The Columbus Dispatch and Gannett Ohio regional editor after 40 years in newspapers, was among those inducted into the APME Ohio Journalism Hall of Fame along with Marla Ridenour, a former Dispatch reporter and longtime Cleveland sports reporter at The Akron
Beacon Journal, another Gannett newspaper.
Dispatch reporter Céilí Doyle was selected as Ohio APME’S Rising Star this year, an award given to journalists with less than five years of professional experience.
Third-place awards went to Erica Thompson for best business writer; Max Filby for best explanatory reporting; Jennifer Smola Shaffer and Alissa Widman Neese for best investigative reporting; and Joshua A. Bickel for best news photo.
Other third-place winners were Yilun
Cheng for best public service; Brian Hedger for best sports enterprise; Bailey Johnson for best sports writer; Courtney Hergesheimer for best video; and Mike Wagner for best enterprise reporting. Wagner also won a third-place award for best feature writing.
Monroe Trombly, now a reporter for The Dispatch, won three awards for his work last year while a reporter for The Mansfield News Journal, which competes among a division of smaller daily newspapers. His awards included a first place for best enterprise reporting, a second place for best spot news coverage
(shared with News Journal reporter Lou Whitmire) and third place for best explanatory reporting.
The Cincinnati Enquirer, another Gannett newspaper, won the “general excellence” award this year as the best among Ohio’s largest newspapers. The Dispatch, which had won that category for the past eight years, placed second.
The Ohio APME awards luncheon was held at the Villa Milano Banquet & Conference Center on Schrock Road.
elagatta@dispatch.com. Follow him on Twitter @Ericlagatta