SPRINGFIELD – The Daily Chronicle on Friday won the James S. Copley Memorial Trophy as the top newspaper in its circulation class in the Illinois Press Association's annual Excellence in News contest.
The Daily Chronicle newsroom won 37 awards, including 13 first-place awards, 12 second-place awards and 10 third-place awards. The newspaper was also awarded two honorable mentions. The Daily Chronicle competes in the small daily newspaper class, which includes newspapers with circulations of 10,000 or less.
"The Daily Chronicle is proud to be the most decorated small daily newspaper in Illinois," Editor Jason Schaumburg said. "Winning the Copley Trophy is a testament to the talent, hard work and dedication of the entire staff."
For the second year in a row, the Daily Chronicle won first place in the Community Service category. Reporter Dana Herra and News Editor Kate Schott share the first-place honor for a story they wrote on how to read tax bills.
"This stood out because of the importance of the issue and the way it was addressed," the judges comments read. "The Q&A feature can benefit everyone (especially a confusing issue such as taxes)."
The Daily Chronicle Sports staff swept the Sports News category. Reporter John Sahly won first place for his examination of how much money Northern Illinois University lost on its trip to the 2008 Independence Bowl, while Sports Editor Jon Styf won second place and sports contributor James Nokes took third.
"Comprehensive break down of subject matter that could be a tedious read without such solid writing," the judges wrote in their comments on Sahly's entry. "Not only gave the facts but interpretations on meaning. Solid research and fact finding."
Former reporter John Puterbaugh won first place in Business/Economic Reporting for a story on how the sagging economy was impacting artists.
"Innovative angle on impact of ailing economy. Personal story well told," the judges comments read.
Photographer Rob Winner won first place in Sports Photo for an image of an NIU football player leaping into the end zone. The judges describing the image as "Technically very strong, good action."
Other first-place awards included the newsroom staff for best website; photographer Beck Diefenbach in the General News Photo and Feature Photo categories; reporter Elena Grimm for Feature Writing and Best Coverage of Taxation; Features Editor Inger Koch for Lifestyle Section; Sahly for Sports Column; and Schott for Government Beat Reporting and Best Investigative-Enterprise Reporting
Other awards won by the news staff include Grimm taking third places for News Reporting-Series and Government Beat reporting; Herra winning second place for Enterprise/Feature Writing; Puterbaugh winning third place for News Reporting-Single Story; and Schott winning second places for Best School Board Coverage and News Reporting-Series.
Styf also won second places for Sports Column, Sports Feature and Sports Section, while Koch won second place for best Single Page Design. Sahly won third place for Sports Feature.
Other photo awards include Diefenbach winning second place in General News Photo, and second and third places for Personality Portrait and Sports Photo. Winner won third places in Spot News Photo and General News Photo.
As a staff, the Daily Chronicle took second place in General Excellence and third place for Special Section. Honorable mentions were awarded to Schaumburg for Local Editorial and Diefenbach for Sports Photo.
Other Awards
In the Advertising Excellence competition, graphic designer Allison LaPorta won two first-place awards, one for Best Ad Designer and one for Best Newspaper Designed Insert.
Graphic designer Gary Heller won third place for Best Static Online Ad and the Daily Chronicle's art design staff won an honorable mention for Best Community Focus Special Section.
The two weekly newspapers in DeKalb County owned by Shaw Newspapers also were honored Friday in the large weekly division of the IPA contest. Valley Free Press Editor Debbie Behrends took third place in Newspaper Design while Kat Dodd won third place in the Enterprise/Feature Writing category.
At The MidWeek, Editor Bill Braksick won second place for Feature Writing and former reporter Chris LaPelusa won an honorable mention in Business/Economic Reporting. Doug Oleson won third place for Sports Column.
The Illinois Press Association annual Excellence in News awards ceremony was held Friday in Springfield. It was part of the IPA's Advertising and Editorial Convention, which was Thursday and Friday in Springfield.
