Sentinel journalists receive 10 awards from Arizona Press Club

TucsonSentinel.com's journalism garnered multiple awards, including several first-place recognitions, from the Arizona Press Club as the winners of the 2020 state reporting contest were announced.

Four journalists from the Sentinel's small independent nonprofit newsroom were tapped as among the best in Arizona by the judges, who reviewed journalism published last year.

Senior reporter Paul Ingram, whose reporting focuses on border/migration issues and local politics, won two first place awards for community photojournalism, for the "picture story" and "news" categories. Ingram was also recognized with second place in the Community Photojournalist of the Year category. His winning work featured photos of the Bighorn Fire raging through the Santa Catalina Mountains, and a protest following the public's learning of the death of Carlos Ingram-Lopez in Tucson police custody.

Jim Kiser won first place for community column/opinion writing, for his "Tucson Opportunities" series last year — which was translated into Spanish by Sentinel IDEA reporter Bennito L. Kelty. Contest judge Charlotte-Anne Lucas of NOWCastSA in Texas said the series "tackled this important problem with respect for readers' intelligence and offered a range of thoughtful and proven solutions."

In that same column writing category, "What the Devil won't tell you" columnist Blake Morlock won second place.

Editor & Publisher Dylan Smith was recognized in third place as judges determined the Arizona Community Journalist of the Year.

Ingram was also recognized for his community immigration reporting, with a third-place award. Smith received awards for community investigative reporting (second place), public safety reporting (third place), and headline writing (third place).

The Arizona Press Club is the state's association for print and online journalists, and each year recognizes the best reporting, photojournalism and design work. See all of the 2020 awards at AzPressClub.org.

Smith is the president of the Press Club's Board of Directors. The awards are independently judged by experienced journalists from outside Arizona, with no influence from any Arizona journalists.

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