Several staff members also earned awards, including several first place wins.
• Bill Lackey won first place in the best photographer category, as well as first place awards for best news photo and best feature photo. Lackey also won second and third place in the feature photo category.
• Michael Cooper won first place in the best news writer category and first place in the best public service award for his coverage of the overdose epidemic.
READ THE COVERAGE: Progress made against drug overdoses in Clark County but war not over
• Matt Sanctis won first place in the best explanatory reporting category for his reporting on how a plane crash over Champaign County decades ago led to changes in air safety rules.
READ THE COVERAGE: Deadly Champaign County plane crash changed families, safety rules
Sanctis also came in third place in the best business writer category.
• Sanctis and Parker Perry came in second place in the best spot news coverage category for their coverage of the school shooting in West Liberty.
MORE: West Liberty school shooting rocks tight-knit community
• Tom Stafford placed second in the best columnist category.
“The Springfield News-Sun staff works tirelessly to cover our community and dig into the most important stories in Clark and Champaign counties,” Editor Samantha Sommer said. “From outstanding photographs to compelling reporting on the drug overdose crisis, the News-Sun tells our readers what’s really going on.”
More than 60 daily newspapers in Ohio submitted more than 1,900 entries in the contest, which included news and sports stories, features, photos and more from 2017.
WHIO-TV Channel 7 and WHIO Radio also won several awards Saturday from the Ohio Associated Press Media Editors during its annual awards ceremony in Columbus.
WHIO-TV Channel 7 was honored in Division II, which includes stations licensed outside of Cleveland Columbus or Cincinnati.
RELATED: Springfield News-Sun receives 8 Ohio Associated Press awards
• WHIO-TV came in first place for general excellence.
• Alex King came in second place in the best producer category.
• James Brown and Byron Stirsman came in first place for best feature reporting for Making a Difference project.
• Stirsman came in first place in the best photographer category.
• WHIO also came in first place in the best continuing coverage category for the project Wrong Way Driver.
• Caryn Golden and Stirsman came in second place in the enterprise reporting category for the Refusal to Prosecute project.
• Becky Grimes and Stirsman came in first place in best investigative reporting category for Patient Brokering project. They also came in second place for Home Ownership with a Catch.
• Quincy Wallace and Kristi Derocher won first place for best newscast.
• McCall Vrydaghs won first place for best weathercast.
• WHIO TV won first place for best digital presence.
• WHIO Radio won second place for best spot news coverage
• WHIO Radio came in first place for best digital presence.
About the Author