Tribune-Star wins nine Society of Professional Journalism awards
Apr. 29—The Tribune-Star staff recently won nine awards in the 2023 Society of Professional Journalists' Best in Indiana Journalism Contest.
Reporter Sue Loughlin was honored with a first-place award for her coverage of the March 31, 2023, tornado that ripped through Sullivan, killing three people and causing extensive property damage on the city's south side.
Said the judges, "The tornado story painted a vivid picture in words and pictures about this devastating event. The story was in-depth and very well-written. It captured the emotion and the scene."
From that same tornado coverage, Tribune-Star photographer Joe Garza won a second-place award for his photo "tornado hug," which showed John Pirtle hugging his grandson, Jacob Slavens, as they talked about the night of the tornado.
Loughlin also took a second-place award for her coverage of education issues.
The Trib-Star claimed first- and second-place in the column-writing category, with Mark Bennett claiming first-place honors. The judges wrote Bennett's "strong writing and heartfelt subjects win this category."
News and digital editor Alicia Morgan took second-place in column writing.
Bennett also claimed a second-place for editorial writing for "Gross misstep by VCSC in handling racial episode," which was about the school district dismissing 10 task force members for wanting to examine the full report of an investigation into incidents at West Vigo High School. The category for that award was all publications.
Bennett also claimed a first-place award for sports column writing for a collection of his pieces.
Morgan also was a multiple-award recipient, receiving a first-place award for Page 1 Design. That category covered all newspapers.
Morgan and copy editor/designer Marissa Schmitter also claimed third-place honors for a Terre Haute Living magazine cover. This was in the all-magazines category.
Unless otherwise noted, awards were for publications with circulation of less than 10,000.
