Larson Newspapers, which publishes the Sedona Red Rock News, The Camp Verde Journal and the Cottonwood Journal Extra, walked away with 15 awards at the Arizona Newspapers Association’s Better Newspapers Contest ceremony, which took place on Thursday, Aug. 31.
The award ceremony, which was hosted live online, gave out awards to the top newspapers in Arizona as determined by the New Mexico Press Association, while we Arizona journalists in turn judged the New Mexico Press Association contest for that state’s newspapers.
Some 42 newspapers in Arizona entered the Better Newspapers Contest and submitted a total of 966 entries.
In the general category, the JOURNAL took first place in Page Design Excellence, meaning judges appreciate how we build our pages for our readers, both the front page and inside pages, and how we place our photos, stories, columns, press releases and other elements to make pages appealing to our readers.
The JOURNAL also took second place in Editorial Page Excellence, which is due both to how we present our Opinion Page and, certainly in no small part, to the fact we have a dedicated editorial cartoonist, Rob Pudim, who draws cartoons based on our stories, rather than running syndicated national cartoons on non-local topics.
The JOURNAL also won Best Use of Photography, which is not only based on the photos our staff shoots, but also on how we lay them out on a page for readers.
The NEWS’ Sedona History special section and both of our biannual magazines, the Lifestyles of Sedona fall 2022 and spring 2023 editions, earned us third place for best special sections.
We also took third place in the Best Coverage of Breaking News category for our photos and videos of a flooded Oak Creek flowing through Sedona on March 22, when we were hit by a massive rainstorm coupled with snowmelt from the high country.
Individually, photojournalist David Jolkovski took second place in Best Feature Photograph for “Sun and Rainbow,” a photo of a double rainbow over Gibraltar Rock, contrasted against dark thunderclouds that made the rainbows pop off the page.
Jolkovski also won third place in Best News Photograph for his photo “Zzyzx Dennis, first day of kindergarten,” showing the crying 5-year-old after his mom dropped him off for his first day at West Sedona School.
Photojournalist Daulton Venglar won four awards, taking first and third place in Best Sports Photograph. First place was for rodeo photos in “Friday Night Jackpot o’ Gold” and third place was for “Cowboys host home wrestling meet.”
He won second place in Best Feature Photograph for a “Día de los Muertos” photo package about a performance at the Phillip England Center for the Performing Arts and third place in Best News Photograph for “Yavapai-Apache Nation food program faces uncertain future.”
Venglar consistently outperforms his colleagues across Arizona, winning more awards than any other photojournalist in the state, and our readers are lucky to have him showcasing his skill behind the lens.
Jolkovski, Venglar and reporter Carol Kahn were honored with third place for Best Podcast for our After Press podcast, during which we interviewed Sedona mayoral candidates Samaire Armstrong and Scott Jablow last October prior to the November 2022 election.
Kahn’s questions, Jolkovski and Venglar’s videography and General Manager Kyle Larson’s video editing should all be commended for presenting this choice to our voters.
We are planning another After Press interview and conversation later this year with Sedona Deputy City Manager Andy Dickey and Sedona City Manager Karen Osburne to discuss Sedona’s traffic.
I happened to win the second-place award in Best News Photograph for “Seven Canyons Catch the Setting Sun,” capturing a snow-covered Sedona in February. In deference to my professional photojournalists, as an amateur only shooting on my smartphone, I was merely lucky and benefited from the beauty of the Sedona landscape, which is what really won the award, not me.
I did win first place and second place in Best Column or Commentary for two editorials. My first-place award was for “Silencing others’ speech is an illiberal attack on republic,” celebrating the right to free speech regardless of content that is protected by the First Amendment. I argued that “bad” speech and “hate” speech should not be banned, but instead drowned out by better speech.
My editorial “The other side’s fringe beliefs are destroying America” took second place. I invite you to re-read it rather than spoiling the surprise twist.
As I recently celebrated my 10th anniversary as your managing editor, I was humbled to know that other journalists enjoyed what we offer you, our loyal readers. We would have no newspaper to speak of and no awards to submit for if not for your loyal readership. We thank you for supporting our newspapers and promise to bring you more award-winning content for years to come.
