The Akron Beacon Journal/BeaconJournal.com won multiple first-place awards in Ohio’s Best Journalism Contest 2024, sponsored by the Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists.
The newsroom’s “Akron in the Crossfire” series, which covers gun violence in the city, took first place for best public service/social issues coverage in the under 60,000 circulation category.
The jury described the series as a “heartbreaking but well-written report of a social tragedy”.
Staff members who contributed to the series included reporters Doug Livingston, Anthony Thompson, Jennifer Pignolet, Betty Lin-Fisher and Amanda Garrett, and photojournalists Phil Masturzo, Mike Cardew and Jeff Lange.
Pignolet also won first place in the “Best Coverage of Children/Education Issues” category.
“I love that the articles always start with a student or parent doing something,” the judges wrote. “The author gives the reader a very cool perspective and uses descriptions that make me feel like I’m sitting in the back of the classroom or a fly on the wall. Pretty inspired writing.”
Lin-Fisher, who currently works as a consumer reporter for USA TODAY, won first place in the Best Business/Consumer Reporting category for stories she wrote as a Beacon Journal reporter in 2023.
The jury said that Lin-Fisher “provides good reporting on current issues as a consumer protection organization while giving a voice to those who are directly affected by them.”
Lin-Fisher also won first place for best science/medical/health coverage.
“These stories were incredibly touching and received a wide response,” wrote the judges. “I particularly liked the one about the hospice. Well done.”
“Chaos in Ohio’s youth prisons,” a special report from the editorial staffs of The Cincinnati Enquirer, Columbus Dispatch, Akron Beacon Journal, The Canton Repository and the Ohio bureau of the USA TODAY Network, won first place for best special section and second place for best investigative journalism in the major newspapers category.
