Shaw Media wins 17 APME, 76 IPA awards for 2021

Shaw Media won 17 Associated Press Media Editors Awards, including an overall first place in the Division I News Sweepstakes for the Northwest Herald’s series “Flooding on the Fox,” and 76 Illinois Press Association Awards. The awards were presented this week in Springfield to outstanding news and sports stories, features, editorials, columns and photos from 2021.

“Flooding on the Fox” by Emily Coleman, Sam Lounsberry and Cassie Buchman, took first place in Enterprise Coverage. The (DeKalb) Daily Chronicle took second place in Enterprise Coverage with “Landlord transfer looms as City of DeKalb targets Hunter Properties buildings” by Katie Finlon and Kelsey Rettke.

The Dixon Telegraph earned second place in Public Service with “DCFS probed home five times before 7-year-old’s death” by Kathleen Schultz.

The Northwest Herald earned another first place in General News with “Man convicted in 1997 murder of Elgin toddler calls death an accident” by Katie Smith. The Dixon Telegraph was second in General News with “A Slap In The Face” by Rachel Rodgers and Kathleen Schultz, while the Daily Chronicle came third with “Clerk drama returns with newly elected official,” by Katie Finlon and Kelsey Rettke.

The La Salle NewsTribune’s Tom Collins finished first in the Feature category with “Fiesta!” while in Business Reporting, the Northwest Herald’s Kelli Duncan took first place with ”Domino’s Pizza in Cary allegedly pressured staff to work after COVID-19 exposure, documents show,” the Daily Chronicle’s Katie Finlon and Kelsey Rettke took second with “Amazon paid $6.3M for nearly 59 acres of land in DeKalb” and the Dixon Telegraph staff was awarded third place with “Where are all the workers?”

The Dixon Telegraph won first place in Portrait/Personality with “Water legend” by Alex T. Paschal, the Daily Chronicle was second with “Honoring veterans” by Mark Busch and the Northwest Herald’s Matthew Apgar was third with “Love birds.”

The Daily Chronicle took second place in Sports Photo with Mark Busch’s “Sportsmanship at its best” and the Dixon Telegraph was third with “Moon shot” from Alex T. Paschal.

Mark Baldwin of the Northwest Herald was awarded first place in Editorial Writing.

In addition to these awards from the APME, Shaw Media newspapers also collected 73 awards from the IPA. Kane County Chronicle reporter Brenda Schory was named IPA Reporter of the Year.

In the IPA’s overall sweepstakes awards, the Daily Chronicle was awarded second place in Division D. Meanwhile, the Kane County Chronicle was awarded honorable mention in Division C and (Downers Grove) Suburban Life was awarded third place in Division B.

The other IPA awards included:

Non-Daily Newspapers

Division A

Oregon Republican Reporter

First place: Feature Writing, Alexa Zoellner, “Mistreated horse gets new life thanks to teenager”

Third place: Feature Writing-Personality Profile, Earleen Hinton, “Mom gets a muddy surprise from her son”

Third place: Spot News Photo, Earleen Hinton, “Fox jumps at squirrel”

Third place: Story/Series-Agricultural Story, Earleen Hinton, “Woman grows giant pumpkins”

Bureau County Republican

First place: Sports Column, Kevin Hieronymus, “Hieronymus’ Hypothesis”

Third place: Sports Section, Kevin Hieronymus

Third place: Sports Coverage, Kevin Hieronymus, Sports coverage in the pandemic

Division B

Downers Grove Suburban Life

First place: General News Photo, Sandy Bressner, “Over the rainbow”

First place: Sports Photo, Mark Black, “Catcher celebration”

First place: Online Photo Series/Gallery, Sandy Bressner, “Support for ousted coach”

Second place: Sports Photo, Sandy Bressner, “Happy swimmer”

Fourth place: Spot News Photo, Sandy Bressner, “Woodridge tornado”

Kendall County Record and Ledger-Sentinel

First place: News Reporting-Single Story, Mark Foster, “I must remain true to my values”

First place: Localized National Story, Shea Lazansky and John Etheredge, “A son remembered” and ”It was everywhere”

Fourth place: Business/Economic Reporting, Mark Foster, “Taking applications: Business in Kendall County struggle to find workers” and “Being valued”

Fourth place: Sports Feature, Joshua Welge

Fourth place: News Reporting-Single Story, Josh Welge and John Etheredge, “Coping with loss: Oswego East team pays tribute to fallen member before game”

Division C

Kane County Chronicle

First place: General News Photo, Sandy Bressner, “Lakeside memorial”

First place: Feature Photo, Sandy Bressner, “My fair goat”

First place: Portrait/Personality, Sandy Bressner, “Justice for Ludwig”

Second place: Government Beat Reporting, Brenda Schory, Local government reporting in Kane County, Illinois

Third place: News Reporting, Brenda Schory, “Kane County spent $58,211 on DeVry education for one employee”

Third place: Freedom of Information Award, Brenda Schory, “Kane IT boss spent $58,211 in tuition payments for an employee in his department”

Third place: Sports Photo/Personality: Sandy Bressner, “Volleyball player of the year”

Third place: Online Photo Series/Gallery, Sandy Bressner, “Blackberry Polo Club”

Fourth place: Business/Economic Reporting, Eric Schelkopf, “Some businesses finding silver lining in pandemic”

Fourth place: Online Photo Series/Gallery, Sandy Bressner, “In Honor of Tyler”

The MidWeek

First place: Obituary Tribute, Katrina J.E. Milton, “Tess lit up the room wherever she went”

Second place: Feature Writing, Katrina J.E. Milton, “Somonauk student’s book shares 103-year-old veteran’s tale”

Second place: Portrait/Personality Photo, Katrina J.E. Milton, “Master farmer”

Third place, Feature Photo, Katrina J.E. Milton, “Yes to the dress”

Fourth place: Feature Photo, Katrina J.E. Milton, “Mailman retiring”

Fourth place: Portrait/Personality Photo, Katrina J.E. Milton, “Open Door Coffee”

Daily Newspapers

Division D

(DeKalb) Daily Chronicle

First place: Photo series, Mark Busch, “DeKalb hosts Pride Day”

First place: Sports Photo/Portrait/Personality, Mark Busch, “Frustration overload”

Second place (all divisions): Public Notice Journalism Award, Katie Finlon and Kelsey Rettke, “DeKalb City Clerk drama returns with newly elected official”

Second place: Localized National Story, Katie Finlon, “History repeating itself: Local veterans, residents reflect on events in Afghanistan”

Second place: Freedom of Information Award, Katie Finlon and Kelsey Rettke, “Kristopher Kramer, 33, shot fatally by DeKalb police had history of cop encounters”

Second place: Photo series, Mark Busch, “Waterman SummerFest”

Second place: Special Sections, Eddie Carifio, “State championship preview section”

Second place: Sports Section, editor Eddie Carifio

Third place: Distinguished Coverage of Diversity, Katrina J.E. Milton, “DeKalb, and other untold stories”

Third place: Photo Series, Mark Busch, “Tornadoes damage property in DeKalb County”

Third place: Portrait/Personality Photo, Mark Busch, “Honoring veterans”

Third place: Sports Photo, Mark Busch, “Celebrating victory”

Third place: Sports Photo/Portrait/Personality, Mark Busch, ”Winning smile”

Fourth place: Community Service, Kelsey Rettke, “Omicron in DeKalb County: A guide to what you need to know”

Fourth place: Government Beat Reporting, Katie Finlon and Kelsey Rettke, “Landlord transfer looms as City of DeKalb targets Hunter Properties buildings”

Fourth place: Obituary Tribute, Katie Finlon and Katrina J.E. Milton, “Remembering a former DeKalb Mayor: Bessie Chronopoulos dies”

Fourth place: Feature Writing-Personality Profile, Katie Finlon, “Meet Chubbs, a Genoa barn cat who found fame during pandemic”

Fourth place: General News Photos, Mark Busch, “Churches re-open after loosening of COVID-19 restrictions”

Fourth place: Story/Series-Agricultural Story, Katie Finlon and Kelsey Rettke, “Solar farms stir up controversy in DeKalb County”

Fourth place: Robert M. Cole Award for Best School Board Coverage, Katrina J.E. Milton and Kelsey Rettke, “COVID-19 clashes in DeKalb County schools: Pandemic era problems”

Sauk Valley Media

First place: Feature Writing, Kathleen A. Schultz, “Man prevents tragedy on bridge”

Second place: Portrait/Personality Photo, Alex T. Paschal, “Rescued”

Fourth place: Sports Photo, Alex T. Paschal, “Super win”

The Herald-News, Joliet

First place: Community Service, Staff, Joliet Focus

Second place: News Reporting-Series, Felix Sarver, Criminal investigation of Joliet Mayor Bob O’Dekirk

Third place: Feature Writing-Personality Profile, Denise M. Baran-Unland, “An Extraordinary Life”

Fourth place: Sports Photo-Portrait/Personality, Gary Middendorf

The Times, Ottawa

First place: Feature Photo, Tom Sistak, “Cow comfort”

NewsTribune, La Salle

First place: Sports Photo, Scott Anderson, “Safe at Second”

Second place: Feature Writing, Tom Collins, “Fiesta!”

Second place: Sports Photo-Portrait/Personality, Scott Anderson, “Girls Basketball Player of the Year”

Third place: Feature Photo, Scott Anderson, “TBM Avengers”

Division E

Northwest Herald

First Place: Government Beat Reporting, Sam Lounsberry, Nunda Township coverage

First place: Sports Photo, Matthew Apgar, “Sectional loss”

Second place: Feature Photo, Matthew Apgar, “Tug of war”

Second place: Sports Photo, Matthew Apgar, “Balance ball”

Third place: Local Editorial, Staff

Third place: Sports Photo, Matthew Apgar, “Touchdown celebration”

Third place: Sports Feature, Michal Dwojak, “Loyola’s James Kyle just wants a chance”

Fourth place: Feature Photo, Matthew Apgar, “Pumpkin patch”

Fourth place: Editorial Page, Dennis Anderson