Free Press wins top AP editors awards
The Detroit Free Press and freep.com were named the top newspaper and the top website in the state at the annual Michigan Associated Press Media Editors newspaper competition today in Lansing.
The Free Press won general excellence and took an additional 10 first-place awards in categories including best enterprise, investigative and public service reporting, as well as best news column, video, sports coverage and writer.
The Free Press won first place in the following categories:
Best Website: freep.com
Best Writer: Columnist John Carlisle, whose work in 2014 included the story of an 82-year-old owner of one of the last mom-and-pop fix-it shops in a Detroit neighborhood; life for residents in the shadow of the Marathon oil refinery, and the story of monks at a Harper Woods monastery.
Best Enterprise Reporting and Best Video: Jim Schaefer and Brian Kaufman, for "Is ice cream man a war criminal?" a look at Mahmoud Bazzi, a former militiaman in Lebanon who later moved to Dearborn. He was accused of war crimes for the torture killings of two Irish soldiers during a United Nations' peacekeeping mission in 1980. Schaefer and Kaufman's reporting took them to Ireland, and Bazzi was later deported from the U.S. and arrested in Lebanon.
Best Investigative Reporting:"The State of Charters in Michigan," a yearlong investigation that found the state's charter schools spend $1 billion per year with little transparency; that charters with the worst educational outcomes were allowed to continue operating, and that charter schools did no better in educating impoverished children than traditional schools. The reporting team consisted of investigative reporter Jennifer Dixon, education reporter Lori Higgins, higher education reporter David Jesse, database analyst Kristi Tanner and senior editor Ritu Sehgal.
Best Sustained Coverage in News: To the Free Press' bankruptcy coverage team for its exclusive stories during Detroit bankruptcy mediation, including revelations that the sale of pieces from the Detroit Institute of Arts was under consideration to help lift the city out of insolvency.
Best News Column: To Mitch Albom for "Kids fight — and the teacher gets tossed?" about a Detroit Pershing High School teacher's controversial firing after breaking up a student fight last year.
Best Public Service: To Free Press health reporter Robin Erb for her special guides to help Michigan residents navigate health care changes brought on by the Affordable Care Act.
Best Sports Coverage: To Free Press sports staff for "Harbaugh hired!" coverage of football coach Jim Harbaugh's improbable departure from the San Francisco 49ers to the University of Michigan.
Best Sustained Coverage in Sports: To Free Press sports staff for "The fall of Jayru Campbell," a one-time top Michigan State University quarterback recruit from Cass Tech whose school and legal troubles scuttled his dream shot.
Other Free Press awards recipients included:
Mitch Albom, 2nd place, Best Writer.
Ryan Garza, 2nd place, Best Multimedia Journalist.
Rochelle Riley, 2nd place, Best News Column for "Maya Angelou obituary."
Eric Seals and Keith Matheny, 2nd place, Best Multimedia Storytelling for "Ice breaker."
Free Press sports staff: 2nd place, Best Sports Coverage for "A 50-year roar: The death of William Clay Ford."
Jeff Seidel, 2nd place, Best Sports Column for "The mystery Yooper and his horse of destiny."
Joe Rexrode, 2nd place, Best Sports Enterprise for "Ageless wonder."
Free Press sports staff, 2nd place, Best Sustained Coverage in Sports for "Wolverines' troubled times."
Gina Damron, 3rd place, Best Investigative Reporting for "Why wasn't he in prison?"
Keith Matheny, 3rd place, Best Sustained Coverage in News for "Radioactive sludge."
Free Press staff, 3rd place, Best Public Service for "Detroit pension vote."
Jim Schaefer and Eric Seals, 3rd place, Best Feature Story for "The flower lady of the Great Lakes."
Jarrad Henderson, 3rd place, Best Sports Photo for "Trophy joy."
Free Press sports staff: 3rd place, Best Sports Coverage for "Coming up Roses!"
Jeff Seidel, 3rd place, Best Sports Enterprise for "Family honors sons."
Jeff Seidel, 3rd place, Best Sustained Coverage in Sports for "Dancing to gold and fame."
Thirty-three daily newspapers submitted 1,270 entries in the contest, which featured news and sports stories, features, editorials, columns, graphics and photos from 2014.
Other Michigan.com properties — Battle Creek Enquirer, Lansing State Journal, Livingston Daily Press & Argus and Port Huron Times Herald — won 21 awards.
Entries were judged by editors from the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch and the Sacramento (Calif.) Bee, Division III; the (Elyria, Ohio) Chronicle-Telegram and Sandusky (Ohio) Register, Division II; the Decatur (Ala.) Daily and Ft. Payne (Ala.) Times-Journal, Division I.
The Associated Press is a not-for-profit news cooperative representing 1,400 newspapers and 5,000 broadcast stations in the U.S. Members of the AP include 48 daily newspapers in Michigan.