Morning News wins 35 awards

The Utah Headliners Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists sent Deseret Morning News staffers home with 35 awards — including one top all-media recognition and eight first-place newspaper honors — during the chapter's banquet Friday night.

Publishers of Salt Lake City's two largest newspapers also joined in accepting the Clifford P. Cheney Service to Journalism Award on behalf of the Utah Media Coalition. John Hughes of the Deseret Morning News and Nancy Conway of the Salt Lake Tribune shared in receipt of the award.

Deseret Morning News awards were spread among the paper's reporters, photographers, editors, headline writers and artists, and employees swept 1-2-3 in three categories: Series, Feature Photography and Graphics.

In the Series category, Lucinda Dillon Kinkead, Dennis Romboy, Deborah Bulkeley, Jesse Hyde and Lee Davidson won first place for a series about undocumented immigrants titled "Life in the Shadows." Dillon Kinkead, Romboy and Elaine Jarvik took second place for "Refugees Reborn" about refugees making a life in Utah. Third place was a tie between Davidson for "Trapped for Cash" and Jarvik and Lois M. Collins for "Patients in the Dark" and "Physician, Heal Thyself." Davidson also took home an honorable mention for "Siren Song: Gambling's Allure to Utahns."

In their comments, judges said, "A standing ovation is owed to the special reports/investigative team at the Deseret Morning News. ... These reporters clearly worked their tails off in 2005, compiling a body of work so compelling it was nearly impossible to rank them."

Morning News photographer Tyler Sipe won best feature photography, while Jason Olson took second and Jeff Allred took third.

Art director Robert Noyce led the newspaper's artists in a sweep of the graphics category with "A Patriot of the Revolution." John Clark took second and third with "Bank on It" and "Do Your Homework: Strategies to Help You Cut Down on Energy Bills." Noyce also took an honorable mention for "2005 Utah Deer Hunt."

Davidson also won the all-media Special Category/Roy B. Gibson Freedom of Information Award for his use of the Freedom of Information Act and GRAMA to ferret information out of the federal and state bureaucracies.

Other first-place awards went to Davidson in non-deadline reporting for "Look Before You Leap," a story about the hazards in public swimming pools and "New Details Emerge on Majerus-era Violations"; art reviewer Dave Gagon for "What's Lost, What's Found"; editorial page editor Jay Evensen for "Put a Lid on RDAs"; and Lois M. Collins for her commentary, "What's Happened to Basic Civics Lessons in Schools?"