Deseret News fares well in statewide contest

SALT LAKE CITY — Friday marked the annual Utah Headliners Awards for the Society of Professional Journalists, during which several Deseret News reporters were honored for their work.

Bob Bernick, political analyst and longtime reporter for the Deseret News, was honored for his time spent working at the paper with a Giants in Journalism award. Last month, Bernick retired.

Deseret News took home first-place awards in spot news photography, as well as general news photography. Doug Robinson received a first-place award for education news coverage.

Deseret News also took third place for Best Newspaper Coverage in the state, in its over 50,000-circulation category.

Third-place awards went to the paper for 2009 best reporter, awarded to Lois M. Collins, third in spot news, to Pay Reavy, and third in continuing coverage to Laura Hancock. A team of reporters earned honorable mention for a story about municipal garbage collection.

A series of stories, "In sickness or in health," by Carrie Moore, Collins and James Thalman, took second place. Sara Israelson-Hartley took third place in medical/science reporting.

Lee Davidson won third place in military reporting, and Aaron Falk took third in minority issues reporting, as well as for a personality profile piece. Collins also earned honorable mention in the same category.

In sports reporting, Jody Genessy earned an honorable mention.

Photographers at the Desert News dominated both spot news and general coverage categories, while Tom Smart, Stuart Johnson, Scott Winterton, Laura Seitz, Jeff Allred, Kristin Murphy and Mike Terry took home awards. Terry and Allred won awards for videography, and Terry also won honorable mention for the best multimedia installment.

In all, the paper and its staff took home 34 awards.