The Hawaii Tribune-Herald won numerous awards last week for its coverage of Tropical Storm Iselle and the June 27 lava flow.
The awards for outstanding journalism were announced Friday at the 3oth annual Pa‘i Awards in Honolulu.
The Hawaii Publishers Association presented the awards for work published in 2014. The competition was open to news media outlets statewide, including newspapers, magazines and websites.
Mainland journalists judged the entries to ensure impartiality.
The Tribune-Herald swept the Editorial Series category for its multipart coverage of Iselle and the lava flow, winning first place and second place, respectively.
Regarding the newspaper’s coverage of the lava flow, the judges said: “The pace of the ongoing story allowed the journalists to conceive many coverage angles, and they took advantage of the opportunity, all the while staying on top of news developments in print and online. Lots of useful information, anticipating what readers wanted to know. … Compliments, too, for the photography and editing.”
The judges described the newspaper’s coverage of Iselle as “fine journalism, the kind of service a community deserves when big news happens.”
“Good fast-twitch reporting, followed by interesting explainers of the news about the science of storm paths and the vulnerability of albizia trees,” the judges said. “Journalists stayed on the story as they tracked it through elections, schools, business and other aspects of readers’ lives.”
The series were written by staff writers Tom Callis, Colin Stewart and John Burnett, and photographed by Hollyn Johnson.
“I am so proud of the talented news team we have at the Tribune-Herald,” said David Bock, editor and publisher. “These natural disasters were large, impactful events in the Puna community, and it was essential that we made every story and image count.”
The newspaper also won multiple awards for its photos and videos of the disasters, taking first and second place in the Online Video and Spot News Photography (Newsprint) categories, and second place in the Spot News Photography (Newsprint) category. All of the work was by Johnson.
Other awards garnered by the Tribune-Herald included:
• Second place, Special Section Excellence, for “Celebrate Hula,” the Tribune-Herald’s annual guide to the Merrie Monarch Festival.
• First place, Excellence in Cover Design (Newsprint).
• First place, Excellence in Design (Newsprint), for “Under the Surf,” by Nathan Christophel
• Second place, Excellence in Design (Newsprint), for “Celebrate Hula.”
• First place, Feature Photography (Newsprint), for “Small steps toward Mars,” by Johnson.
• Second place, Spot News Reporting, for Callis’ coverage of the protests that disrupted the Thirty Meter Telescope groundbreaking.
