The Hawaii Tribune-Herald earned more accolades last week for its coverage of the June 27 lava flow and Tropical Storm Iselle.
The Hawaii Tribune-Herald earned more accolades last week for its coverage of the June 27 lava flow and Tropical Storm Iselle.
The newspaper picked up 12 awards from the Society of Professional Journalists Hawaii Chapter on Friday for outstanding journalism covering a wide range of subjects. The awards covered work published in 2014, and submissions were considered from news media outlets statewide, including newspapers, magazines, websites, television and radio.
To ensure fair evaluation, judges from the Kansas City Press Club and the Connecticut Chapter of SPJ assessed all the entries and selected the winners.
The Tribune-Herald’s copy desk staff, including Nathan Christophel and Ryan McCrossin, swept the News Page Design category, earning first place for the layout of the Aug. 10 front page depicting the after effects of Iselle. The copy editors also took the two finalist prizes for front page design for issues in October and November covering the June 27 lava flow.
Christophel also earned a first-place award in Feature Page Design for a layout in the April 18 edition that included coverage of a Kilauea documentary premiere at the Palace Theater.
Photographer Hollyn Johnson won a finalist award in the Sports Photography/Videography category for her image “Airborne Attack.”
Reporter John Burnett earned a first-place win in the General News/Enterprise Reporting category for his update on the case of “Peter Boy” Kema, an abused 6-year-old who went missing in 1997 and was presumed murdered. Judges called the story “a solid piece of work.”
Meanwhile, reporter Colin M. Stewart was named a finalist in the same category for a report on reactions to albizia trees following the damage they wrought during Iselle.
Stewart also was named a finalist in the Health Reporting category for a story about prescription drug addiction, while Stewart and reporter Tom Callis shared a finalist credit for Spot News Reporting about the destruction of the first building to fall victim to the June 27 lava flow.
Callis also earned a finalist award in the Feature Writing/Short Form category for his coverage of the impacts of the lava flow on the people of Pahoa.
The staff as a whole took both finalist awards in the Public Service Reporting category for coverage of the lava flow and tropical storm. The Public Service award is among the most prestigious offered by SPJ.
“Our news team is humbled by these honors,” editor and publisher David Bock said. “I am proud of the tremendous work our reporters, editors and photographer did on these important stories.”
The Tribune-Herald, which is owned by Oahu Publications Inc., also won 14 awards in May from the Hawaii Publishers Association.
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.