COLUMBUS (AP) — The Mount Vernon News received six awards Sunday in the annual Associated Press Society of Ohio newspaper competition.
Kenesha R. Beheler was named Best Videographer in the contest, while Samantha Deem was second and George Breithaupt received honorable mention. The News Web site, coordinated by Webmaster Joshua Morrison, was named best in the state, while Melissa Raines was second in the Best Investigative Reporting category and Mark S. Jordan was third in the Best News Writer category.
Newspapers in Cleveland, Canton, Sandusky, Massillon and Ironton were named the best in the state.
General Excellence awards for 2007 went to The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, The (Canton) Repository, the Sandusky Register, The (Massillon) Independent and The Ironton Tribune.
The Columbus Dispatch won the First Amendment Award for outstanding accomplishment in pursuing freedom of information in obtaining records related to the hiring and discipline of abusive teachers in Ohio public schools.
Mike Curtin, associate publisher emeritus at The Columbus Dispatch, and Mike Philipps, former editor of The Cincinnati Post and The Kentucky Post, earned the APSO Special Recognition Award for exemplary service to print journalism.
Seventy-one daily newspapers submitted 3,215 entries in the contest, which featured news and sports stories, features, editorials, columns, graphics, photos, design and videography from 2007.
Entries were judged by editors from the Ventura County Star, Camarillo, Calif., Division V; the Erie (Pa.) Times-News, Division IV; Potomac News, Woodbridge, Va., Division III; The Monitor, McAllen, Texas, and Valley Morning Star, Harlingen, Texas, Division II; and State Journal, Frankfort, Ky., Division I.
The Associated Press is a not-for-profit news cooperative representing 1,500 newspapers and 5,000 broadcast stations in the United States. Members of AP include 88 daily newspapers in Ohio.
