By Jamar Younger
Cronkite students won four professional awards, including first place in two Spanish-language categories, and 13 student awards in the 2019 Arizona Press Club contest.
Students from Cronkite Noticias took first place in both the Spanish-language news reporting and Spanish-language feature reporting categories, while Cronkite News students took second place in statewide immigration reporting. Cronkite News students also finished in second and third place in statewide health reporting.
In the student contest, students representing Cronkite News, Carnegie-Knight News21 and The State Press took the top three positions in the student investigative reporting, student news reporting, student features reporting and student sports reporting categories.
The award-winning stories covered the U.S.-Mexico border and immigration issues, closing the language gap in baseball and the breaking news story on the head of the McCain Institute stepping down as the U.S. special envoy for Ukraine.
“I’m so proud of our Cronkite News students,” said Cronkite News Executive Editor Christina Leonard. “We had an incredible showing at the Arizona Press Club awards, and I’m thrilled to see our students’ hard work recognized in this way. It’s fantastic to see stories from news, sports and Cronkite Noticias, our Spanish-language program, highlighted. Hats off to all our winners.”
The Arizona Press Club is a nonprofit organization of professional reporters, editors, photographers and designers from publications across the state. Its goal is to promote excellence in journalism through the annual contest, training seminars, scholarships and networking events.
Here is the complete list of Cronkite’s Arizona Press Club winners:
Spanish-language news reporting
First place: Mia Armstrong, Cronkite Noticias
“Activistas en la frontera dicen que su trabajo no es delito”
Spanish-language feature reporting
First place: Paulina Verbera, Cronkite Noticias
“Acompañantes forjan lazos de confianza y apoyo con niños migrantes”
Second place: Sam Leal, Cronkite Noticias
“Del barrio al mundo: Colectivos mantienen viva la cultura lowrider”
Third place: Mia Armstrong, Cronkite Noticias
“Ciudades fronterizas unidas en la búsqueda de oportunidades económicas”
Statewide immigration reporting
Second place: Nicole Ludden, Julian Hernandez, Meg Potter and Erica Figueroa, Cronkite News
“Death of a dream: Two responses to migrant who go missing in the desert”
Statewide health reporting
Second place: Kyley Warren and Delia Johnson, Cronkite News
“Native women join together to confront high rates of maternal mortality”
Third place: Sabine Galvis, Anikka Abbott and Megan Marples, Cronkite News
“Improving the health of ‘invisible’ farmworkers is a community effort in Willcox”
In addition: a Cronkite faculty member also won an award:
Community public safety reporting
Terry Greene Sterling, writer-in-residence at the Cronkite School, won first place in the community public safety reporting category for a story she wrote for the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting:
Sick and Alone: Mental illness in rural Arizona jails
Student investigative reporting
First place: Chloe Jones, Mia Armstrong, Jonah Hrkal and Austin Westfall, Cronkite News
“A different border crisis”
Second place (tie): Yael Grauer, Kailey Broussard and Harrison Mantas, Carnegie-Knight News21
“FEMA still struggles with pre-disaster planning”
Veronica Graff, Cronkite News
“Public health vs. parent choice: The vaccination debate in Arizona”
Student news reporting
First place: Andrew Howard, The State Press
“McCain Institute head Kurt Volker steps down as U.S. diplomat”
Second place: Kelsey Mo, Cronkite News
“Historical trauma: Native communities grapple with missing and murdered women”
Third place: Lurissa Carbajal, Cronkite News
“A long road: Opioid addicted rural residents”
Student features reporting
First place: Madeline Ackley, Cronkite News
“Loosely knit organizations along U.S.-Mexico border support deported vets”
Second place: Kalle Benallie, Cronkite News
“Asylum granted: LGBTQ Guatemalan couple begin a new life in Phoenix”
Third place: Chase Hunter B., The State Press
“Rashad Shabazz’s Chicago”
Student sports reporting
First place: Alex Simon, Cronkite News
“Bridging baseball’s language gap”
Second place: Jack Harris, Cronkite News
“Apple of his eye: Children inspire visually impaired runner after lifetime of heartache”
Third place: Tyler Dunn, Cronkite News
“Chaotic, beautiful thing: The story behind Party Hard Wrestling”