Arizona Capitol Times cleans up at annual newspaper awards

The Arizona Capitol Times won first place for reporting and writing excellence and swept several individual categories in its division at Saturday’s Arizona Newspaper Association Better Newspaper Contest.

In addition to reporting and writing excellence, the Capitol Times snagged first place for special section or magazine, and placed second in four other categories, including general excellence, page design, community service and journalistic achievement, and website.

All told, the Capitol Times won 20 awards.

“The best form of accolade comes from your peers,” Publisher and Editor Luige del Puerto said. “And this is a testament to the journalistic integrity of the Arizona Capitol Times.”

Indeed, the Capitol Times crew cleaned up. Former reporters Arren Kimbel-Sannit and Dillon Rosenblatt swept all three places in best news, while former reporter Julia Shumway joined Rosenblatt in also sweeping the investigative reporting category.

Shumway and Kyra Haas also swept the best online coverage or breaking new category.

Nathan Brown won second place in the category of best sustained coverage or series, and Haas secured second place in best online coverage of breaking news.

The Arizona Capitol Times has won nearly 130 awards from the Arizona Newspaper Association and Arizona Press Club since 2017.

Here’s the full list of winners:

First Place – Reporting & Newswriting Excellence

First Place – Special Section or Magazine

Second Place – General Excellence

Second Place – Page Design

Second Place – Community Service/Journalistic Achievement

Second Place – Newspaper Website

Individual awards:

Best News Story 

First Place – Arren Kimbel-Sannit for “Cook Defenders”

Second Place – Dillon Rosenblatt for “Misinformation plagues vaccine rollout”

Third Place – Arren Kimbel-Sannit for “Campaign conflicts”

Best Sustained Coverage or Series 

Second Place – Nathan Brown for “The Purge”

Third Place – Dillon Rosenblatt for “Ducey for violates campaign finance laws”

Investigative Reporting  

First Place – Julia Shumway for “Ducey sends $400M of CARES money to state agencies”

Second Place – Dillon Rosenblatt for “Unregulated chemicals contaminating water near air base”

Third Place – Dillon Rosenblatt for “Ducey’s office: No conflict for aide with ties to Scottsdale bars”

Best Feature 

First Place – Julia Shumway for “Masks become symbol”

Second Place – Arren Kimbel-Sannit for “From ER to AZ House, GOP candidate a history with Friese”

Enterprise Reporting 

Second Place – Julia Shumway for “Lawmakers assert power grab over state offices”

Best Online Coverage or Breaking News 

First Place – Julia Shumway for “Governor’s budget ‘tantrum’ miffs lawmakers”

Second Place – Kyra Haas for “Reporter forced from Senate audit for photographing ex-lawmaker, indiscernible ballot”

Third Place – Julia Shumway for “Reaching sine die mix of cunning, compromise”