NI wins 24 awards in state newspaper contest

The Nogales International won 24 awards from the Arizona Newspapers Association during the ANA’s annualconvention last weekend, with prizes coming in areas ranging from news, investigative and multimedia reporting, to photography, page design and advertising.In all, the NI and its staffers won 10 first-place awards, the Story of the Year prize for non-dailies and second place among papers its size in General Excellence, which recognizes a newspaper’s work in both news and advertising.In the ANA’s Better Newspapers Contest, the NI newsroom collectively won first-place prizes in the categories of Departmental News and Copywriting Excellence; Best Use of Photography; and Community Service/Journalistic Achievement.The NI also won second place in Page Design Excellence, thanks to the work of page designer Priscilla Bolaños, and took home third place in Special Section for the annual high school graduation supplement.In the individual categories for small, non-daily papers, NI newsroom staffers present and past won the following prizes for stories published during the contest period, which ran from May 1, 2018 to April 30, 2019:• Best News Story: First place, “On Election Day, military installs razor wire in downtown Nogales,” by Jonathan Clark. This story also won the Story of the Year prize in the non-daily division.• Best News Story: Second place, “Accused cop-killer’s confession leaves detectives confounded by motive,” by Arielle Zionts.• Best Sustained Coverage or Series: First place, “Asylum-seekers at the border,” with reporting by Kendal Blust, Genesis Lara, Nick Phillips, Clark and Zionts.• Best Sustained Coverage or Series: Second place, “Government 'hardens' Nogales ports and border,” with reporting by Clark, Lara and Phillips.• Investigative Reporting: Second place, “Rape allegation preceded fire chief's downfall,” Zionts.• Best Sports Story: First place, “Nogales' pioneering football player inspires other girls,” Lara.• Enterprise Reporting: Third place, “In Nogales, port backups weigh heavy on a way of life,” Phillips.• Best Column, Analysis or Commentary: First place, “County can take a stand on family separations,” Clark.• Best Multimedia Storytelling: Second place, “Lent brings family culinary tradition of 'capirotada,’” Lara.• Best News Photograph: Third place, “School bus passing razor wire on border fence,” Clark.• Best Sports Photograph: Second place, “Coach gets soaked,’ Clark.• Best Feature Photo Layout or Photo Story: Second place, “Dia de los Muertos,’ Clark.• Best Feature Photo Layout or Photo Story: Third place, “A community grieves,” Clark.NI staffers won the following awards in the ANA’s Excellence in Advertising contest:• Most Effective Use of Paid Small Space: Third place, “Se Busca Musico,” Bolaños.• Best Public Notice Section: First place, NI Public Notices, Bolaños and Carmen Ibarra.• Best Advertising Special Section: First place, “Coloring Contest,” Bolaños.• Best Newspaper Promotion Ad: First place, “News Knows No Borders,” Bolaños.