Maryland Matters Wins 8 Awards from Press Association
Maryland Matters won eight awards at the Maryland-Delaware-District of Columbia Press Association’s awards luncheon in Annapolis Friday, including best website in our division.
In our first year of eligibility for the MDDC Press Association’s prizes, we won the following:
First prize in the state government reporting category went to William F. Zorzi, for his March 30, 2018 article headlined, “School Construction Fight Boils Over.”
The article outlined the legislature’s attempts to take key school construction decisions away from the Board of Public Works.
Our Bruce DePuyt won second place in the same category for his April 7, 2018 article, “Delegate Shares Personal Story Before House Vote to Ban Conversion Therapy for Minors.”
That article outlined the story then-Del. Meagan C. Simonaire (R-Anne Arundel) told her colleagues about how her parents wanted her to undergo conversion therapy to deal with same-sex attraction.
Frank A. DeFilippo took first prize in the category “Local Column: Feature or Humor,” for his Nov. 5, 2018 pre-election column, “When the Circus Came to Town” – a celebration of the hoopla surrounding Election Day in years gone by.
Zorzi took second place in the same category for his Jan. 21, 2018 piece, “Thirty Years On,” a reflection on returning to statehouse reporting 30 years after he started.
Josh Kurtz took first place in the category “Feature Story: Profile,” for “Meet the One Person in Maryland With the Temerity to Take on Peter Franchot,” an October 16, 2018 article about the longshot Republican challenger to the popular state comptroller.
In the “Feature Story: Non-profile” category, Zorzi took second place for his July 19, 2018 piece about the annual J. Millard Tawes Clam Bake and Crab Feast, “Tawes: Crabs, Camaraderie, Campaigning. See, Some Things Never Change.”
Kurtz also won first place in the headlining writing category, for Aug. 28, 2018’s “Lies, Damned Lies and (Gubernatorial Fundraising) Statistics,” which accompanied an article on – you guessed it – gubernatorial fundraising.
And Maryland Matters was voted best website in our division. “Visually interesting home page with lots of news and photos,” one judge wrote. “Impressive site, especially for an independent, small organization,” wrote another. “Very strong reporting,” said a third.
News organizations competed in eight categories, depending on their size and medium. We competed in Division O, for online-only publications.
Overall, the press association gave out dozens of awards in an array of categories and divisions, from news and opinion writing to photos to page and ad design to video storytelling and blogging.
This was the first press association awards ceremony since the shooting of five staffers at The Capital/Gazette newspapers in Annapolis last June. The newspaper won multiple awards for its coverage of those tragic events.
Click here for a full list of winners.
Maryland Matters is a trusted nonprofit and nonpartisan news site. Learn more about us here.
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