You never know what you're going to get out of a journalism contest (and it's important to keep in mind that the difference between winning and losing is just one judge's opinion) but I'm proud as can be that Tucson Weekly and its sister papers in the Tucson Local Media empire came home with 16 awards in this year's Arizona Press Competition. (Full disclosure: I'm on the Arizona Press Club board of directors; the contest is judged by top journalists in other states who have no connection to the work or journalists they are judging.)
I just want to give a shoutout to the Tucson Local Media team inside the office here who handle the relentless cycle of putting out our six newspapers, plus various other projects that come our way: managing editor Logan Burtch-Buus, associate editor Jeff Gardner, web editor Tirion Morris and staff reporters Christopher Boan and Kathleen Kunz. This group carries me through each week in ways they'll never know.
In this week's issue: Tucson Salvage columnist Brian Salvage brings us a dispatch from Winkelman; columnist Tom Danehy worries the Wildcats football team does not appear to have a bright future; Tirion Morris takes a break from managing our digital operation to introduce us to local chef and pizza acrobat Scott Volpe, who just claimed the title of World Champion of Pizza Acrobatics for the third time; arts writer Margaret Regan looks at a show exploring Southern Arizonans' resilience, including in the wake of the Jan. 8 shootings at Gabby Giffords' Congress on Your Corner event; movie critic Bob Grimm says Avengers: Endgame is a fitting conclusion to the Marvel movie saga; music contributor Brett Callwood tells us all about the astounding Phoenix Afrobeat Orchestra, which will be performing at Hotel Congress as part of this week's Agave Heritage Festival; and there's plenty more, so start reading all this award-winning journalism, OK?
See you at the next showing of Avengers: Endgame!
Jim Nintzel
Executive Editor
Hear Nintz talk about what's happening in Tucson's entertainment scene Wednesday mornings at 9:30 a.m. during The Frank Show on KLPX, 96.1 FM. Zona Politics with Jim Nintzel airs at 4 p.m. Sunday on KXCI, 91.3 FM.
