Half of the Weekly's 12 awards--all in the category matching up non-daily newspapers with a circulation greater than 10,000--were first-place honors.
Saxon Burns and Jim Nintzel shared first place in the Best News Story category for "Death and Taxes: The Grisly Toll of Illegal Immigration on Pima County" (May 25, 2006). Michael Marizco picked up third place in that same category for "The Corridor of Killing: A Rash of Bloody Violence Is Taking Lives on Both Sides on the Border" (April 29, 2007).
Burns earned second place for Best Sustained Coverage or Series for his continuing coverage of greyhound issues, led by "Dogs Gone" (Nov. 9, 2006).
Tim Vanderpool picked up first place for Best News Feature Story for "Borderline Tragedy: The Invasion Along the Border--and Efforts to Stop That Invasion--Continue Harming the Environment" (May 11, 2006).
Tom Danehy picked up first place for Best Column/Analysis/Commentary for "If You're a True, Thinking Liberal, You Should Oppose a Guest-Worker Program" (Jan. 25, 2007).
In the Best Column, Feature or Criticism category, the Weekly made a clean sweep. Catherine O'Sullivan picked up first place for "Adventures--or Lack Thereof--at a Strip Club on a Midweek Afternoon" (Feb. 8, 2007). James DiGiovanna garnered second for "'Up' With People," his review of the film 49 Up (Oct. 5, 2006). Connie Tuttle won third for "It's True: Death Isn't So Bad, but Dying Can Be Nearly Unbearable" (March 1, 2007).
The Weekly also picked up four awards in newspaper-wide entries: first place in Page Design Excellence and in Editorial Page Excellence; second place in Community Service/Journalistic Achievement (for the Weekly's push to stop the proposed Rosemont Mine); and third place in Departmental News/Copyediting Excellence.
The East Valley Tribune and the Payson Roundup each repeated as the Newspapers of the Year in the daily and weekly categories, respectively.
Greg Bryan of the Arizona Daily Star and Mario Aguilar of Green Valley News and Sun (which, like the Weekly, is owned by Wick Communications) were named Photographers of the Year. Brady McCombs of the Arizona Daily Star and John Dickerson of the Scottsdale Times were named the Journalists of the Year.
The contest was judged by the Nevada Press Association.
