Gazette picks up 12 state Associated Press awards

PHOTOGRAPHER: Bethany Bump

The Daily Gazette racked up a dozen awards, including four first-place honors and one posthumous honor, in the New York State Associated Press Association awards this year.

The annual awards, announced Thursday, highlighted Gazette staff of all ranks, including reporters, columnists, editors, designers and photographers.

Reporter Steven Cook earned a first-place award in spot news reporting for newspapers with circulation of 20,000 to 45,000 for his reporting on the devastating Hulett Street fire in Schenectady that killed a man and three children and left another child still recovering from burns in the hospital.

Also earning a first-place award was reporter Kathleen Moore for her continuing coverage of Schenectady’s tax foreclosures.

Reporter David Lombardo won first place in blogging for his work covering state and local politics, as well as his many reports on the New York Racing Association, on his Capital Region Scene blog.

Gazette photographer Peter Barber earned a first-place award in the spot news photography category for newspapers with circulation of 45,000 or less for his photo “Offering Support.”

The Gazette’s late city editor, Irv Dean, was posthumously awarded second place for his Dean’s List columns. Entrants in this category submitted a sampling of columns. One of his samplings, “Our story: Love blooms in the Stockade,” was one of the last published before his death June 1.

Former Gazette columnist John McLoughlin nabbed a third-place award in the same category for his musings in McLoughlin: Take 2.

The entire Gazette staff earned a second-place award in depth reporting for its coverage of the recovery efforts following Tropical Storm Irene.

Reporter Karen Bjornland also earned a second-place nod in the arts and entertainment writing category for her story “What Does a Saint Look Like?” She wrote about the various depictions of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, who was canonized last fall and became a saint of the Roman Catholic Church.

Photographer Patrick Dodson received a third-place prize in the video and slideshows category for “Two Local Teens Remembered.” The audio slideshow captured memories, interviews and a candlelight vigil following the tragic deaths of Chris Stewart and Deanna Rivers, two Shenendehowa High School teens who were killed Dec. 1 in a car accident on the Northway.

The Gazette’s editing staff also earned top honors, with copy editor Tom McBride Jr. getting a second-place award for brightest headline for “These are darker times,” and copy editor John Thorpe receiving a second-place award for spot news presentation for the front page of the Gazette’s Dec. 11, 2012, edition, which depicted the homecoming of fallen Marine Lance Cpl. Anthony J. Denier, of Mechanicville.

Editorial Page Editor Art Clayman earned a third-place award for his editorials on Albany corruption.

Winners will be honored at the annual state AP seminar and awards banquet Wednesday, Oct. 2, at the Genesee Grande Hotel in Syracuse.