Cape Gazette journalists bring home 14 MDDC awards
Six Cape Gazette journalists won 14 awards in the Maryland, Delaware, D.C. Press Association 2012 Editorial Contest. The newspaper finished second in overall awards behind the Howard County Times in the non-dailies 10,000 to 20,000 circulation division.
Ron MacArthur took Best of Show honors – meaning his work was rated the best of all circulation divisions – and first-place honors for the multi-media feature “Armed for a Good Cause,” a story about the newly formed female arm wrestling league.
MacArthur also won: First place in the feature story profile category for a story about a former death-row inmate who was exonerated through DNA testing; first place for environmental reporting for a story on an environmental initiative taking place along Delaware's Bayshore; second place for a feature story, non-profile, for a story on the Jusst Sooup Ranch Ministry; and second place for an online blog about the U.S. Postal Service's failure to place Christmas on its December calendar.
MacArthur, Nick Roth and Dennis Forney won first place honors for a series of photographs on the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and MacArthur and Henry Evans took first place in the general news category for a story and photographs about the arrival of the USS Missouri gun barrel.
MacArthur, Roth and Dan Cook took top honors for a photo gallery from the Sea Witch Festival in Rehoboth Beach. Cook also finished second in the category for his photos of the Cape Henlopen High School field hockey team winning its second straight state title.
Melissa Steele took top honors for investigative reporting for a story she wrote about convicted felons who collect state pensions and she was second in the public service category for a story about Beebe Medical Center's doors that failed to open properly.
Roth's story about Milton filmmaker Gary Merz's documentary on a Nazi-era hero took second place honors in arts and entertainment reporting.
Rachel Swick Mavity was second in environmental reporting for a story on the future of underground irrigation.
