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IBJ won nine awards, including first-place honors for editorials and coverage of race and diversity issues, Friday night at the Best of Indiana Journalism Awards, hosted by the Indiana Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
IBJ reporter Susan Orr and Managing Editor Greg Weaver each won two awards at the event, which took place at the 502 East Events Center in Carmel. IBJ competes in a category for newspapers with circulation of more than 10,000, news services and digital media.
IBJ Media’s Indiana Lawyer won five awards at the event, while Inside INdiana Business won one.
Orr was part of a team that also included IBJ reporters Mickey Shuey and Taylor Wooten and freelancer Sam Stall that won first place for diversity reporting. The entry included stories about inclusion efforts at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Indiana Landmarks, a program at the Kheprw Institute and Black-owned architecture firm Meticulous Design.
Orr also won second place in the investigative reporting category for a story about a Fishers man who was accused of selling dubious financial products. Using information she found in a bankruptcy filing, Orr tracked down accusations against the man in five other states.
Weaver won both of his awards in the editorial category. He took first place with an editorial calling on Indiana to raise its cigarette tax to try to reduce its smoking rate and improve Hoosiers’ health.
The SPJ judges said the editorial included a “great call to action by author” and “provided strong solutions and provided statistical information to substantiate the findings.”
Weaver won second place for an editorial calling on greater scrutiny and more regulation of pharmacy benefit managers, who operate as middlemen among pharmacies, drugmakers and health insurance plans to negotiate prescription drug prices.
Other IBJ awards:
- Page 1 design, second place, Audrey Pelsor and Sarah Ellis
- Best podcast, second place, IBJ Podcast hosted by Mason King
- Sports column writing, second place, Mike Lopresti
- Coverage of government or politics, third place, Peter Blanchard
- Environmental reporting, third place, former IBJ reporter Leslie Bonilla Muñiz
Indiana Lawyer and Inside INdiana Business won the following awards:
- Criminal justice reporting, first place, Olivia Covington, Indiana Lawyer
- Best newsletter, second place, Indiana Lawyer Daily
- Coverage of government or politics, second place, former Indiana Lawyer reporters Jordan Morey, Marilyn Odendahl and Katie Stancombe
- Education reporting, second place, Odendahl
- Graphics and illustrations, third place, Brad Turner, Indiana Lawyer
- Medical or science reporting, second place, Kylie Veleta, Inside INdiana Business
SPJ gave its story of the year award—one of the organization’s top honors—to an Indianapolis Star series called “Bottom line” by Binghui Huang, Kristine Phillips and Mykal McEldowney. The series looked at the grueling conditions RV workers endured during the pandemic.
The Indianapolis Star’s Dana Hunsinger Benbow was named journalist of the year. Cate Charron of the Indiana Daily Student, which covers Indiana University, was named student journalist of the year.
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