Arizona Daily Star journalists received prestigious awards announced Thursday by the Arizona Press Club:
Amy Silverman was named Virg Hill Arizona Journalist of the Year for the Star/ProPublica project “State of Denial.” Silverman also won first place in public service journalism for the article “She needs a device to communicate. Arizona kept it from her for 18 months.”
Carol Ann Alaimo won the Don Bolles Award for investigative reporting for “New pet store at Marana mall under investigation.”
Mamta Popat took both first and second places for news photojournalism, as well as first place for photojournalism feature and third place for picture story.
Kelly Presnell placed second in the top photography category, Arizona Photojournalist of the Year, for a portfolio. Presnell also won second place for picture story, second place for pictorial and third place for photojournalism feature.
Bruce Pascoe won first place in sports beat reporting for his coverage of the University of Arizona men’s basketball team.
Liliana López Ruelas took first place in Spanish-language commentary/analysis, as well as third in Spanish-language news reporting.
Emily Bregel placed first in Spanish-language news reporting for pandemic coverage.
Tim Steller received second place in immigration reporting.
Patty Machelor won second place in local government reporting, as well as third place in public service journalism.
Henry Brean won three second-place awards, in science writing, human-interest writing and short-form feature writing.
Caitlin Schmidt won second place in sports investigative reporting, as well as both second and third places in sports feature reporting.
Second place in Spanish-language news reporting went to Stephanie Casanova, Justin Sayers and Alex Devoid.
Tony Davis placed third for the Nina Mason Pulliam Environmental Journalism Award, and also won third place in breaking news.
Jasmine Demers received third place in health reporting.
Veronica M. Cruz won third place in food and beverage reporting.