Local journalists who produce the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator brought home 16 awards Sunday in the annual statewide Associated Press Media Editors competition, including three first-place awards. Additionally, the staff claimed third place in the prestigious General Excellence category, which recognizes overall excellence among Ohio newspapers of comparable size.

First-place winners in this year’s contest recognizing journalism excellence produced in 2022 included the newspaper’s Features Editor Burton Cole, who won the Best Feature Writer award; Copy Desk Chief Patrick E. Litowitz, who won for Best Headline Writing; and Business Editor Ron Selak Jr., who won in the Best Business Writer category. Entries for each of these categories included four samples of work compiled throughout the year.

Capturing second-place awards, also for compilations of work, were veteran reporter Ed Runyan, in the Best News Writer category for his work covering Mahoning County crime and courthouse news; Editor Brenda J. Linert in the Editorial Writing category; sports writer Joel Whetzel in the Best Sports Feature Writer category; and freelance sportswriter Steve Ruman in the Best Sports Columnist category, for his weekly columns on high school football.

Winning second place for specific pieces of work were Sports Editor Greg Macafee in the Best Sports Enterprise category, recognized for his multi-part series titled “Built at Mollenkopf,” examining the 50th anniversary of the unification of Warren’s two high schools and football teams; veteran reporter Guy Vogrin in the Best Spot News category, for his coverage of the fire that destroyed Mecca’s historic Lake Tavern; and sports writer Brian Yauger in the Best Sports Photo category, for his image titled “Heartbreak” depicting defeat following a hard-fought high school baseball game.

Claiming third place for a compilation of his work was sports writer Neel Madhavan in the Best Sports Feature Writer category. Madhavan also claimed a third-place honor in the Best Sports Enterprise category for his series of stories titled “Tressel’s Triumphs.”

Also winning third place for specific work were Litowitz in the Best Informational Graphic category, for his graphic titled “Heating costs zap consumers”; along with former staffer Allie Vugrincic in the Best Explanatory Reporting category for “Yellow House goes mobile,” a story detailing the relocation of one of the oldest homes in Trumbull County.

The newspapers’ sports department also claimed third place in the Best Daily Sports Section category. Judging in this category was based on overall content and presentation from a compilation of several sports sections.

The awards were announced at a banquet in Columbus this weekend. The local staff competes in the Ohio APME’s Division IV, representing daily newspapers with a general circulation size of 19,000 to 59,999. Entries for this newspaper’s division were judged by editors from the APME’s corresponding organization in Michigan.