Staff report

The Vindicator and Tribune Chronicle have been named finalists in the Ohio Associated Press Media Editors competition.

The newspapers compete in Division II, which is for newsrooms with 10-20 employees. The top three finalists in each category were announced Monday, but the actual winners — first, second and third — will be announced at the awards banquet Aug. 3 in Columbus.

Youngstown City Hall and political reporter David Skolnick was named a finalist in the best breaking news category. He submitted three stories for consideration. One was about Youngstown fire Chief Barry Finley being criticized for racial remarks he made to two fire union officials. The second was about the Mahoning County Board of Elections firing the company that printed its mail-in ballots because 10,000 of them still had not been printed after early voting began. His final submission was a story about Republican candidates nearly sweeping both counties in the November election.

Skolnick also was named a finalist in the public service category for a story about Trumbull County recorder candidate Dawn Zinni owing more than $100,000 in court judgments from lawsuits filed by numerous creditors. Zinni, a Republican, won the election and later filed, and emerged from, bankruptcy. She also filed a lawsuit against the newspaper that is still pending in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

Mahoning County police and court reporter Ed Runyan was named a finalist in the best explanatory / enterprise reporting category. He submitted several stories for consideration, including ones on the murder trials of the men accused of killing Rowan Sweeney, 4, of Struthers, in September of 2020, ones on the Realty Tower explosion in downtown Youngstown in May of 2024, and ones about property taxes in Mahoning County after a property revaluation was done last year.

Runyan also was named a finalist for best investigative reporting for a story in July about a man convicted of raping a teen and how authorities were warned about him prior to the incidents.

The staff was named a finalist in the best news photo category for photos taken after the Realty Tower explosion.

Two staffers in the sports department were named finalists in the best sports enterprise category: Neel Madhavan for a series on the former Warren G. Harding High School Panthers football team reflecting on their 1974 championship season 50 years later and Brian Yauger for a story on Champion native Randy Gradishar being selected for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“We’re very proud of the hard work that our newsroom does each and every day. We’re honored to be chosen as finalists for their hard work and dedication to keeping our readers informed of the things happening in our communities,” general manager Ted Snyder said.