Cardinal News took top prize for news coverage in its division in the annual Virginia Press Association contest, while Cardinal reporter Grace Mamon was named Young Journalist of the Year. Reporters Lisa Rowan and Markus Schmidt each won best-in-show awards.
The announcement came during VPA’s News Contest dinner that capped off its annual conference in Charlottesville. In all, Cardinal News won 33 awards — capturing the sweepstakes award for the most points in the online category.
Mamon’s work stood out for remarkable reporting on Bloody Monday, the 1963 civil rights protest in Danville, among other stories on Danville area. Judges praised her work as “deeply reported stories” that “brought alive in vivid and wrenching detail” the events six decades ago.
Other stories in Mamon’s body of work included how a mass eviction was avoided at an apartment complex in Danville, questions surrounding the 1955 killing of a Black man by an off-duty white police officer at a Little League baseball game, how Danville’s redevelopment plan has become a model for other communities, and the origin of the redevelopment of a major industrial property in the city that began with a single tweet. Mamon and audience engagement editor Brooke Stephenson also won a first place in the multimedia online category for the Bloody Monday stories.
“Grace truly is an outstanding journalist. Her reporting is thorough and she has a knack for finding stories that no one really knows until she tells them,” said Luanne Rife, Cardinal’s executive director. “I’m so proud of her accomplishments, and of her colleagues whose work was simply outstanding, as the sweepstakes award shows.”
Cardinal journalists won 15 first-place awards, six second-place awards and seven third-place awards in the online news category. Schmidt won an additional third-place award for his writing about government in an open category in which writers from all types of publications compete.
Seven Cardinal staffers and eight of its freelancers were recognized for their work during VPA’s conference in Charlottesville on Saturday.
Staffers Matt Busse, Susan Cameron, Grace Mamon, Lisa Rowan, Markus Schmidt and Brooke Stephenson won multiple awards, as did freelancers Ralph Berrier and Randy Walker.
Other award winners were staffer Dwayne Yancey and freelancers Mike Allen, Robert Anderson, Emily Hemphill, Steve Hemphill, Judy Owen and Mark Taylor.
Schmidt, Cardinal’s political reporter who is based in Richmond, won first place for breaking news in his coverage of the arrest of then-Del. Matt Fariss, first place in government reporting for a portfolio of work, first place in public safety writing for a portfolio of work, and first place for personality or portrait photo for his photograph of Speaker of the House Don Scott. He also took third place in a government reporting category that was open to all VPA members, regardless of print or online, plus won best-in-show for online photography.
Lisa Rowan, Cardinal’s education reporter, won first place in in-depth and investigative reporting for her reporting on how public schools have become battlegrounds for national politics and first place in general news for her reporting on an inquiry last year into a VPA award given to a student newspaper at Virginia Military Institute that is connected to an alumnus critical of the administration. She also took third place in education writing portfolio. Rowan also won best-in-show for online writing.
Mamon, Cardinal’s Danville reporter, and audience engagement editor Stephenson shared a first-place award in the multimedia coverage for their report on the 1963 Bloody Monday civil rights protests in Danville.
Mamon also took first place in feature series or continuing story while Stephenson also took second place in headline writing and third place in illustrations for her work with Cardinal 250: Virginia’s Stories. A Nation’s Birth, a special project that looks at little-told stories in Virginia’s role in the nation’s independence.
Matt Busse, Cardinal’s business reporter, won first place for general news photo for a photo of a veterinarian treating a cow and second place for public safety writing portfolio.
Executive editor Dwayne Yancey placed first in data journalism for his columns on Virginia’s changing demography.
Susan Cameron, Cardinal’s Southwest reporter based in Bristol, took second place in feature writing portfolio, and third place in feature profile for her story on Laura Mollo, who used the Freedom of Information Act to uncover documents in Richlands about finances and emergency response times, and third place in government writing portfolio.
Three Cardinal freelancers swept the sports writing portfolio category; Steve Hemphill won first place, Robert Anderson placed second and Judy Owen third.
Other Cardinal freelancers who won awards were:
Ralph Berrier placed first for a feature writing portfolio and second in government writing portfolio.
Mike Allen won first place in picture story or essay for his coverage of the Henrietta Lacks statue in Roanoke.
Mark Taylor earned first place in health, science and environmental reporting for a portfolio of work.
Emily Hemphill won second place in feature profile writing for her story on a Salem man who is now a scientist in the Amazon and is credited with discovering a new snake species.
Randy Walker took third place in feature stories for his work on the ongoing redevelopment of the former American Viscose plant in Roanoke and third place in feature writing portfolio.
Cardinal freelancers who won awards:
