Downtown Newsmagazine team wins ten awards

The team at Downtown Newsmagazine garnered ten awards in annual journalism competition sponsored by the Detroit chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) for work from the 2022 calendar year.

Contest entries were judged by members of the SPJ in other states and Downtown Newsmagazine competed with other Michigan publications of 50,000 circulation or less.

News editor Lisa Brody took first place in the Health Reporting category for her May 2022 longform story on the move by local police departments to a co-response team approach on 911 calls in which a social worker accompanies public safety officers on emergency calls.

Reporter Kevin Elliott was awarded first place for his December 2022 longform story on the racial make-up of police traffic stops in local communities.

In the same competition category, Stacy Gittleman took fourth place for her October longform story on the ongoing battle in north Oakland County over who would control the permitting process for gravel mining and the possible threat to local control if the permit process is moved to state level as is now being proposed in state legislation.

In the Explanatory Reporting category, reporter Grace Lovins took third place for her November longform piece on the national movement to ban natural gas use in new residential and commercial construction as part of the environmental efforts to address global warming.

Reporter Stacy Gittleman took third place in the Environmental Reporting contest category for an April issue longform story on how Michigan is being viewed as a possible refuge for those hoping to migrate to escape or avoid projected worsening climate problems.

Publisher David Hohendorf was awarded first place in the Personal Column category for his opinion piece on the potential loss of local control over schools thanks to the flood of local and outside money in the latest school board elections; his critical column on the watered down version of financial disclosure for state lawmakers and members of the administration that was placed on the ballot in 2022; and his open letter to his new granddaughter about the challenges she will be facing as she grows up.

Graphics manager Chris Grammer placed first in the Magazine Spread Design competition for his layout design of the longform piece on local fire departments. Grammer was also awarded third place for his design of the April issue cover on the same story topic.

In the Portrait Photography competition, photographer Laurie Tennent took second place with her Faces personality feature photo of Bloomfield resident Bob Redner in his 1944 McKinnon G21G Goose seaplane.

Photographer Chris Ward took third place in the same category for her Faces feature photo of Birmingham resident Kaitlyn Buss, Detroit News columnist and editorial board member.