Local reporters win Excellence in Journalism Awards

Three Heritage Newspapers reporters swept the sports columnist category in the Society of Professional Journalists Detroit chapter's 2009 Excellence in Journalism Awards.

At a dinner held April 14 at the San Marino Club in Troy, Jana Miller, Mike Larson and Don Richter won first through third place, respectively, in the sports columnist category in print, Class B, with a circulation less than 100,000.

In addition, reporter Gerald LaVaute won third place for investigative reporting for his piece "Police Compensation Comparison."

LaVaute is a staff writer for The View in Belleville and The Milan News-Leader.

Miller, a former Saline and Milan sports reporter, is a copy editor and reporter for The Manchester Enterprise. Judges noted that all three of her entries were award worthy. They were "Hush, hush controversy brings sex into sports," "Academics and athletics can mix" and "Gender equity in sports."

Richter, a former sports reporter for The Chelsea Standard and The Dexter Leader, now covers sports for The Saline Reporter and The Milan News-Leader. His winning piece was his farewell column to Chelsea and Dexter readers.

Larson, a sports reporter for The Ann Arbor Journal, a new publication launched July 9, 2009, by Heritage Newspapers, won for his column "Medal More than Award." This is the first award produced from the A2 Journal. The other Heritage publications have a long history of winning journalism awards in the SPJ contest, as well as in the Michigan Press Association Better Newspapers Contest and Suburban Newspapers of America editorial contest.

This year's competition was judged by the North Central Florida Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, SPJ Minnesota Pro Chapter and Chicago Headline Club.

More than 100 Excellence in Media awards were given to area journalists during the banquet.

Heritage Newspapers launches new publication

Heritage Newspapers will soon launch A2 Journal, a free weekly newspaper focusing on Ann Arbor, and this is our first official blog post. I thought I would post something in advance of publication to keep readers informed about what we're up to since we already have a lot of followers on Twitter asking questions and wishing us the best.

The new publication will be a home-delivered community newspaper covering what makes Ann Arbor unique, and will be distributed to 20,000 households in the Ann Arbor School District area beginning July 9. We plan to cover Ann Arbor government, businesses, schools, high school sports, youth sports, the arts and entertainment, and we welcome submissions from nonprofits, service clubs, community organizations and readers. This new venture will feature the interesting, quirky and traditional –– the people, places, traditions and events that define Ann Arbor.

I think it's a very exciting time for Heritage Newspapers. As newspapers are being shut down or scaling back publication schedules across the country –– including some in the Journal Register Co. chain, parent company of Heritage Newspapers –– we are launching one, and that's a testament to our belief in the viability of the Ann Arbor market. Like our sister publications at Heritage Newspapers, this new venture will be community-focused, which is what we do best. Many of our publications, including those covering Chelsea, Dexter, Saline, Milan and Manchester, have won state and national awards for news reporting, lifestyles writing, photography, newspaper design, column writing, commentary pages, enterprise stories, sports and general excellence.

In addition to myself as editor, A2 Journal’s staff will include Terry Jacoby as assistant editor, Don Richter as sports editor, Lisa Allmendinger as staff reporter and Mike Larson as sports reporter.

I will continue to oversee the seven Heritage newspapers covering the communities surrounding Ann Arbor, while Terry will serve as assistant editor and Don as sports editor.

A Pittsfield Township resident, I began my journalism career in 1992 at The Dexter Leader, and have held several leadership roles within the company during the last 17 years, including editor of The Chelsea Standard, The Dexter Leader, The Saline Reporter and The Milan News-Leader. I also served as interim editor of The Manchester Enterprise. I helped lead the Chelsea and Dexter newspapers to their first Newspaper of the Year awards from the Michigan Press Association.

Terry, a resident of Commerce Township, most recently served as the editor of The Dexter Leader and Chelsea Standard and he will continue to help lead those papers. His 20-plus years experience in journalism includes stops at Heritage Newspapers’ The Ile Camera in Grosse Ile, The Sacramento Bee, Democrat & Chronicle in Rochester, N.Y., and The Detroit News.

Don has served as sports editor of The Chelsea Standard and The Dexter Leader since fall 2000 and Mike is a former sports editor at The County Press, a three-day-a-week newspaper in Lapeer.

Lisa is a familiar face around Washtenaw County. She has almost 30 years in the newspaper business as both a reporter and editor, and for the past several years has worked as a stringer for The Ann Arbor News, which plans to cease publication next month.

In addition to this blog, A2 Journal has established a presence on the social networking sites Twitter (http://twitter.com/A2Journal) and Facebook in advance of its first edition.

Readers will soon find the newspaper, photos and videos online at www.A2journal.com, which will have links to local videos and this staff blog, Inside the Newsroom @ A2 Journal.

The new paper is part of the Journal Register Co., which owns 20 daily newspapers and 159 non-daily publications. The company operates about 200 individual and specialty Web sites that are affiliated with the JRC’s daily newspapers, non-daily publications and its network of employment Web sites.