06-05-2025
Tribune-Star staffers honored with seven Indiana SPJ awards
Tribune-Star staff members received seven awards at the Society of Professional Journalists annual Indiana chapter banquet Friday evening at Carmel.
SPJ organizers said a record 1,130 entries were judged by a group of out-of-state journalists in the contest, involving print media, radio, TV, online and multiplatform news outlets.
The Tribune-Star awards went to editor Alicia Morgan, photographer Joe Garza, reporter Sue Loughlin, and columnist and sports editor Mark Bennett. The Tribune-Star honors came in the division for news outlets with circulations under 10,000.
Morgan took a first-place award for best use of graphics and illustrations.
Garza received a third-place award for best multiple picture group and a second-place for best sports photography, capturing images from a Terre Haute Police program with "He's a mean one, Mr. Grinch," and a silhouette from the John McNichols Invitational track and field meet at Indiana State University.
Loughlin got a second-place award in the best non-deadline story or series category for her "Stronger than the Storm" one-year-later retrospective of the deadly 2023 Sullivan tornado.
Bennett took a first-place in column writing for pieces on blues guitarist Dicky James, early 20th-century journalist Stella Stimson's city corruption coverage and Terre Haute native Michael Natt's role in the touring "Hamilton" production. Bennett also received a first in best personality profile for a piece on Terre Haute-born Motley Crue guitarist Mick Mars, and a third-place in best sports column writing for pieces on ISU men's basketball, Olympic weightlifter Mary Theisen-Lappen, and former Sycamore football great Vincent Allen's nomination for the College Football Hall of Fame.
Statewide, the Indiana Capital Chronicle's Casey Smith won Journalist of the Year.
