Awards 

Recent Awards

2015 Association of Alternative Newsmedia Awards

The Association of Alternative Newsmedia (AAN) represents 114 alternative newsmedia organizations throughout North America, reaching more than 38 million readers in print, on the web and on mobile devices.

Arts Criticism: For alt-weeklies with circulation 45,000 & over.
3rd Place
Scott Renshaw
for St. Vincent, Edge of Tomorrow, and Magic in the Moonlight

2015 Society of Professional Journalists

Utah Headliners competition

Stephen Dark earned the coveted Best Newspaper Reporter award for Division A papers (where he competed with reporters from The Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News). Dark also earned the award in 2009.

Personality Profile

1st Place
Eric Peterson
for "Blood Brothers"

Criminal Justice Reporting
2nd Place
Colby Frazier
for " Invisible Man"

Religion/Values Reporting
2nd Place
Kolbie Stonehocker, Stephen Dark
for "Death Becomes Her"

Opinion Column
2nd Place
Eric Peterson
for "Get in the Game"

Best Single Blog Post
2nd Place
Colby Frazier, Colin Wolf
for "Anniversary of Spanish Fork Concert"

Personality Profile
3rd Place
Carolyn Campbell
for "Multiplicity

Stephen Dark
Second Place, Diversity Reporting: Homeland Insecurity
Second Place, Economic Inequality Reporting: Who Deserves Health Care?

Eric S. Peterson
Third Place, Beat Reporting: SLC Homelessness Reporting

2014 Utah SPJ Awards

City Weekly took first place in eight categories at the June 26, 2014, awards ceremony for the Society of Professional Journalists Utah Headliners Chapter. City Weekly competes against The Salt Lake Tribune, the Deseret News and the Daily Herald in these awards.

City Weekly Winners:

Stephen Dark
First Place, Criminal Justice Reporting: Prison Made
First Place, Education Reporting: A Lesson in Change
First Place, Personality Profile: One Way Street
Second Place, Minority Issues: Homeland Insecurity
Third Place, Sports Non-Deadline: The Real Deal
Honorable Mention, General News: Bell’s Toll

Eric S. Peterson
First Place, Government Reporting: Par for the Course
First Place (Tie), Religion/Values Reporting: Restoring the Priesthood
First Place, Business/Consumer Reporting: Crazy Pills
Second Place, Business/Consumer Reporting: Bad Company

Colin Wolf
Second Place, Best Overall Blog: The Secret Handshake

Colin Wolf & Mike Fuchs
First Place, Best Single Blog Post: I Watched Governor Herbert Eat Muffins for 2 Hours
Third Place, Best multimedia online: Fancy Cats: An Afternoon at the Utah Cat Show

Kolbie Stonehocker
Third Place, Arts and Entertainment: Soul Medicine

Cimaron Neugebauer
First Place, General Feature: Deadly Suspicion
Second Place, Criminal Justice Reporting: Deadly Suspicion

Matthew D. LaPlante and Paul Christiansen
Second Place, Medical/Science Reporting: Devastated

Stephanie Lauritzen
Third Place, Opinion Column: Free Agent

2013 Utah SPJ Awards

Stephen Dark
First Place, Government Reporting – An Audit They Couldn’t Refuse
First Place, Minority Issues Reporting – Deportation Factory
First Place, Religion/Values Reporting – Last Stand
Second Place, Best Newspaper Reporter
Second Place, Criminal Justice Reporting – Lost in the Hole
Second Place, Personality Profile – Warped Desire
Third Place, Medical/Science Reporting – Toxic Secret in Sandy

Colin Wolf
First Place, Best Multimedia Online – The Secret Handshake
Second Place, Best Overall Blog – The Secret Handshake
Second Place, General Feature – Steal This Bike
Third Place, Best Single Blog Post – The Secret Handshake: The Utah Blaze Had Open Tryouts ... I Didn’t Make the Team
Third Place, Humor/Lifestyle Column – Heavy Metal

Austen Diamond
First Place, Arts & Entertainment – Gospel Gift

Jason Stevenson
First Place, Business/Consumer Reporting – Why Outdoor Retailer May Take a Hike
Honorable Mention, Medical/Science Reporting – The Great Obamacare Scare

Chris Vanocur
First Place, Personality Profile – Mitt, the Mormons & Me

Eric S. Peterson
Second Place, Government Reporting – The Wild Bunch

Ted Scheffler
Second Place, Review/Criticism – Pallet Bistro

Scott Renshaw
Third Place, Review/Criticism – Skyfall

Derek Carlisle
Third Place, Page Design – Losing Faith

Carolyn Campbell
Third Place, Personality Profile – Taking it Off

Jim Catano
Third Place, Opinion Column – Natural Affair

Bill Frost
Honorable Mention, Review/Criticism – Fall TV Preview

Gavin Sheehan
Honorable Mention, Best Single Blog Post – Gavin’s Underground: UCW-Zero

City Weekly Staff
Third Place, Best Newspaper

City Weekly staffers brought home a six pack of top prizes from the Utah Headliners Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists at its annual awards reception at the Fort Douglas Officers Club on Friday, June 15. --- In addition, staffers and City Weekly garnered 17 second-place, third-place and honorable mention awards.

City Weekly competes in Division A, the category of newspapers with circulation of 50,000 or more, meaning it's a four-way fight between us and the Trib, the Deseret News and Standard Examiner.

Our website and blogs were up against all comers.

Happily, we can report the following first-place winners:

BUSINESS/CONSUMER REPORTING: Sarah Kramer, City Weekly, "Nuclear Deal"
Judges wrote: Great reporting and solid writing make this entry stand out.

MILITARY REPORTING: Matthew D. LaPlante, City Weekly, "Special services"
Judges wrote: A thorough examination of the questionable trend toward court systems for specific constituencies. Excellent and well-written narrative.

PERSONALITY PROFILE: Eric S. Peterson, City Weekly, "Chaffetz revealed"
Judges wrote: An engaging read backed by thorough reporting and some spunky style and observations.

HUMOR/LIFESTYLE COLUMN: Scott Renshaw, City Weekly, "The 40-year-old coffee virgin"
Judges wrote: Fun and funny column, with some history of local culture and social mores blended into the story.

BEST OVERALL BLOG: Colin Wolf, City Weekly, The Secret Handshake
Judges wrote: This blog is all personality. It's hilarious, has great content, is creative and conversational.

BEST SINGLE BLOG POST: Colin Wolf, City Weekly, The Secret Handshake
Judges wrote: Wolf had the winning combo of engaging writing and multimedia aspects woven through the story to move along the narrative.

Runners-up for the Headliners' contest include:

BEST NEWSPAPER REPORTER
2nd — Stephen Dark, City Weekly

BEST NEWSPAPER
2nd — City Weekly

GENERAL FEATURE
3rd — Stephen Dark, City Weekly, "Burned Out Cop"

REVIEW/CRITICISM
3rd — Scott Renshaw, City Weekly, "Harry Potter: The Boy Who"

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
2nd — Austen Diamond, City Weekly, "Golden Voices"

BUSINESS/CONSUMER REPORTING
3rd — Eric Peterson, City Weekly, "Zombie Homes"

Honorable Mention — Austen Diamond, City Weekly, "Whittle Me This"

EDUCATION REPORTING
2nd — Eric Peterson, City Weekly "Bad Call"

3rd — Dan Nailen, City Weekly "The New U"

GOVERNMENT REPORTING
2nd — Eric Peterson, City Weekly, "Fix It Man"

Honorable Mention: Stephen Dark, City Weekly, "Neighborhood Watched"

MINORITY ISSUES REPORTING
2nd — Stephen Dark, City Weekly, "Immigrant Goal"

3rd — Stephen Dark, City Weekly, "Tainted Saint"

PERSONALITY PROFILE
2nd — Stephen Dark, City Weekly, "Mormon Celebrity Meltdown"

RELIGION/VALUES REPORTING
2nd — Jesse Fruhwirth, City Weekly, "Yoganomics"

BEST NEWS-ORIENTED WEB SITE
3rd — CityWeekly.net

BEST OVERALL BLOG
2nd — Gavin Sheehan, City Weekly, Gavin's Underground

City Weekly writers consistently hold their own at the local awards competition sponsored by the Utah Headliners chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. The paper competes in the Newspaper Division A, against papers with a circulation of more than 50,000, including The Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News. At the Friday, June 17, 2011, Utah Headliners banquet, 175 finalists were recognized from 1,000 entries. City Weekly brought home more than a dozen awards, including:

First place winners:

Staff reporter Eric S. Peterson in Medical Science Reporting for his story about bad doctors, titled "What You Don't Know About Me Could Hurt You."

Freelancer Scott Carrier whose profile on Brian David Mitchell titled "The One Mighty & Strong" took first in Religion Values Reporting.

Opinion writer John Rasmuson for his "Text Me Not" column.

A&E editor Scott Renshaw dominated in the headline-writing category.

And, Marty Foy, now living in Denver, won SPJ's award for Best Videographer for 2011.

Second place winners:

City Weekly took 2nd place as Best Newspaper (Salt Lake Tribune took 1st and there were no 3rd place or honorable mention winners. D-News, where were you?)

Scott Renshaw: 2nd place for his review/criticism of the film Babies.

Carolyn Campbell: 2nd place for her "Killed for Custody" Criminal Justice feature.

Jesse Fruhwirth: 2nd place for his "Sexual Healing" Religion/Values feature.

John Kilbourn: 2nd place for his Election Issues illustration.

Third place/honorable mention winners:

CityWeekly.net's Salt Blog took 3rd place for Best Overall Blog; our Facebook page took 3rd for Best Use of News-Oriented Social Media. CityWeekly.net earned an honorable mention for Best News-Oriented Website.

Bill Frost earned an honorable mention for his "What Gary Herbert Doesn't Know" Ocho column in the Humor/Lifestyle category as did Randy Harward for his "Utah Hold 'Em" feature in the Arts & Entertainment reporting category.

City Weekly writers held sway at the Top of the Rockies competition, a regional contest sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists Region 9. Competing against papers from Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming in the 10,000 to 75,000 circulation range, in 2011, the paper garnered a dozen awards, four of them first place.

We're especially proud of the Legal Investigative/Enterprise Reporting category, where our reporters took 1st, 2nd & 3rd place.

First place winners:

Legal Investigative/Enterprise Reporting

Stephen Dark: Super Trooper: Imbibing, then driving? Better stay out of UHP's Lisa Steed's way.

Health Feature Writing

Stephen Dark, writer; Nicki Wylie, photographer; Marty Foy, videographer; Doug Boehm, illustrator: Mental Hell: In fall 2009, Valley Mental Health cut back and changed services. Six months later, clients have yet to recover.

A&E Reporting

Dan Nailen: Ropin' & Rhyming: Utah's cowboy poets rage against the dying of the light.

Politics Feature Writing

Second place winners:

Legal Investigative/Enterprise Reporting

Jesse Fruhwirth: Some Call It Kidnapping: How Utah adoption laws take babies from the nation's unmarried fathers.

Health Investigative/Enterprise Reporting

Eric S. Peterson: What You Don't Know About Me Could Hurt You: Why overburdened Utah regulators can't keep the bad doctors away.

Environmental Feature Writing

Jim Catano, writer; Marty Foy, videographer; Jesse Fruhwirth, videography: Into Hot Water: Utah's love/hate relationship with its hot springs; Steam Dream: Utah tempts entrepreneurs with its trifecta of renewable energy sources.

News Feature

Third place winners:

Breaking News Story

Jesse Fruhwirth: Woman: Garn lying about 'no contact' in hot tub when she was 15; Hot tubber/developer Kevin Garn is kind of a big deal.

Education Investigative/Enterprise Reporting

Eric Peterson: Dishonor Code: Despite a 2007 gay-friendly update to BYU's honor code, some students claim the discipline goes too far.

Legal Investigative/Enterprise Reporting

Eric Peterson: All Bark: Civil-rights advocates worry local watchdog ACLU of Utah has lost its bite.

Legal Feature Writing

Government Reporting
1st place Salt Lake City Weekly "Called into Question," Eric Peterson
Hon. Mention Salt Lake City Weekly "They're Watching You," Ted McDonough

Medical/Science Reporting
1st place Salt Lake City Weekly "You Bet Your Life," Eric Peterson
Hon. Mention Salt Lake City Weekly "Beetles Attack," Stephen Dark

Minority Issues Reporting
1st place Salt Lake City Weekly "Gone Baby Gone," Stephen Dark

Best Newspaper
1st place The Salt Lake Tribune 2009 Best Newspaper The Salt Lake Tribune Staff
2nd place Salt Lake City Weekly 2009 Best Newspaper Salt Lake City Weekly Staff
3rd place Deseret News 2009 Best Newspaper Deseret News Staff

Best Reporter
Honorable Mention Salt Lake City Weekly 2009 Best Reporter Jesse Fruhwirth

Personality Profile
2nd place Salt Lake City Weekly "Insult to injury: survive a traumatic brain injury," Stephen Dark

Sports Reporting
3rd place Salt Lake City Weekly "Real Passion: As Real Salt Lake's playoff dreams dwindle" Stephen Dark

Review/Criticism
2nd place Salt Lake City Weekly "Less is More," Ted Scheffler
Hon. Mention Salt Lake City Weekly "Right Now," Jamie Gadette

Education Reporting
3rd place Salt Lake City Weekly "Studied to Death," Katharine Biele

Headline Writing
2nd place Salt Lake City Weekly Headline Writing Scott Renshaw

Page Design - Front Page
3rd place City Weekly Front Page of City Weekly Susan Kruithof

Page Design - Feature Page
3rd place City Weekly Utah's Alternative Pioneers Susan Kruithof

Best Podcast (video or audio)
2nd place Salt Lake City Weekly Joe Berlinger interview Scott Renshaw
Salt Lake City Weekly Interview 1 Ron Johnson Leo Dirr

Best multi-media (online)
3rd place Salt Lake City Weekly iPhone movie from Urban Lounge, Benjamin Jennings

2010 Top of the Rockies

In our first year competing in this regional contest, staff reporter Eric Peterson brought home two first places for his feature on Rick Koeber in "All Bets Are Off" and his look at tax breaks in Utah's oil and gas industry in "Jacked." He also brought home an honorable mention for a feature on IHC titled "Shake Down."

Former staffer Ted McDonough garnered a second place for his investigative feature on Salt Lake City surveillance in "They Are Watching You."

Freelancer Wren Abbott earned a second place in her "Child's Play" feature about youth motocross in Salt Lake City.