The Clarkston News received two awards during the 2015 Michigan Press Better Newspaper Contest. Reporter Andrea Beaudoin received third place in Spot News Story for’Gas station incident ignites social media,” published in September 2014.
The story was about a Facebook post claiming a man in military uniform was refused gas by an Arabic man at a Springfield Township gas station.
‘A difficult challenge to keep a story like this balanced and unbiased, but the reporter managed to stay neutral and report the facts as they were available. Nice tone on this piece,” the judge wrote.
Beaudoin said winning the award felt like validation for working hard despite a lack of formal education mixed with extreme childhood challenges.
Sports writer Wendi Reardon earned Honorable Mention for Sports Photo ‘Leap for the Win.? in the May 13, 2015 edition of Merrick Canada competing in the long jump during an OAA Red track meet at Oxford.
The judge commented it was ‘clear, sharp stop action photo.?
‘I am honored,? Reardon said. ‘It shows what you can accomplish when you are patient. I waited for a while at the meet for Merrick to take his turn to jump. It was a fun photo to take.?