The Cincinnati Enquirer
For the second year in a row, The Cincinnati Enquirer was named Ohio's top large daily newspaper by Associated Press Society of Ohio. The Enquirer joined four other dailies honored in five circulation categories with general excellence awards, which were announced during a brunch Sunday in Columbus. The Enquirer won in Division V, newspapers with more than 75,000 circulation.
The judges wrote: "The paper is written in a clear, straightforward style and laid out in a sharp, inviting way. The sections are newsy. The columnists are excellent. Sports is very solid."
The judges cited the Enquirer's coverage of the 1997 flood, saying: "It was clearly the biggest story any paper had to deal with in that region, and the Enquirer met the challenge."
They also praised the paper's reporting on the shooting deaths last December of two Cincinnati police officers.
Seventy-three newspapers served in Ohio by the Associated Press submitted 2,740 entries in 21 categories of the contest, which was based on work done in 1997.
Other awards, announced earlier, also were presented at Sunday's brunch. In those honors, the Enquirer won 16 awards -- more than any of the other seven newspapers in its category. That included five first-place honors.
The general excellence winners were chosen by editors of newspapers in states other than Ohio.
The Dayton Daily News won APSO's First Amendment Award -- beating eight other contenders -- for outstanding accomplishment in pursuing freedom of information on behalf of the public.
The Daily News won for its yearlong investigation that found that the U.S. military's health-care system is a magnet for problem doctors because the system lacks safeguards against malpractice. Other first-place winners were the Port Clinton News Herald in Division I, newspapers of less than 8,000 circulation; the Marietta Times in Division II, newspapers of between 8,000 and 13,000 circulation; the Newark Advocate in Division III, newspapers of between 13,000 and 25,000 circulation; and the Canton Repository in Division IV, newspapers of between 25,000 and 75,000 circulation.
