Searchlight wins 11 awards, including Outstanding Young Journalist for Huber

South Dakota Searchlight won 11 awards in its division of the South Dakota NewsMedia Association’s 2023 Better News Media Contest, including the Outstanding Young Journalist award for Makenzie Huber.

Awards were presented Friday in Huron during the association’s 141st annual convention. The association, based in Brookings, represents more than 100 members from newspapers and digital news outlets in South Dakota.

The Outstanding Young Journalist award honors the work of journalists under the age of 30. It’s chosen from nominations by supervisors and portfolios of the nominees’ work.

The other awards earned by Searchlight were:

• First Place, Seth Tupper and John Hult, Best Freedom of Information Project, Revealing Gov. Kristi Noem’s Pardons and Commutations.
• First place, Makenzie Huber, with Annie Todd, formerly of the Argus Leader, Best News Series, The Lost Children, about the overrepresentation of Native American children in foster care (for the same series, Huber and Todd were named finalists earlier this week for a Livingston Award from the Wallace House Center for Journalists at the University of Michigan).
• First Place, Seth Tupper, Best Headline Writing, “The holy Sturgis trinity: Noem, Jesus and family,” “ACLU is ‘RZNHELL’ with state over specialized plate denials,” “How two dead South Dakotans continue to feed the world,” “The cost of free land and either-or history,” “When emails aren’t ‘writing,’ and other adventures in pursuit of pardon records.”
• First Place, Seth Tupper, Best Lede, for the lede of the story, “ACLU is ‘RZNHELL’ with state over specialized plate denials.”
• Second place, John Hult, Best Feature Series, The Karen People in Huron.
• Second place, Makenzie Huber, Best Feature Story-Profile, “‘Children are political targets’: A family’s struggle with SD’s trans health care ban.”
• Second place, Makenzie Huber, Best Photo Series, for the images accompanying her story, “‘Children are political targets’: A family’s struggle with SD’s trans health care ban.”
• Second Place, Seth Tupper, Best Local Column, “The holy Sturgis trinity: Noem, Jesus and family,” “How two dead South Dakotans continue to feed the world,” “The cost of free land and either-or history.”
• Third place, John Hult, Best Local Government Story, “Big prices drive interest in small homes, but lot-size rules stand in the way.”
• Third place, Makenzie Huber, Best Spot News Story, “‘Just a knee bone’: Reinterment brings pain and healing to Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate.”

Searchlight competed in the division for news outlets that publish multiple days per week. The top newspaper awards in the division went to the Rapid City Journal, which won the General Excellence award, and the Mitchell Republic, which won the Sweepstakes award (honoring the newspaper that garners the most points for awards in all categories).

In the weekly divisions, the Outstanding Young Journalist award went to Emelia Enquist, a journalist for the Grant County Review in Milbank. The Hamlin County Republican, in Castlewood, won the General Excellence and Sweepstakes awards for weeklies with circulations under 1,300 copies. In the division for weeklies with circulation greater than 1,300, the Fall River County Herald Star, of Hot Springs, was the General Excellence winner, and the Brandon Valley Journal was the Sweepstakes winner.

Members of the Wyoming Press Association judged the contest entries. A complete list of results is available at www.sdna.com.