SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (AP) — The Austin American-Statesman was named the Newspaper of the Year while The Houston Chronicle was named the best online newspaper among the state’s largest metropolitan dailies at the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors’ annual meeting over the weekend.
The Corpus Christi Caller-Times won Newspaper of the Year and the Abilene Reporter-News won best online paper among newspapers with Sunday circulations of 30,000 to 124,999. The Killeen Daily Herald won best newspaper and the Odessa American won best online paper honors among newspapers of 10,000 to 29,999 in circulation.
In the small newspaper division, the Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel won Newspaper of the Year and Texas Christian University won best online paper.
Winners in the Headliners Excellence in Journalism Awards were announced Sunday from finalists named in each of the four divisions.
They were: Star Reporter of the Year, Karisa King of the San Antonio Express-News; Star Photojournalist of the Year, The Houston Chronicle’s Smiley N. Pool; and Star Designer of the Year, Adrian Alvarez of the San Antonio Express-News. The Houston Chronicle also won the Star Breaking News Report of the Year for its coverage of the deadly fertilizer plant explosion in West.
The Star Investigative Report of the Year went to Brooks Egerton, Miles Moffeit and Reese Dunklin of the Dallas Morning News for their in-depth series into mismanagement and abuse at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas.
The winner of the Star Online Package award will be announced April 12 at the Texas AP Broadcasters annual meeting in Austin. Entries for that category come from both AP-member newspapers but also broadcasters throughout the state.
The Spanish language Newspaper of the Year honor went to La Estrella in Fort Worth. The non-daily university and college Newspaper of the Year honors went to The Collegian at Tarrant Community College in Hurst.
Alfredo Carbajal, managing editor of Al Dia in Dallas, was this year’s recipient of the Jack Douglas Award, the Texas APME’s highest honor. The award is given each year to honor a person who has made significant contributions to the organization and Texas journalism. Carbajal, who sits on the board of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, has played a leadership role in the development of Spanish-language media in Texas and beyond.
Chris Sherman, AP’s Rio Grande Valley correspondent based in McAllen, was named the Texas Associated Press Writer of the Year. San Antonio-based Eric Gay was named Texas AP Photographer of The Year.