Collinsville Press recognized with two Excellence in Journalism Awards

For the sixth time in the last nine years, the Collinsville Press was recognized by the Connecticut chapter of the Society of Professional Journalism Thursday with an Excellence in Journalism awards.

Editor and website founder Gerry deSimas, Jr., was recognized with two first place awards for sports news and sports feature stories in the hyperlocal division that includes primarily news websites across Connecticut. Since 2012, the Collinsville Press has been recognized with 14 awards from the SPJ’s Connecticut chapter.

His story on area baseball players hitting the diamond for the first time in June after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down sports and many facets of normal life in March was recognized in the sports feature category.

In the sports news category, his story on Canton’s championship win over Granby at the NCCC boys basketball tournament was honored. The Warriors won a conference tournament for the first time before a packed house in Canton just days before the pandemic sweeping across the country would cancel sports for months.

The contest received hundreds of entries. The three biggest awards went to the New Haven Independent, the Hartford Courant and the Connecticut Post.

The New Haven Independent website won the First Amendment Award for their story regarding Connecticut’s Freedom of Information Commission and their ruling that schools may no longer hide evidence of educator misconduct by claiming they need to protect student’s confidentiality

The Hartford Courant won the Stephen A. Collins Public Service award for their series of stories on how the coronavirus has changed our way of life in Connecticut.

The Connecticut Post won the Theodore Driscoll Award for investigative reporting for their series of stories on Death by Gun. Bill Cummings, Ed Stannard, Ethan Fry, Tara O’Neill, Brian Lockhart, Clare Dignan, Ben Lambert and Mark Zaretsky contributed to the story.

2020 Connecticut SPJ Excellence in Journalism Awards