The Valley Independent Sentinel won 12 awards in the 2012 Excellence in Journalism contest hosted by the Connecticut chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Five of those were first place awards. The Valley Indy staff swept the video storytelling category, which had seven entries from four news outlets.
The Valley Indy competed in the “online circulation” category, which includes other web-based publications, including the Connecticut Mirror, AOL Patch, and Valley Indy affiliate The Branford Eagle, which took home 16 awards.
All entries in the CTSPJ contest are judged by professional journalists outside of Connecticut. A full list of winners can be viewed here.
The Valley Indy is a non-profit news site and part of the Online Journalism Project.
The publication has won 27 CTSPJ awards since launching in June 2009.
In 2012, the Valley Indy employed just three staffers — Eugene Driscoll, Jodie Mozdzer Gil and Ethan Fry.
Mozdzer left in mid-2012 to become a new media journalism professor at Southern Connecticut State University. She was also named president of the CTSPJ.
The Valley Independent Sentinel won the following awards Thursday:
First Place: Spot News
Right place. Right time — Again; Eugene Driscoll, Ethan Fry, Jodie Mozdzer Gil
— For a story about a fire at an apartment house on Olivia Street in Derby
First Place: Investigative Story
Documents reveal conflict of interest at Ansonia Housing Authority; Jodie Mozdzer Gil
— For a story detailing the departure of the Ansonia Housing Authority executive director
First Place: General Reporting
Guillet: I have no integrity left; Ethan Fry
— For a story on the sentencing of the former Oxford tax collector
First Place: Video Storytelling
Ansonia man furious after bounty hunters kill his pit bull; Ethan Fry
— For an interview with an Ansonia man whose pit bull was shot
First Place: Audio Storytelling
Seymour police tried to stop car before deadly crash; Ethan Fry, Jodie Mozdzer Gil and Oxford Patch’s Paul Singley.
— For a story that contained radio transmissions from a pursuit that concluded with a deadly crash
Second Place: Audio Storytelling
Navel Gazing: The Valley Indy Podcast; Eugene Driscoll, Ethan Fry, Jodie Mozdzer Gil
Second Place: Video Storytelling
Guillet: I have no integrity left; Eugene Driscoll and Ethan Fry
Honorable Mention: Spot News
Truck filled with scrap metal goes for a swim in Derby; Eugene Driscoll
Honorable Mention: Investigative Story
Ansonia officials owe car taxes but don’t suffer the consequences; Jodie Mozdzer Gil
Honorable Mention: In-Depth Series
2012 Ansonia Tax Office Scandal; Eugene Driscoll, Ethan Fry, Jodie Mozdzer Gil
Honorable Mention: General Reporting
Ansonia housing leader’s ouster angers employees, residents; Eugene Driscoll
Honorable Mention: Video Storytelling
Videos: Domurad v. Staffieri; Eugene Driscoll and Ethan Fry
