Sunday, Sept. 19, 2021 | 2 a.m.
Greenspun Media Group, publisher of the Las Vegas Sun and its sister publications Las Vegas Weekly and Las Vegas Magazine, took home 15 first-place honors and 44 total awards Saturday in the Nevada Press Association’s annual Awards of Excellence contest.
“To say I am proud of and grateful for the journalists and other team members at Greenspun Media is an understatement,” said Brian Greenspun, the Sun’s CEO, publisher and editor. “To say how much these awards confirm our commitment to thoughtful and considered opinion and journalism for Southern Nevadans cannot be overstated.”
The Sun received six first-place awards for reporting, design and editorial writing. Among those top honors were Editorial of the Year for a piece sounding an alarm over steps taken by the Trump administration and Republican Party leadership toward transforming America into a dictatorship. An excerpt: “(Led) by a president who lacks all respect for our system of government, today’s Republican Party, through a quickening succession of abuses of power, is acting as an authoritarian regime.”
Mike Smith, the Sun’s longtime editorial cartoonist, had the Editorial Cartoon of the Year.
The Sun also took first place in headline writing. Winning samples included ”The Few. The Proud. The Deported” on a story about a U.S. Marine Corps veteran facing deportation. The Sun’s copy desk also won first place for best Page One design.
Justin Emerson
In addition, Sun staff reporter Justin Emerson earned one of the contest’s top honors when he was named Journalist of Merit, which is awarded to individuals with less than five years of experience in the field. Emerson’s primary focus is covering the Vegas Golden Knights, but after the 2020 NHL season was paused because of the pandemic, he quickly shifted to covering other topics — elections, real estate and more. Emerson’s projects included shadowing Clark County Commissioner William McCurdy II on Election Day, delivering a story that detailed McCurdy’s hectic schedule in the final push on the campaign trail and the anticipation of waiting for results.
“Not only did Justin supplement our election coverage, he executed a story that was pegged to be our lead item in the next morning’s paper,” said Ray Brewer, the Sun’s managing editor. “His versatility to switch from reporting on sports to politics is commendable. He has a bright future in our industry.”
The Sun also won first place for best sports spot news for UNLV writer Mike Grimala’s coverage of the removal of the “Hey Reb” statue on campus.
The Sun won 17 total awards, including:
Second place: editorial writing; entertainment news story (Brock Radke); multiple photo essays out of the George Floyd demonstrations (Steve Marcus); overall design; sports photo (Marcus); and a sports news story by assistant sports editor Case Keefer on the Las Vegas Raiders’ upset win agaisnt the Kansas City Chiefs.
Third place: editorial page; general excellence, Brewer’s “From the Press Box” sports column; Emerson for a sports news story on the Golden Knights’ Ryan Reaves; news feature by Ricardo Torres-Cortez on the family of Lesly Palacio struggling with her death after her body was disposed of in a desert 50 miles outside of town.
Las Vegas Weekly won eight first-place honors, including awards for writing, design and advertising.
