Maui News staffers win 9 Excellence in Journalism awards
Collias
Fujimoto
Grossman
Tanji
Thayer
Uechi
Collias
Fujimoto
Grossman
Tanji
Thayer
Uechi
Trending
The Maui News
The Maui News staff members earned nine honors at the Hawaii Society of Professional Journalists Excellence in Journalism awards last week.
The Hawaii chapter held an in-person awards ceremony at the Japanese Cultural Center in Honolulu on Tuesday, recognizing journalists statewide for their work last year in print publications, radio, TV and online media outlets. Hawaii's entries were judged by the SPJ chapters from East Tennessee and Greater Cincinnati.
Stories by The Maui News on public corruption, beach erosion issues and a Maui woman's mission to honor veterans earned first-place awards in the daily newspaper categories.
Staff Writer Melissa Tanji and photographer Matthew Thayer shared first-place honors in the General News/Enterprise Reporting category for photos and stories on Janna Hoehn, who last year completed her 11-year journey of finding photos of the more than 58,000 service members named on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
"Fascinating story about one woman's passion," judges said. "Her more than a decade long effort to document those killed in the Vietnam War is inspiring. The newspaper has played a key role in her quest, chronicling her efforts through the years. Strong storytelling brings Janna Hoehn passion to the page."
Managing Editor Colleen Uechi's story on Maui Filipino residents' differing perspectives on the Marcos family legacy won second place in the category, while Tanji's story on a former Ukrainian exchange student, who found refuge with her Maui host family as war broke out last year, earned third place.
In the Spot News Reporting category, The Maui News won awards for coverage of major court cases and a fire in Lahaina.
Uechi won first place for her reporting from federal court in Honolulu where former Maui County Environmental Management Director Stewart Stant pleaded guilty to taking bribes to influence wastewater contracts.
"The reporting relied on more than what was made available in trial and included comments from nearly every relevant person," judges said. "Coming into this story blind, I feel like I have a solid grasp on what happened and, to the extent we're able to know, why it happened."
Thayer and staff writer Dakota Grossman earned second place for photos and a story on a fire that eventually burned 2,100 acres in Lahaina in November, with judges calling it "helpful reporting on a fire that caused concern and flashbacks to the 2018 fire. ... I thought the ending note about the 30-foot L and it being unharmed was a nice touch."
Grossman left The Maui News in July to take a teaching position with Seabury Hall.
Thayer and staff writer Lila Fujimoto were awarded third place for reporting from 2nd Circuit Court in Wailuku on the moment Bernard Brown was found guilty of murdering missing Maui woman Moreira "Mo" Monsalve. Judges said that the story included "plenty of detail and background on the trial and the circumstances surrounding it. It's a news story, a solid news story."
Fujimoto left The Maui News in January to work in Mayor Richard Bissen's administration.
In the Feature Writing/Long Form category, Tanji won first place for her story on the struggle to find a long-term solution for the eroding Kaanapali shoreline where a concrete beachwalk collapsed in September.
Grossman and Thayer took second place for their on-the-ground coverage of invasive species workers' growing success in the battle to purge little fire ants from sites in East Maui. Their story and photos provided a firsthand look of the methods workers use to clear the ants from areas of Maui, where an infestation could be environmentally damaging.
Sports reporter Rob Collias won third place for his story on 16-year Major League Baseball veteran Kurt Suzuki's retirement last fall. Collias chronicled the Baldwin High graduate's arc from Maui to the majors, where he put together one of the best statistical careers among Hawaii-born players, and interviewed him as he reflected on and said farewell to the sport.