PD Sweeps

The Plain Dealer was named the Ohio's Best Daily Newspaper in the large-circulation category in the annual 2011 Ohio Society of Professional Journalist Awards. The newspaper won a total of 25 awards including Best Page One Design.
Also honored among the newspaper's 19 first-place awards were:
• Margaret Bernstein and Stan Donaldson, Best Minority Issues Reporting. Their stories focused on four men whose mothers were found dead in and around convicted serial killer Anthony Sowell's home on Imperial Avenue in Cleveland. The series detailed how the sons decided to break the cycle of drug abuse, neglect and tragedy in their lives and in the lives of their children.
• Tom Breckenridge, Best Business Profile, for "Leading the Way: Frank Douglas." The story centered on Douglas, from his humble beginnings in Guyana to his prominent position as head of the Austen BioInnovation Institute of Akron and being chosen to help make Akron a leader in research for joint, bone and would healing.
• Sharon Broussard, Best Editorial Page Campaign, for "Children's Campaign." The series brought to light the weaknesses and failures of the Cuyahoga County Department of Children & Family Services, under the leadership of former Director Deborah Forkas, in protecting the lives of children who eventually died at the hands of their mothers and caregivers. Forkas was eventually fired from her position in February.
• Gabriel Baird, Henry J. Gomez and Mark Puente, Best Government Reporting, for "A Question of Values." The months-long investigation revealed, among other problems, that about 2,200 county tax records had been altered inappropriately with pens, fluid and erasures, whacking $145 million in property value from tax rolls.
• Diane Suchetka, Best Human Interest Writing, for "A Spirit That Won't Break." The story focused on Connie Culp, the first person in the country to undergo a near-total face transplant. Culp had no right eye, lower eyelids, top teeth, upper lip and nose after her common-law husband shot her in 2004.
• The Plain Dealer Staff, Best Political Reporting, for "County Reform." The series focused on how voters, who were fed-up with county corruption under a government with three county commissioners, choose a new county government that included one county executive and 11 council members.

• The Plain Dealer Staff, Best Deadline Reporting, for the newspaper's coverage of the corruption-related charges filed last September against former Cuyahoga County Auditor Frank Russo.
The newspaper swept some categories, winning both first and second place. Reporters Amanda Garrett and John Caniglia won the Best Criminal Justice Reporting award for "Presumed Guilty." The series looked into a number of cases that were prosecuted in the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court with little or no evidence.

Reporters Rachel Dissell and Leila Atassi won second place in the category for their look at sexual assault crimes. Those stories, following the discovery of the bodies of 11 women at Sowell's home, examined how the city of Cleveland handled missing-person and rape cases.
Connie Schultz and Phillip Morris finished first and second, respectively, in the columnist category. Features writer Debbi Snook finished first in the Best Critic category, followed by colleague Steven Litt in second place.
Other first place winners were Tony Brown, Best Arts Reporting; Thomas Ott and Edith Starzyk, Best Education Issues Reporting: K-12; Ted Diadiun, Best Media Criticism; Brent Larkin, Best Political Commentary; John Soeder, Best Rock and Roll Feature Writing; Andrea Levy, Best Graphic Designer; and Business Staff, for Aviation Coverage.
Second place winners were Mary Ann Whitley, Best Headline Writing; Michael O'Malley, Best Religion Reporting; and The Plain Dealer Staff, Best Sports Reporting, for "Cavs: Team in Transition."