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Montville Jounalist Wins Two SPJ Awards: Recognized For "Local Reporting" and "Reporting Series"
The Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists awarded two excellence in journalism awards to Corey Sipe, of Montville, CT.
Montville Journalist Wins Two SPJ Awards
They include:
– Excellence in Journalism first place in local reporting
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– Excellence in Journalism second place for a reporting series
Corey is a former full-time reporter for The Chronicle newspaper in Willimantic, CT and started writing for the paper back in April 2015 until May 2017.
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The award winners for the Connecticut SPJ Contest 2016-17 come from over 700 entries submitted by various media outlets in Connecticut. Those entries that were eligible to win an award were on a finalists list; they were judged by qualified journalists outside of Connecticut. CT SPJ judges entries from other states.
The awards for Connecticut journalists were presented during the Connecticut SPJ annual dinner on May 25, 2017 at the Grass Hill Club in Orange, CT. The dinner included a ceremony. This is the largest gathering of journalists in Connecticut each year, according to the Connecticut SPJ website.
After finding out he won the award, Corey said, “I am humbled and honored in winning these two awards. I am thankful for all those who have helped me along the way including God, my colleagues, family
members, and friends,” adding “it has been a pleasure serving the northeastern Connecticut community with quality journalism content.”
The Chronicle submitted four entries, from three different writers, into the Connecticut SPJ contest for 2016-17, but only Corey’s articles were recognized in the contest. He won two awards, which is his first time being recognized by Connecticut SPJ.
More than 350 awards were handed out that evening to journalists across the state including those working for newspapers, news magazines, news websites, and television broadcast stations news coverage. They
were for content created during the 2016 calendar year.
1st Place Award for Local Reporting
Corey was awarded an Excellence in Journalism first place award for local reporting, in regional category B, on his story entitled “Hope for the Holidays: Willi (Willimantic, CT) PD (police department) community
opens heart for girl.”
The article, published on Dec. 10/11, 2016 in The Chronicle, is about efforts by the Willimantic Policeman’s Benevolent Association, PBA, to collect toys and raise funds to help a Willimantic 9-year-old girl, Janesia Gary, who was injured in an East Hartford, CT fire.
Sources in the article include representatives from the police department, the girl, and her family members.
The story ran in a Saturday/Sunday weekend edition of the paper since the paper only prints six days a week.
The Connecticut SPJ defines “local reporting” as “a story that shines light on an issue important to a single town or region. This category is meant for those stories that fulfill the mission of community journalism.”
Connecticut SPJ recognized first, second, and third place awards in this category.
Awards were given out of a total of 10 entries for the local reporting award for regional category B including entries by the Middletown Press in Middletown, CT, Norwich Bulletin in Norwich, CT, Record-Journal in Meriden, CT, Register Citizen in Torrington, CT, Stamford Advocate in Stamford, CT, and The Day in New London, CT.
2nd Place Award in Reporting Series
Corey was also awarded an Excellence in Journalism second place award for a reporting series called “survivor stories”.
He wrote a series of eight stories for The Chronicle profiling cancer survivors participating in the Relay for Life event by the American Cancer Society at the Eastern Connecticut State University Baseball Stadium in Mansfield, CT on Oct. 25, 2016, as well as articles immediately before and after the event.
Most of the stories ran the last Saturday/Sunday each month, in a weekend edition, between April 30, 2016 and October 12, 2016.
Those who were highlighted in the series included Ned and Bonnie Squire, of North Windham, CT, as well as Steven Tucker, Grace Nowak, Jennifer Thompson, Amy Porter and Julie Kessler, all of Mansfield, CT.
“Relay for Life: Survivor Stories”
Part 1
“Diagnosis Leads Survivor Down New Path in Life” Apr. 30-May 1, 2016, page 1, The Chronicle
“Diagnosis Leads Survivor Down New Path in Life” Apr. 30-May 1, 2016, page 4, The Chronicle
Part 2
Part 3
“For Thompson, Early Detection Was Life Saver” June 25-26, 2016, page 1, The Chronicle
“For Thompson, Early Detection Was Life Saver” June 25-26, 2016, page 4, The Chronicle
Part 4
“Local Woman Beat Cancer Four Times” July 30-31, 2016, page 1, The Chronicle
“Local Woman Beat Cancer Four Times” July 30-31, 2016, page 4, The Chronicle
Part 5
“Couple Doesn’t Let Diagnosis Steal Their Lives” Aug. 27-28, 2016, page 1, The Chronicle
“Couple Doesn’t Let Diagnosis Steal Their Lives” Aug. 27-28, 2016, page 4, The Chronicle
Part 6:
“This Man Went High Tech Against the ‘Big C'”, Sept. 24-25, 2016, page 1, The Chronicle
“This Man Went High Tech Against the ‘Big C'” Sept. 24-25, 2016, page 4, The Chronicle
Part 7:
“Annual Relay for Life is Celebration of Bravery” Oct. 12, 2016, page 1, The Chronicle
“Annual Relay for Life is Celebration of Bravery” Oct. 12, 2016, page 4, The Chronicle
Part 8:
The Connecticut SPJ defines “reporting series” as “a formal series of no more than 10 articles, including investigative, in-depth or feature series.”
They recognized first, second, and third place awards in this category.
Awards were given out of a total of four entries including one article submitted by the Stamford Advocate and two articles submitted by The Day.
Categories
Media outlets are classified into different regional categories based on staffing and circulation.
Regional B is the most competitive with 18 Connecticut media outlets while regional A consists of eight Connecticut media outlets.
Five magazines are in the regional C category while the regional D category consists of six television broadcast stations.
There is additionally a hyperlocal category with 10 Connecticut media outlets including news websites and weekly publications.
About The Chronicle
The Chronicle’s coverage area includes many towns in northeastern Connecticut, also known as Connecticut’s Quiet Corner, including Andover, Ashford, Canterbury, Chaplin, Columbia, Coventry, Eastford,
Franklin, Hampton, Hebron, Lebanon, Mansfield, Scotland, Willington, and Windham.
The coverage area includes two major state universities: the University of Connecticut in Storrs (Mansfield) and Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic (Windham).
About Corey
Corey wrote more than 810 articles of varying lengths during a period of over two years which were published in The Chronicle newspaper and online at http://www.thechronicle.com.
One of the last articles he wrote for The Chronicle was regarding Murphy’s foreign policy approach, which he believes will help prevent unnecessary wars and conflicts.
“Murphy To Talk Foreign Policy at UConn”, Apr. 11, 2017, page 2, The Chronicle
“Murphy Talks Foreign Policy at UC” Apr. 12, 2017, page 1, The Chronicle
“Murphy Talks Foreign Policy at UC” Apr. 12, 2017, page 4, The Chronicle
He currently serves as editor-in-chief of The Connecticut Times and as a freelance reporter and photographer for Neighbors Paper in Ashford, CT.
His journalism career also includes writing and photography for Patch, Yahoo! Contributor Network, Triond, Reminder Newspapers/Hartford Courant, Villager Newspapers/Stonebridge Press, Pictorial Gazette/Journal Register Company, Montville Times/The Day, The Resident, FoxNet, which is the Foxwoods Resort Casino
employee internal communications website run by the Foxwoods Communications Department, and The Campus Lantern, a student weekly newspaper at Eastern Connecticut State University.
Corey graduated from Eastern Connecticut State University in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Policy and Government.