LOCAL & STATE
Staff, The Oklahoma Eagle
THE OKLAHOMA EAGLE TEAM, (TOP LEFT-RIGHT) Gary Lee (Managing Editor), Ross D. Johnson (Principal, Creative Director), (CENTER LEFT-RIGHT) Dr. Jerry Goodwin (Principal, Contributor), Kimberly Marsh (Contributor),(BOTTOM LEFT-RIGHT) David M. Goodwin (Contributor), Sam Levrault (Production Manager) PHOTO SAM LEVRAULT MEDIA
‘Clear Winner. Bold Cover Layouts, Almost Magazine Like. Reminds Us Of The Sunday New York Times,’ Judges Noted.
OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Eagle – one of America’s oldest Black-owned newspapers and an institution that rose from the ashes of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre – won a record number of top journalism honors in the Oklahoma Press Association’s 2024 Better Newspaper Contest Awards.
The newspaper won 20 awards – besting the 18 awards we won in 2023 – at the OPA Awards Banquet on June 8 at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Oklahoma City.
The weekly newspaper won a total of nine first place awards for the OPA’s Division 4 category, the best showing since resuming participation in the contest in 2022.
The Eagle garnered the most first place and total awards of any other publication in its division. First place awards to Managing Editor Gary Lee and Principal Ross Johnson led the notable tally of the newspaper’s citations.
The Midwest City Beacon and Mustang Times each finished with 10 awards to tie for second most awards. There are 180 state newspapers and news organizations represented by OPA.
In addition to the awards, Eagle publisher, owner, and third-generation Oklahoma journalist James O. Goodwin, Esq., received the H. Milt Phillips Award, the highest honor given by the OPA Board of Directors. He is the first Black person to receive the award in its 44-year history.
Goodwin thanked the Eagle’s staff for helping the media company sustain its 102-year legacy of producing important, quality, and critical journalism that continues to make an impact.
“We understand our mission and we know our history,” Goodwin said. “We don’t shy away from our responsibility to uplift our community, to celebrate our successes, to report on our challenges, and to hold elected officials and institutions accountable for decisions that negatively impact our progress toward equality, equity and inclusion.”
The publisher cited the Eagle’s leadership team, led by Managing Editor Gary Lee, Dr. James “Jerry” Goodwin, Ross Johnson, and M. David Goodwin.
“These awards represent a remarkable accomplishment for the Eagle,” managing editor Lee said. “They are the result of the consistently dogged work by a staff that combines thoughtful reporting, piercing writing, and impactful design to produce the paper week after week. I am grateful that OPA has honored the labors of Team Eagle.”
“We continue to benefit from our shared commitment to leaning forward together,” Johnson said. All of the awards earned this year are a clear indication of what is possible when we build upon our strengths.”
In OPA’s Better Newspaper Contest, the Eagle was honored in the following categories:
- First place for “Layout & Design” for the June 23, Aug. 18 and Sept. 29 editions. The judges said the Eagle was a “Clear winner. Bold cover layouts, almost magazine like, but on a metro page. Reminds us of The Sunday New York Times. Inside pages a little more uneven.” The Midwest City Beacon and the Mustang Times finished in second and third places, respectively.
- First place for “Editorial Writing” for these three editorials: “The Destruction of Democracy: GOP’s Scheme,” “The Killing of Tyre Nicholas,” and “Invasion of Greenwood.” “This is a master class in editorial writing,” the judges said of the editorials, penned by Ross Johnson. “Compelling, well researched and well written.” The Midwest City Beacon and the Mustang Times finished in second and third places, respectively.
- First, second and third places in “News Story” were awarded to Gary Lee for three stories: “Tulsans Unite To Oppose Bid For Takeover Of The City’s School System,” “Will Justice Prevail For Race Massacre Survivors?” and “Tulsans Remember Tina Turner, A Down-To-Earth Rock Star.”
For his first-place award, the judges noted that his story was “well sourced and researched reporting on an important issue. Good job bringing in personal accounts of the impacts.” For his coverage on the Tulsa Race Massacre, the judges said it was a “well written update on an incredible story.” On his tribute to Tina Turner, the judges said “nothing beats the local angle on a national story, or in this case, international. A well written, anecdote laden piece.”
- First and second places for “Feature Story” for entries Lee’s Tulsans Remember Tina Turner, A Down-To-Earth Rock Star” and M. David Goodwin’s profile on author and Eagle contributing writer Victor Luckerson, “A book that finally tells Greenwood’s epic story.” For Lee’s story, the judges commented: “What a great feature on the hardest working woman in show business. Great storytelling and review of one of the most iconic women in the industry.” For Goodwin’s entry, the judges said it was a “compelling story on the ‘missing link’ in our Black towns. Thoroughly research. Great entry.”
- First and second places for “Business Story” for entries by Gary Lee “All The Fixins: Welcome to Black Wall Street’s New Eatery,” and Kimberly Marsh’s profile, “Popup shops.”
- First and second places for “Education Story” for Gary Lee’s continuing series on the how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted Oklahoma’s public education system and its students; and John Neal’s coverage on Oklahoma’s controversial law that allows parents to use state money to fund their children’s private education. For Lee’s first place award, Two Tulsa Educators Who Overcame The Pandemic’s Challenges, the judges noted it was “part of a larger series, but this one was my favorite because of the before, during and after-COVID context.” For Neal’s second place award, “Public funding, private schools,” the judges said it was “an incredibly well-written explanation of how Oklahoma’s school credit system will work and the challenge of the policy.”
- First and second places for “Column Writing” for three of John Neal’s columns: “It’s No Surprise: Black Tulsans continue to struggle at an alarming rate” “Many Black Neighborhoods Are Not A City Priority,” and “Post Pandemic food insecurity worsens for Black Americans.” Kimberly Marsh received second place for three columns: “Scenes from the revival of the community,” “Revivalists envision future for All-Black Towns,” and Popup shops.”
- First and third places for “Photo Essay/Picture Page.” For first place, Basil Childers and Ross Johnson were honored for “Revivalists envision future for All-Black Towns.” “Great photos that illustrate the theme,” the judge said. “Well composed, nicely arranged.” Sam Levrault won third place for “Tulsans take the state in ‘Reflections.’” “Beautifully arranged page. Nice photos of cast. Congratulations,” the judge said.
- First and second places for “Front Page Design” for Ross Johnson and Samantha Levrault for the Aug. 25 and July 21 editions, respectfully.
- Second place for “In-Depth Reporting” for Lee for the “Students of the COVID-19 Era. “Weaving together general information and compelling personal accounts, this project shows empathy while providing strong context for post-COVID impacts.”
- Second place in “Community Leadership” for an ongoing series, “Students of the COVID-19 Era,” investigating how the BIPOC community has been impacted by the deadly pandemic and the resiliency to persevere and succeed. “A very thorough work. Well done,” the judge said. The Midwest City Beacon received first place for its “Food Drive” story project.
- Third place for “News Content” for the April 7, Aug. 25 and Sept. 29 editions that judges said had “striking front page designs and creative approaches to storytelling.”
The Eagle competed in the OPA’s Division 4, which includes weekly newspapers serving communities with populations of more than 19,000 people.
Members of the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association judged almost 1,450 entries from 74 Oklahoma news publications.
Receiving the Oklahoma Newspaper Foundation’ Beachy Musselman Award was Bruce Willingham, publisher and editor at the McCurtain Gazette.
Willingham has held his city and county officials accountable in McCurtain County for more than 40 decades. He joined the McCurtain Gazette as executive editor in 1985. He and his wife Gwen bought the Gazette and Broken Bow News in 1988.
Willingham has covered about 100 murder trials in McCurtain County since 1980 and led multiple investigations that led to changes in the community.
In 2023, Willingham suspected McCurtain County commissioners of conducting business after meetings adjourned. The shocking conversation he recorded and published made national news as it revealed racist remarks and threats made against him and his son, longtime Gazette reporter Chris Willingham. The threats came after the Gazette‘s coverage of multiple problems in the sheriff’s department.
The recipient of the Musselman Award is selected by the Oklahoma Newspaper Foundation Board of Trustees.
Other journalists honored at the OPA’s convention included the following:
- The Half Century Club inducted four new members: John Ferguson, editor of the Wagoner County American-Tribune; Susie Glasscock, office supervisor at the Stillwater News Press; Joe Hight, longtime editor at The Oklahoman and now director of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame; and Jeff Mullin, former senior writer and current columnist at Enid News
- Stillwater News Press received first place in the OPA Magazine Contest.
- Ray Lokey Memorial Award for Excellence in Reporting, presented to Clifton Adcock, The Frontier.
- Editorial Sweepstakes Award, sponsored by ONG, presented to Kim Poindexter, Tahlequah Daily Press.
- Column Sweepstakes Award, sponsored by ONG, presented to Jennifer Sharpe, The Journal Record.
- Daily, Semi- or Tri-Weekly Photo of the Year, sponsored by OGE Energy Corp., presented to Richard R. Barron, The Ada News.
- Weekly Photo of the Year, sponsored by OGE Energy Corp., presented to Kyle Lomenick, The Perkins Journal.
ONF Joseph H. Edwards Outdoor Writer of the Year presented to Connor Choate, Marietta Monitor.
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And we avoid the trap that befalls much U.S. media – the tendency, born of a desire to please all sides, to engage in false equivalence in the name of neutrality. While fairness guides everything we do, we know there is a right and a wrong position in the fight against racism and injustices. When we report on issues like the mental health crisis in the Black community, the ongoing issues with public education, and the political discord and troubling legislation being enacted at the Oklahoma statehouse, we are not afraid either to name or hold those individuals responsible for problems that work against improving the lives of Black people.
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Gary Lee, Managing Editor
