Michigan Press Association Awards
2nd Place, News Enterprise Reporting, 2013: “Man says firing was retaliation for report”
Honorable mention, 2013: “Helen Milliken: ‘An inspiration’ Former first lady known for her leadership, commitment to women’s rights, environment”
1st Place, News Enterprise Reporting, 2010: "Doubt"
2nd Place, Enterprise Reporting, 2009: "Unholy Childhood", Judge’s comment: “The hearts of readers had to break while learning of the abuse that transpired at a private school.”
2nd Place, Lifestyle Pages, 2009
3rd Place, "The Politics of Poop", 2008
1st Place, Enterprise Reporting, 2007: "The Legend of Willy Branch" Judge’s comment: “Awesome story. Excellent flow, really draws you in. Great quotes. It seems like the reporter had an excellent grasp on what seems to be a controversial historical issue.”
2nd Place, News Story, 2007: "Open Season on the Record-Eagle"
3rd Place, Feature Story, 2007: "I Thought I Was Going to Die"
2nd Place, News Story, 2006: "The wolf man of Brethren" , Judge’s comment: “Really well written, quirky tale of life and tragic death of one of society's outsiders. Story raises troubling questions of "suicide by cop" or an unjustified police shooting.”
National Awards
American Planning Association Journalism Award, 1991, for “public service rendered in the advancement of city and regional planning through outstanding journalism”
Education Writers Association, 2nd place winner of the 1991 National Award for Education Reporting for coverage of racial problems in the Traverse City public schools
Third place, 23rd Annual Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards, 1991, for the “invisible poverty” series
First place, General Excellence, Detroit Press Club Foundation, 1988: Report on Cambodian refugees living in Sacramento
Associated Press Awards
Sweepstakes award, 1993: Coverage of the Grand Traverse watershed.
1st Place, Breaking News, 1992: Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s assistance in the suicides of Stanley Ball and Mary Biernat
2nd Place, Breaking News, 1992: A report on a woman’s death after a new state government policy cut prescription funding for general assistance recipients
2nd Place, Public Service, 1989: A series of articles on the environmental ramifications of a proposed golf course
Third place, 1992: “Faces of Poverty”
Second Place, Breaking News, 1991: “Racist Notes” (Racial problems in the Traverse City Area Public School district) Regional award
Environmentalist of the Year in Journalism & Communications, 2007 (Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council): For a story about neighbors' fight to clear toxins from a cherry processing plant.
Voted the region’s “Red Hot” news reporter in a Traverse Magazine reader survey in 2009.