Connecticut Wrestling Online was recognized by the Connecticut chapter of the Society of Professional Journalism Thursday with an 2020 Excellence in Journalism award.
Editor and website founder Gerry deSimas, Jr., was recognized with a third place award for sports news in the Regional B division, which includes smaller newspapers and larger websites from around the state.
His story on Xavier’s victory over Simsbury in the 2020 Class L tournament was honored. No. 4 Xavier put five wrestlers in the finals, won three individual championships and outlasted Simsbury by 2½ points to capture their first state championship tournament since 2012.
Xavier coach Mike Cunningham told his team before the finals began, “It is in your hands. If you want to win it, Simsbury isn’t going to give it you. Go out and do your best.”
DeSimas also won two first place awards for stories at Collinsville Press.com in the sports news and sports feature categories.
The 2020 Excellence in Journalism contest received hundreds of entries. The three biggest awards went to the New Haven Independent, the Hartford Courant and the Connecticut Post.
The New Haven Independent website won the First Amendment Award for their story regarding Connecticut’s Freedom of Information Commission and their ruling that schools may no longer hide evidence of educator misconduct by claiming they need to protect student’s confidentiality
The Hartford Courant won the Stephen A. Collins Public Service award for their series of stories on how the coronavirus has changed our way of life in Connecticut.
The Connecticut Post won the Theodore Driscoll Award for investigative reporting for their series of stories on Death by Gun. Bill Cummings, Ed Stannard, Ethan Fry, Tara O’Neill, Brian Lockhart, Clare Dignan, Ben Lambert and Mark Zaretsky contributed to the story.
