Winning Stuff

The Rhode Island Press Association held its annual award banquet last Friday, May 9, and Rhode Island Monthly came away with the most prizes of any state media outlet.
Not to toot our own horn, but it feels pretty good. We got the most first places too; of our sixteen awards, nine of them were firsts. Only the Providence Journal newspaper came close (they got fourteen awards and six first places).
Below are links to our winning entries. Congrats to all our staff and writers, and while we’re at it, thanks to everyone around the state who works hard to cover Rhode Island in an age of shrinking budgets, paycuts and layoffs. It’s not always easy, but hey, as jobs go, at least it can be fun.

INVESTIGATIVE 
Driven to Drink: second place, the Barrington drunk driving story

BUSINESS
Don’t Touch that Dial: first place, the WRNI saga
Deal or No Deal: second place, how to survive in a crummy real estate market

EDUCATION
Notes from the Hood: first place, a feature on the Community Music Works program for inner city kids

ENVIRONMENT/SCIENCE
No Exit: first place, a story about the Tiverton community living on a toxic waste dump
Bad Reputation: second place, a story about a shark researcher doing a  dive off Block Island

 PROFILE
The Advocate: first place, a profile of Jametta Alston, the state’s child advocate, who was suing the governor

FEATURE IN DEPTH
The  Need for  Speed: first place, a feature on kids who go street racing
Most Valuable Player: third place, a feature about a teenage boy with a mysterious illness

ENTERTAINMENT
Dance Fever: first place, a profile of an artist who was influenced by a painting he inherited

SPECIAL SECTION
Best of Rhode Island: first place

PHOTO SERIES
The Need for Speed: third place

FEATURE PHOTO
A photo of the polar plunge: third place

PORTRAIT
Blues singer James Montgomery: first place
Bad Girls (girls in the training school): second place
Soil Sisters (women farmers): third place