Idaho Capital Sun takes home 13 honors at Idaho Press Club awards, including Dutton’s win for reporter of the year

The Idaho Capital Sun received 13 awards, including four first place awards and the honor of Reporter of the Year for Audrey Dutton’s coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, at the Idaho Press Club banquet held Saturday night at the Boise Centre.

Dutton, who was also named reporter of the year in 2013, received eight awards at the annual event, including a first-place award for a story she wrote for her previous newsroom, the Idaho Statesman. Capital Sun reporters Clark Corbin and Kelcie Moseley-Morris also took home first place awards during the ceremony.

Corbin and Dutton took home the First Amendment award for their coverage of Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin’s education task force and her refusal to release public records and public comments related to the task force’s work. The Idaho Press Club sued McGeachin for the records and won the lawsuit.

To view the full list of awardees across all categories, go to idahopressclub.org/awards. 

At the banquet, Voces of Internship of Idaho advisory council member Rachel Spacek announced that the council selected the Capital Sun to host College of Idaho graduating senior Mia Maldonado during the summer months for its first-ever internship placement. The Idaho Capital Sun also opened the application window for its own summer internship for college students or recent graduates on Friday. Applications for that position are due May 13.

The Capital Sun, which is one of 26 nonprofit newsrooms in the States Newsroom network, celebrated its one-year anniversary on March 31. 

To sign up for the Capital Sun’s free morning newsletter, go to idahocapitalsun.com/subscribe, or to donate to continue to support its work, go to idahocapitalsun.com/donate. 

The Capital Sun’s awards include:

Spot News Coverage – Daily Print

First place: Kelcie Moseley-Morris – Idaho Capital Sun – Legislative staffer testifies at ethics committee investigating Idaho lawmaker accused of rape

Series   – Daily Print

First place: Audrey Dutton – Idaho Capital Sun – Health misinformation in Idaho

Third place: Kelcie Moseley-Morris – Idaho Capital Sun – Social worker crisis in Idaho

Political Report – Daily Print

First place: Clark Corbin – Idaho Capital Sun – 30 U.S. states now considering version of Idaho’s transgender athlete bill

Elections Report – Daily Print

Second place: Kelcie Moseley-Morris – Idaho Capital Sun – Where’s the money coming from in Idaho’s statewide races?

Pandemic Report – Daily Print

Second place: Audrey Dutton – Idaho Capital Sun – Inside an Idaho hospital on Thursday, a ‘slower rolling’ mass casualty event

Education Report– Daily Print

Second place: Audrey Dutton – Idaho Capital Sun – 16,000 school-aged kids in Idaho caught COVID-19. That’s not what school reports said.

Business Report – Daily Print

Second place: Audrey Dutton – Idaho Capital Sun – Idaho overpaid road builders millions for shoddy work. State says it won’t happen anymore.

Health/Medical Report – Daily Print

Second place: Audrey Dutton – Idaho Capital Sun – ‘The overall trend is bad’: This is what COVID-19 is doing to Idaho hospitals

Outdoor Feature – Daily Print

Third place: Clark Corbin   – Idaho Capital Sun – Are we loving Idaho’s nature to death? Why some have hope for outdoors with record use

General Column – Daily Print

Second place: Christina Lords – Idaho Capital Sun – We’ve put a lot of work into building relationships in Afghanistan and we can’t stop now; Idaho families are still and will always be suffering because of COVID, mine is one; That’s not who we are, Idaho, might be exactly who we are – for now

Website – General Excellence –Online

Third place: Staff – Idaho Capital Sun – IdahoCapitalSun.com

First Amendment Award

First place: Audrey Dutton, Clark Corbin – Idaho Capital Sun – McGeachin Public Records Coverage

Reporter of the Year – Publication

First place: Audrey Dutton – Idaho Capital Sun