COLUMBUS — Members of the Herald-Star staff earned two first-place awards, three second-place awards and two third-place awards in this year’s Ohio Associated Press Media Editors contest.

Staff members finished first in the best public service category for Community Stars 2019, our annual recognition of the men and women of the Tri-State Area who do the right thing simply because it is the right thing to do. They also claimed first place in the best special sports section category for The Gridiron 2019.

The Herald-Star competes in Division II, which includes newspapers with a daily circulation of between 8,000 to 11,999. Those entries were judged by the editors at the Mount Pleasant Morning Sun and Cadillac News in Michigan. Members of those panels were impressed with both publications.

“A simple idea executed perfectly, focusing on those who are the fabric of their community and who otherwise may never get this attention,” they said of Community Stars. “It’s good to hold a mirror to our communities and show readers what is right and good.

Entries from The (Celina) Daily Standard and The (Ashtabula) Star Beacon finished second and third in the category.

The Gridiron, our annual high school football preview, stood out in a field of strong entries, and the judges said they “appreciated the depth, variety and layout” of it over football previews from The Medina Gazette and Ashland Times-Gazette, which finished second and third.

Community Editor Janice Kiaski finished second in the best columnist category.

“Janice’s pieces are light and airy but never stray far from relevance or fall into the quicksand of overindulgence,” the judges wrote.

Regina Brett of the Cleveland Jewish News was first in the category and Jean Giesige of The (Celina) Daily Standard was third.

Executive Editor Ross Gallabrese was second in best editorial writer. Benjamin Lanka of The (Newark) Advocate finished first in the category while Nick Sabo of the Mount Vernon News was third.

Sports Editor Joe Catullo was second in best sports writer. William Kosileski of the Ashland Times Gazette finished first and Colin Foster of The (Celina) Daily Standard was third.

Catullo also finished third in best sports photo for his shot “Celebratory Moment,” which was taken after Toronto won the Division IV state baseball title in June. Dan Melograna of The (Celina) Daily Standard finished first and Bryant Billing of The Sydney Daily News was second.

Sports writer Andrew Grimm finished third in best sports columnist. Kevin Wiseman of the Ashland Times-Gazette finished first and Les Levine of the Cleveland Jewish News was second.

“Congratulations to all of our staff members for being recognized,” Gallabrese said. “We know the high quality of work they do every day. They always put our readers first, and it’s great to see their work recognized by their peers.”

While the finalists in each of the categories were released in February, the order of finish had been scheduled to be revealed at the annual awards luncheon and AP state meeting. That meeting, which had been scheduled to be held May 9 at the Columbus Hilton at Easton Town Center, was canceled Monday because of concerns surrounding the spread of COVID-19. The winners were announced shortly after that decision was made.

Fifty-six daily newspapers submitted 1,630 entries in the contest, which featured news and sports stories, features, editorial, columns, graphics and photos from 2019.

The Cleveland Jewish News won the general excellence award in Division II. Also winning general excellence awards were the Columbus Dispatch in Division V (daily circulation more than 60,000); The Canton Repository in Division IV (daily circulation of 19,000 to 59,000); The Sandusky Register in Division III (daily circulation of 12,000 to 18,999) and The (Massillon) Independent in Division I (daily circulation up to 7,999.)

This year’s First Amendment Award went to the Cincinnati Enquirer for its work in expanding access to public records.

Three journalists were inducted into the Ohio APME Hall of Fame for exhibiting exceptional distinction and honor in the field of journalism: Jim Siegel and Gary Kiefer of the Columbus Dispatch and Tom Archdeacon of the Dayton Daily News.

Danae King, a reporter with the Columbus Dispatch, was named the APME Rising Star, which recognizes journalists with less than five years in the profession.