The Park Record took a trove of 42 trophies and certificates back to Park City after nearly all of the newspaper’s staff was honored during the Utah Headliners Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists’ 2025 awards ceremony Thursday night at the Cleone Peterson Eccles Alumni House at the University of Utah.
There were 14 first-place awards, including best newspaper for Division B, 12 second-place awards, 12 third-place awards, three honorable mentions and one honors award. The Park Record won a total of 13 SPJ awards in 2023 and 15 awards in 2024.
“The Park Record does a great job of reflecting the community — all of the community — in its pages,” the judge’s comments said. “There’s no question about what the prevailing industry is, but local sports, community happenings, and city government are present as well. This feels like what a local paper should feel like.”
The Don Baker Investigative Journalism Award was given to freelance reporter Michelle Deininger for a Park Record article raising several concerns about former Park City School District Chief Operating Officer Mike Tanner.
“It’s definitely an honor. The story was so tough for an extended period of time,” Deininger said. “I kept joking that it took a couple of years off my life, and then I had this vision that getting this award put those years back.”
Deininger also won first place in the education category for the reporting. A judge said the article was well-sourced and showcased investigative efforts while highlighting the press’ watchdog role.
“Park City taxpayers should be grateful to have such a reporter track and question how their money is spent,” the judge commented.
While 39 of the awards landed in the writing and reporting category for Division B newspapers, which includes small non-daily publications, three of the awards were culled from the overall category: Best Online Multimedia, given to former Park Record Photo Editor Clayton Steward, who now lives out of state, for “The Making of a Fight“; a second-place honor the staff for best use of news-oriented social media; and a second-place certificate for Spanish-language journalism, which was given to Jonathan Herrera, Park Record’s bilingual reporter.
“It’s awesome,” Herrera said about his award for the story he wrote about a wellness festival hosted by Holy Cross Ministries. “It’s something I would have never expected. Being new to this industry in the past eight or nine months, it’s been super rewarding, especially within the Latino community, to give people a voice and platform and help them connect, communicate and reach the general public.”
Herrera wasn’t the only Park Record writer who won a first-ever journalism award.
Wasatch County reporter Clara Hatcher took home a first-prize trophy in the general feature category and certificates for three second-place stories and two third-place articles.
“These are my first professional awards, and they mean a lot,” she said. “I chose to cover Wasatch County because I think small-town journalism is extremely important. The awards give me a boost and push me to keep doing the best I can. I think they mean I’m on the right track.”
SPJ also surprised copy editor Parker Mortensen with a first-place win in Military and Veterans Affairs writing for a story about a former medevac pilot who received the Congressional Gold Medal. The judge said the article did a nice job at examining a piece of history “that’s still so painful to many.”
“He randomly came into the room, and I was like, ‘Hello, sir. I’d like to talk to you,’” said Mortensen, who started their journalism career as an intern at the Sanpete Messenger, before landing a position at The Park Record after leaving the profession for a while. “It’s almost kind of random that I ended up back here, but this (award) makes me feel like I want to keep doing this. And it’s not really about the award. It’s doing something I enjoy that is meaningful.”
Columnist Kate Sonnick received a first-place award in the humor/lifestyle category for her work on “Betty Diaries: Sex and the icky.” The judge said the column took the top honor by addressing a modern issue, by building on a cited podcast episode and by crowdsourcing perspectives from the author’s text group — bolstered by a memorable closing anecdote.
Sportswriter Jack Singer’s feature about Park City turning into a haven for elite distance runners received a third-place nod, while Klara Meyer, who covers ski resorts, was another first-time award winner.
Her coverage of the Park City Mountain Ski Patrol disputes landed her two honorable mentions in breaking news and continued coverage, while her stories about Park City Mountain’s season kick-off and the women’s Nordic combined face off resulted in respective third-place and honorable-mention recognitions.
“These are a big surprise,” Meyer said, who started working at The Park Record eight months ago. “This is my first job out of college. It’s my first job doing full-time journalism, and I think it will be very validating and exciting to see how far I can take it into the future. Hopefully, I’ll get up to first place one day.”
Meyer’s honorable mention was part of The Park Record’s sweep of the continuing coverage category that featured the newspaper’s Deputy Editor Toria Barnhart winning first for her coverage of Dakota Pacific’s efforts to develop the Tech Center project, city reporter Jay Hamburger’s second-place reporting on Park City’s Winter Olympics bid and Digital Editor Katie Hatzfeld’s third-place win for stories about the Yellow Lake Fire.
Hamburger also took home the first-place award in the breaking news category for an article about a pro-Palestinian march during the Sundance Film Festival.
Hatzfeld was among The Park Record staff’s return winners, too. In addition to her Yellow Lake Fire story, she won third-place certificates for stories about Wolf Creek Ranch and a cheese monger at Gold Creek Farms, as well as a second-place nod for a piece about Ritual Chocolate.
“We were judged by journalists in Indiana this year, which I think is a cool opportunity,” Hatzfeld said. “To see what their journalists are impressed by gives you a little glimpse into what’s interesting to your audience.”
Another returning Park Record winner was Brock Marchant, the former Wasatch County reporter who now writes for The Salt Lake Tribune. His awards include a first–place piece in the long-form reporting category about a heart-transplant patient.
“This is the kind of story that stays with you long after you’ve finished it. Rich in detail and personality, the writer does a great job of getting out of the way and letting the main character be the character he is. Great read,” the judge’s comments said.
Marchant also earned second place for an education story about a student who endured bullying and a third-place award for an article about an LGBTQ+ haven.
Summit County reporter Eva Herinkova won a second place in government reporting for a story about code officers and a third place for a story about Summit County leading the state in short-term rentals. Herinkova, Hatcher and Meyer each were hired in November 2024, giving them less than two months of eligibility in the 2024 contest period.
Barnhart, who won first place for the aforementioned coverage of Dakota Pacific’s dispute, added four more first-place awards to her resume, including Best Newspaper Reporter for a third consecutive year and a shared win with Steward for their series following the closure of Summit County’s only senior care facility.
The judge described Barnhart’s portfolio as “impressive” and said she displayed expertise and a strong connection to the community to cover a wide range of topics.
But it was The Park Record’s win for the overall Best Newspaper award that meant the most to her because it reflects the hard work of the news staff, which has doubled since she started in January 2022.
“We had to submit three full editions from random times throughout the year,” she said. “And I think that shows the great, strong work that all of our lovely staff has been doing all year.”
Park Record Editor and Publisher Don Rogers said he loved seeing the news staff celebrate each others’ achievements at the event, as well as their exposure to the wider news community in Utah.
“I hope some of SPJ’s wider impact as well as the history of Utah journalism makes an impression, too,” he said. “We don’t necessarily get that back in our mountain town slogging away on our daily stories and routines. But this organization does a lot to advance the cause and effectiveness of journalism that doesn’t necessarily get the attention or appreciation of, say, awards nights. Yet their work is so important for journalism and the communities we all serve.”
He also slipped in some love for the copy editors who he said quietly clean up, sharpen and shape the reports that maybe otherwise wouldn’t shine as award winners.
“Toria, Katie and Parker contribute as much, if not more, to their coworkers’ achievements as their own,” he said. “I hope they take satisfaction from that as well, because they should.”