Stories on mining, Brian Mann's radio double are rural standouts in Sigma Delta Chi Awards for 2013

Some great rural journalism is included in the Sigma Delta Chi Awards for Excellence in Journalism in 2013, presented by the Society of Professional Journalists.

Samantha Wright and The Watch of Telluride, Colo., won the award for deadline reporting for non-daily newspapers for her story about miners who risked their lives in an unsuccessful effort to save two co-workers following an accident at a silver, gold and sulfide minerals mine near Ouray.

Also on the mining front, among daily newspapers with circulations of up to 50,000, Joe O'Sullivan and Daniel Simmons-Ritchie of the Rapid City Journal won the public-service award for their series, "South Dakota takes a hands-off approach to uranium mining." The award for online investigative reporting went to “Out of Breath: The Untold Story of Big Money, Black Lung and Doctors for the Coal Companies,” by Chris Hamby of the Center for Public Integrity and ABC News. The series won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting earlier this week, but only for Hamby; ABC complained, and CPI replied.

Jim Steinberg, Rachel Luna and Paul Penzella of the San Bernardino Sun won the award for non-deadline reporting by a small daily, for "Ghost Town," a story about Hinckley, Calif., fading away after toxins from a utility company polluted its groundwater. The award for newspapers of up to 100,000 circulation was won by Dave Philipps of The Gazette in Colorado Springs, who won the Pulitzer for national reporting for his series on treatment of veterans with "other than honorable" discharges.

The San Bernardino Sun also won the award for editorial writing in newspapers of up to 100,000 circulation for Jessica Keating's editorials on the city's recovery from bankruptcy. In the same size category, Mark Harmon of the Knoxville News-Sentinel won for column writing.

Louise Knott Ahern, Dave Wasinger and Rod Sanford of the Lansing State Journal won the award for feature reporting by small dailies for "Silence of the Wolves," about the plight of inbred wolves in Isle Royale National Park on Lake Superior.

John Partipilo of The Tennessean won the feature-photography award for dailies up to 100,000 for a package illustrating how rural ways of life are fading in fast-suburbanizing Middle Tennessee. The story by Duane Gang was good, too, and informed the caption below.

In broadcasting, Brian Mann of North Country Public Radio in New York was a double winner among journalists in small markets. His report with David Sommerstein, on the dangers of oil trains in the wake of a catastrophic explosion in nearby Quebec, won the award for public service in small markets, Nos. 101 and larger. He and Natasha Haverty also won for their investigative report “From Birth to Death Behind Bars.” The award for public-service radio in large markets was won by environmental reporter Erica Peterson of WFPL in Louisville for a series on black carbon.

Other rural radio winners included breaking-news coverage of the Moore, Okla., tornado by KGOU, KOSU, StateImpact Oklahoma and Oklahoma Public Media Exchange; investigative reporting of an Oregon county's budget problems by Amelia Templeton, Eve Epstein and Michael Clapp of Oregon Public Broadcasting; small-market by Natasha Haverty and Brian Mann of North Country Public Radio in New York; feature reporting, “Wild Goose Church,” by Robbie Harris and Connie Stevens of Nashville's WVTF and Radio IQ; and the documentary “Kentucky Dam: Power for the People,” by Todd Hatton and Chad Lampe of WKMS-FM in Murray.

Television winners in small markets (Nos. 51 and above) included the staff of KWTX-TV in Waco for breaking-news coverage of the fertilizer plant explosion in West, Tex.; for public service, “The Compassion Project,” by Jennifer Livingston, Mike Thompson and Anne Paape of WKBT-TV in La Crosse, Wis., Alex Rozier, Gabe Ferguson and Jordan Caskey of KHQ in Spokane for “The Climb For Closure,” a documentary about a mountain climber; and Mary Sturgill, Patrick Owens, Vanessa Holmes and Chase Conner of KBMT in Beaumont, Tex., for “Asher's Story,” a documentary about a small boy overcoming child abuse.

The award for public service in online journalism by an affiliated site went to John Sutter and Edythe McNamee of CNN for “The Most Unequal Place in America,” about income inequality in East Carroll Parish, Louisiana. The winners will be honored at an awards banquet on June 21 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.