Newspaper wins awards for autism series, other stories

BRANSON, Mo. -- The Southeast Missourian took home one first-place, three second-place and two third-place awards at the annual Missouri APME News Writing Contest.

The contest drew 200 entries from 18 newspapers and was judged by newspapers staffs from Nebraska. The awards were presented Friday in Branson at the APME's annual convention.

Staff writers Callie Clark Miller and Bob Miller were awarded first place in the community affairs/public interest category for their series "Piecing together autism."

Former staff writer Tony Rehagen won second place in feature writing for "Playing the numbers: High stakes for bingo games." Rehagen now works for a magazine in Indianapolis, Ind.

Sports writer Marty Mishow won two second-place awards, one in spot sports for "Vote of confidence: Garner on solid ground despite recent record" and one in sports features for "A new chapter: Central High School graduate was first African-American student-athlete at the university."

Staff writer Mark Bliss took home a third-place award in spot news for "Bridge's crash into river provides surprise ending."

In the sports features category, sports editor Toby Carrig was awarded third place for "Picture perfect: On a magical night 50 years ago, Central won its first boys basketball state tournament."

The awards were in Division II, for newspapers in cities with a population of 15,000 to 50,000.