Idaho Education News won 17 awards for reporting, investigation and website excellence in the 2019 Idaho Press Club statewide journalism  competition.

The awards were announced Saturday. Click here for a complete list.

Idaho Education News won five first place awards, including General Excellence for online news organizations. Idaho Education News also won first and second place in the special purpose category for Idaho EdTrends and the Idaho Report Card.

Idaho Education News reporter Devin Bodkin was named Idaho’s Reporter of the Year. He also won first place for his investigative/watchdog work teaming with EdNews data analyst Randy Schrader to produce “Fred Ball Investigation.”  Bodkin finished third in the same category with his investigation of “West Jefferson’s ‘Field of Dreams.’”

Idaho EdNews’ Sami Edge won a first-place award for best audience engagement for an Instagram project highlighting poverty and education and she won second place for her light feature “Pangaea Finn: 14-year-old college student.”

Idaho EdNews’ Kevin Richert received recognition for his blog (second place), his “Idaho’s Reading Challenge” series (third place) and his first amendment work.

Idaho Education News finished second and third in the first amendment category, for a collaboration between Richert and Schrader  on “Teacher Bonuses” and Bodkin and Schrader’s work on  the “Fred Ball Investigation.” Schrader collected data and documents to support both projects.

Also notable, Idaho Education News was honored for media innovation (third place for the Idaho Report Card) and best use of social media (third place, Facebook). Graphic designer Jon Sisk was honored for his video news stories and graphics.