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…