North News brings home four SPJ ‘Page One’ awards

Two first place awards and David Pierini honored for writing and photography 

North News walked away with four Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) “Page One” awards for its 2020 coverage. 

North News was awarded first place Page Design for its “Boundless Waters” story and spread (Aug. 28, 2020) and first place for Best Social Media Account for the publication’s Facebook page. 

This photo of Maleda Xiong, Miss Hmong Minnesota, earned David Pierini a second place award for Best Portrait Photography in the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists’ “Page One” awards. Photo by David Pierini

David Pierini earned awards for both writing and photography. Pierini’s photos of Maleda Xiong, Miss Hmong Minnesota (Feb. 28, 2020), and bluesman Cornbread Harris (April 30, 2020 [online]) earned second place honors in the Best Portrait Photography category and his stories on youth hockey on the Northside (Jan. 31, 2020), and profiles on Ashli Henderson – comedian pushed into community advocacy – following last summer’s uprisings (July 31, 2020) and peace activist K.G. Wilson (Sept. 25, 2020) garnered a third place award for feature writing. 

Journalists from the Los Angeles Press Club judged this year’s SPJ “Page One” contest. Plaques and certificates will be distributed in September at an event at Roseville’s Central Park.