Baltimore Fishbowl took home 21 awards in the Maryland, Delaware, District of Columbia (MDDC) Press Association Contest this week for works published in 2022.
Among those awards were three “Best of Show” honors, including one for “Website of General Excellence.”
For the first time in four years of participation in the association, Baltimore Fishbowl won first place in the online news division and Best of Show across all divisions for “Website of General Excellence.”
Judges noted Baltimore Fishbowl’s unique look and hometown feel. “It is obviously not a corporate template and the typography gives it flavor,” the award reads.
“The homepage shows the care and dedication of the staff with a nice use of color and layout. The ads are well separated from the content which keeps the editorial easy to access,” according to the award.
Criteria for the category included social media and engagement; local news coverage; ease of navigation and design; multimedia visualization; and mobile-responsive design. Last year, Baltimore Fishbowl worked with the publishing platform Newspack, a collaboration between WordPress and Google, to redesign our website unveiled in October 2022. The goal was to create a more user-friendly experience to allow readers to more easily access the articles, columns, photo galleries, and other content they know and love. The site continues to deliver daily news coverage as well as features on local voices, events, real estate, restaurants, and more to showcase the livability of Baltimore City and the surrounding region.
Executive Editor David Nitkin and Baltimore Fishbowl writer Karen Nitkin won a Best of Show award in the Headline category. The husband-and-wife-duo also swept the category in our division, earning both first place for the headline “Aw, shucks: This young man is a natural at serving up fresh oysters,” and second place for “Along came a cider: 9 1/2 hours touring the makers of an increasingly popular beverage.”
Karen’s story about the young oyster shucker also won her second place in the Feature Story (Profile) category.
Fishbowl’s third Best of Show award went to freelance photographer Josh Sisk in the Feature Photo category. Baltimore Fishbowl again swept the category in our division, with Sisk earning first place for a photo he took at the Maryland Deathfest music festival. Second place went to Managing Editor Marcus Dieterle’s photo of artist Bruce Willen’s “Library of Lost Gloves & Lost Loves” at Druid Lake.
Dieterle also won first place in the division in the Religion Reporting category for his article about a local independent Catholic church’s efforts to create a welcoming space for LGBTQ+ individuals, divorcees, and other parishioners who have been unfairly cast out from the faith.
Baltimore Fishbowl won first place in the “Advertising-driven Special Publication – Standalone” category for our “Guide to Baltimore Independent Schools, 2022-2023.” The team behind this seventh annual school guide included the guide’s publisher Nicole Allen; editorial director Susan Gerardo Dunn; editor in chief Elizabeth Heubeck; graphic designer Charlie Herrick; advertising executive Julie Sawyer; photographer Whitney Wasson; and contributors Joe DeMartin, Marian McCusker, Courtney McGee, and Karen Nitkin.
Author Marion Winik, who writes the Bohemian Rhapsody column for Baltimore Fishbowl, earned first place in the Local Column (Feature or Humor) category for her piece “When I’m Sixty-Four.”
Baltimore Fishbowl swept the Arts/Entertainment Reporting category, with freelance writer Ed Gunts winning first place for his article about Baltimore’s resident filthmonger John Waters and his exhibition at C. Grimaldis Gallery, exploring “the bizarre, the absurd, and the poorest of tastes.” Freelance writer Ed Schrader won second place for his piece about Baltimore DJ Kotic Couture, who shared her journey from growing up listening to pop-punk music in a small town on Maryland’s Eastern Shore to coming out as a trans woman and releasing her new album.
Freelance photographer Carl Schmidt won both first and second place in the Best Photo Gallery category. First place went to his gallery capturing scenes from the Harbor Point Ice Festival, while his photos of the Morgan State STEM Expo took home second.
Earning second place in the Sports Story category was Gunts’ article about the $3.5 million plan to change the left-field dimensions at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
Freelance writer Karuga Koinange earned second place in the Sports Feature Story category for his article about the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, Maryland, where U.S. Open semifinalist Frances Tiafoe trained.
In the Education Reporting category, freelance writer Matthew Liptak won second place for his article about the growing tutoring industry in Baltimore and across the country.
Freelance writer Adam DeRose’s article about stormwater management at the Church of the Redeemer in North Baltimore won second place in Environmental Reporting.
Freelance writer Latrice Hill’s article about the Topcoat non-toxic nail salon, owned by four children of Vietnamese immigrants who sought to improve air quality in the nail industry, won second place for Business Reporting.
Our staff congratulates all MDDC winners at other outlets who won awards of their own!
We also thank the readers who support our work and the sources who share their stories. Journalism is, at its core, about people. We would not be able to do this work without you.
Thank you,
Marcus Dieterle
Managing Editor
Baltimore Fishbowl
