New Times Writers Take Honors in Alternative Newsmedia Competition

Phoenix New Times reporter Meg O’Connor won the David Carr Award for investigative reporting in the Association of Alternative Newsmedia journalism competition, it was announced Saturday.

O’Connor won for her series “Reefer Sadness,” about the needless arrests of pot smokers, written when she was on a fellowship at Miami New Times, a sister paper. She joined Phoenix New Times in April.
She will receive the $500 first prize.

Two Phoenix New Times contributors, Sean Holstege and Bill Myers, also took honors in the competition.

Holstege finished second in the beat coverage category for a collection of crime stories he wrote in 2018, including a two-part series, “Circle of Terror,” about how a Syrian bomb-maker was convicted in Phoenix for IEDs that killed Arizona soldiers in Iraq.

Myers placed third in longform writing for “Missing Deadly Signs,” his cover story about the Phoenix City Prosecutor’s Office’s decision to release accused abusers who later were charged with murder.