Utah News Dispatch brings home 12 awards in Utah Headliners journalism contest

Utah News Dispatch won 12 awards in the Utah Headliners 2025 contest, including four first-place wins. (McKenzie Romero/Utah News Dispatch)

Utah News Dispatch claimed 12 awards, including four first-place wins, in this year’s Utah Headliners statewide journalism contest, which recognizes top journalism in writing and reporting, TV, radio and online news.

The highly competitive local journalism contest drew more than 1,200 entries, said Emma Penrod, president of the Utah Headliners, the state’s professional chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. 

Entries featured work published in 2024, Utah News Dispatch’s first year reporting since launching Jan. 9, 2024. The Dispatch’s four-person team competed in the large newsroom division, squaring off with the largest and longest-running news outlets in the state.

The Utah News Dispatch voter guide won the contest’s inaugural “News you can use” category, with judges saying: “An interactive, stellar example of service journalism, this piece excels in delivering practical, timely information that empowers readers to engage in the democratic process.”

Reporter Kyle Dunphey won this year’s continuing coverage award for his dogged reporting on the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, which since 1990 had compensated eligible residents in Western states who were made sick by radiation from U.S. weapons testing and development in the ’50s and ’60s but lapsed last summer when Congress failed to take action to continue it.

The judges said: “While a smaller media site, the Utah News Dispatch did an exemplary job of explaining why RECA is so important and how the legislation’s future could affect so many. It was consequential and well-executed, making politics in DC a meat-and-potatoes issue for so many Utahns. Well done!”

Senior Reporter Katie McKellar claimed two first-place wins. Her profile of innovative homeless service provider Switchpoint and its accountability-focused model won the Homelessness and Housing category, and she led the Longform Storytelling entries with her heartfelt report on a Utah man’s horseback ride across the country to spotlight the crisis facing wild mustangs.

McKellar was also recognized with an honorable mention in the prestigious Best News Reporter category.

Here’s a complete list of Utah News Dispatch’s awards: