The Des Moines Register staff took home 25 awards at the 2025 Iowa Newspaper Association contest, which honors the best work of newspapers across the state.
The Register staff walked away from the INA banquet with nine first-place awards, four second-place awards and 11 third-place awards for writing, photography, design, social media, and graphics and illustrations in its size class for Iowa dailies.
The Register also won third place for General Excellence among large daily newspapers.
In addition, Register sports reporter Alyssa Hertel was one of three recipients of the Jay P. Wagner Prize for Young Journalists.
Des Moines Register high school sports reporter Alyssa Hertel (center) has been named a recipient of the 2025 Jay P. Wagner Prize for Young Journalists for the Iowa Newspaper Association. Flanking her are Register Deputy Sports Editor Will Kennedy (left) and News Director/Politics Editor Mike Trautmann (right).
Here are the results:
Bill Monroe Best Special Digital Project
The Register was recognized for its Iowa Caucus Candidate Tracker, which allowed readers to map campaign stops, download event details to their calendars and more.
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First place: Des Moines Register editorial staff.
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Judge‘s comments: “The amount of work to put this together is mind blowing. What an invaluable reader resource.”
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First place: Des Moines Register, Lucas Grundmeier
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Third place: Des Moines Register sports staff
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Third place: Des Moines Register, Clay Sisk
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Second place: Des Moines Register, Samantha Hernandez, Chris Higgins, Stephen Gruber-Miller and Phillip Sitter
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Judge’s comments: “Great education coverage with good design and graphics to draw attention and highlight important information. The statewide book ban aggregation put this in second place!”
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Third place: Des Moines Register, Donelle Eller
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Judge’s comments: “A nice collection of stories. And again allowing the voices of the people impacted here to come through.”
Community leadership
The Register was recognized for a collection of articles examining the effects of Senate File 496, a sweeping new education law that bans nearly all books depicting sex acts from public schools.
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First Place: Des Moines Register, Samantha Hernandez, Tim Webber, Phillip Sitter and Chris Higgins
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Judge’s comments: “This is a subject near to all of us in publishing. You have put in an amazing amount of effort to cover the state and let people know that their children are not being allowed to read what you feel is fine. Great work.”
Best headline writing
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First place: Des Moines Register staff
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Judge’s comments: “This entry had headlines that were smart and poignant. “A Bridge to the End” headline put this entry in first place.”
Best use of graphics
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First place: Des Moines Register, Tim Webber
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Judge’s comments: “I played around on these pages far longer than I expected to. I would imagine your readers did too. Top notch work. Super cool use of graphics and information.”
Best use of social media
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Third place: Des Moines Register, Brian Smith, Natalie Howell and Nixson Benitez.
Best podcast
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Third place: Des Moines Register, Chad Leitsikow, Tyler Tachman and Dargan Southard
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Judge’s comments: “It was clear the host had a lot of knowledge about each podcast guest and each podcast felt well-rounded. Interesting to hear the ‘life story’ of the guests, along with how they were feeling about their future.”
Best news story
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Judge’s comments: “Clearly explains the challenges confronting medical providers and female patients as an abortion ban descends on Iowa. Ramm’s detailed writing fosters understanding of what the new law could mean.”
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Judge’s comments: “This is one of the most important functions of a newspaper: removing the veil of secrecy that keeps the public’s business hidden from them. Good writing and reporting in clear and pertinent style. Democracy is served best when reporters take the time to cover failures in open government. Barreda did just that.”
Best news feature story
Best sports story
Best series
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First place: Des Moines Register, Lee Rood for a series examining sexual abuse at Boys Town
Excellence in editorial writing
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Second place: Des Moines Register, Lucas Grundmeier editorials
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Judge’s comments: “Outstanding long-form editorials on matters of local and national import. I appreciate the care put into these.”
Best sports columnist
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Judge’s comments: “I enjoy your unique touches to articles about subjects that other journalists are probably covering. Your touches, however, look at the topic from a different and interesting view. I enjoyed your articles very much.”
Best breaking news photo (multi-day)
Neighbors embrace Penny Thomsen outside of her home in Pleasant Hill, Saturday, April 27, 2024. The Des Moines suburb was one of multiple cities hit as tornados ripped across the state Friday evening.
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Third place: Des Moines Register, Zach Boyden-Holmes
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Judge’s comments: “You show the human element.”
Best sports photo (multi-day)
Iowa State Cyclones guard Keshon Gilbert (10) dunks the ball in a first-round game against South Dakota State in the NCAA Tournament, Thursday, March 21, 2024 at CHI Health Center Arena in Omaha.
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First place: Des Moines Register, Zach Boyden-Holmes
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Judge’s comments: “This shot is absolutely amazing!”
Best photographer
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Third place: Des Moines Register, Cody Scanlan
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Judge’s comments: “Great use of color and lighting and good at catching the shot.”
Victoria Reyna-Rodriguez is a general assignment reporter for the Register. Reach her at vreynarodriguez@registermedia.com or follow her on Twitter @VictoriaReynaR.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Des Moines Register wins 25 Iowa Newspaper Association awards
