A prayer meeting at Starrville Methodist Church on Tuesday January 5, 2021. The prayer meeting was being held in honor of the late Pastor Mark Allen McWilliams and his wife Rosemary. McWilliams was fatally shot by a man hiding from law enforcement in the church Sunday morning. (Michael Cavazos/ News-Journal Photo)

The Tyler Morning Telegraph won six awards at this weekend’s Texas Managing Editors conference in Irving.

The Texas Headliners Excellence in Journalism Awards is the premier competition in Texas journalism, according to the organization.

The newspaper team earned a second place award in the Star Online Package of the Year category for its story about Tyler father Tim Frost collaborating with skateboarder Tony Hawk to make song with his son, Odin Frost, who has autism. The story was written by former multimedia reporter Raquel Torres with photos and video taken by staff multimedia reporter Ana Conejo.

The newspaper also earned an honorable mention in the Community Service category for its collective package of Winter Storm Uri coverage.

After the February 2021 storm, the news team investigated and worked with the City of Tyler for an in-depth look at the city’s response to the storm. The three-part series featured a story about Tyler’s water system and other infrastructure prior to the winter storm; the city’s response to the storm and issues that faced the city and residents who lost water and power; and what the city said it could’ve done differently and lessons learned. Also part of the submitted entry was an editorial by the Tyler Morning Telegraph editorial board that detailed what staff learned while reporting on the project.

“Great story content, relevant timelines and historical perspectives,” judges said of the entry.

Another honorable mention was earned by the news staff in the Team Effort category for its coverage of the shooting death of Starrville Methodist Church Pastor Mark Allen McWilliams. The entry included three stories: the breaking news story about the pastor’s death by former editor John Anderson; another story with more details about the shooting by Anderson and former multimedia reporter Zak Wellerman; one in which McWilliams’ wife Rosemary spoke to church members and the community following her husband’s death by Wellerman; and a story by Anderson about a church member who was shot and injured during the shooting. Staff photographer Michael Cavazos’ photos were also part of the entry.

The breaking news coverage also earned an honorable mention in the Star Breaking News Report of the Year.

Sports editor Phil Hicks took home an honorable mention in the Celeste Williams Star Sportswriter of the Year category for a collection of four stories, including a column titled “Back in the day, Patrick Mahomes picked against Brady, but for his eventual coach”; a story titled “Put a ring on it: 48 years later state champion Troup Tigers get their rings”; a column about ”East Texan Leon Black — a pioneer and trailblazer”; and a story about Tyler Junior College’s annual Boo-Ball game.

Staff designer Ted Townsend earned an honorable mention in the Infographics category for a graphic he created detailing East Texas unemployment claims amid labor challenges for the area.

“Nice collection of small nuggets of numbers and making it a collective whole,” the judges said.

The Texas Association of Managing Editors joins each year with the Headliners Foundation of Texas to honor journalism work as practiced by the state’s daily newspapers.

“Through this partnership, the Texas Managing Editors annual contest is complemented by a group of honors known as the Texas Headliners Excellence in Journalism Awards,” the group states on its website. “Texas Managing Editors also honors newspapers and journalists from around the state with awards in 29 general categories, as well as awards for College and University publications, Spanish-language publications and Associated Press staff members.”

In addition to the awards announced over the weekend, the Tyler Morning Telegraph recently won 15 awards from the North and East Texas Press Association.

The Tyler Morning Telegraph’s sister papers brought home a slew of awards at this weekend’s conference. The Longview News-Journal earned 15 awards while the Victoria Advocate earned 24.

See the full list of winners from across the state of Texas at www.tapmecontest.org/winners/ .