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Star wins 9 first-place awards in APME contest

Shari Rudavsky

The Indianapolis Star took home nine first-place awards in the 2015 Indiana Associated Press Media Editors contest, including one in the prestigious First Amendment/Community Affairs category.

The Star also claimed five second-place and four third-place awards in the annual contest.

Reporter Ryan Sabalow, photographer Robert Scheer and editor Steve Berta took home the First Amendment prize for their work on the four-part series "Buck Fever," an investigation of captive deer hunting.

The Star staff won for Deadline News Reporting for its work on a story about a federal judge striking down Indiana's ban on same-sex marriage.

Photographer Matt Detrich won first place in the feature photography category for his "Snow Proposal," a shot of a man on one knee proposing to his girlfriend in front of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument on Valentine's Day. His colleague Charlie Nye won first place for a photo package for his pictures on the Indy Crash, a local full-contact woman's football team.

Reporter John Russell took home first place for nondeadline news reporting for his three-part series "Pets at Risk," an investigation into whether certain canine medicines do more harm than good.

Sports reporter Zak Keefer won a first place for nondeadline sports reporting for his look back on "How Indiana Fell in Love with Basketball." Stephen Holder won a first-place award for sports column writing.

Matthew Tully's columns garnered him first place in column writing.

Reporter Marisa Kwiatkowski, who delivered the keynote speech at the awards ceremony Friday night, won a first-place award for her story "The Exorcisms of Latoya Ammons."