The Akron Beacon Journal’s managing editor, Doug Oplinger, was inducted into the Ohio Associated Press Media Editors Hall of Fame on Sunday.
Also Sunday, the Beacon Journal took five awards at the group’s newspaper competition in Columbus.
Among copy editors from Ohio’s largest newspapers, Susan Gapinski Price received the award for best headline writer.
Staff writer Paula Schleis came in third for best news writer in Ohio.
Page designer Brian Shellito took third place for full-page design for “LeBron.”
The Beacon Journal took two third-place awards for best sports section. One was for its high school preview section and the other for its daily sports section.
Oplinger has been involved in Pulitzer prizes, statewide political coverage and the mentoring of countless journalists during his 45 years at the Beacon Journal, said the newspaper’s editor and vice president, Bruce Winges, in a letter in which he nominated Oplinger for the Editors Hall of Fame.
Oplinger began his career at the Beacon Journal in 1971 as a part-time reporter and has been managing editor since 2007.
In 1986, he was a key editor in a staffwide effort that led to the Beacon Journal being awarded the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for General News Reporting for “The Goodyear War.” The special section reconstructed the attempt by investors, led by Sir James Goldsmith, to take over Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
In 1993, Oplinger organized 16 focus groups for a 15-month project that examined race relations. Those stories brought the Beacon Journal the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.
Oplinger said on Sunday that after 45 years at the newspaper he still comes to work “excited and humble.” He said the newspaper has “long been recognized as unique and outstanding, and we strive to maintain that reputation.’’
The Associated Press reported that General Excellence awards for 2016 went to the Columbus Dispatch, the Canton Repository, the Mansfield News Journal, the (Newark) Advocate, and the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette
The Cincinnati Enquirer won the First Amendment Award for outstanding accomplishments in pursuing freedom of information. The Cincinnati Enquirer won with its entry “The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Efforts to Make Police Video Public.”