This entry for “Overall Excellence” includes a variety of pieces from the KTAR News team. It begins with the breaking news coverage of the shooting of Phoenix Police officer Tyler Moldovan on Dec. 14, 2021.

It then chronicles the start of the Cyber Ninjas’ audit of the 2020 General Election in Maricopa County, Arizona. The controversial audit began in April and while the count itself finished in the summer and the results were released in September, our coverage continued well into the last days of December. In between, lawsuits and congressional hearings ensued.

The COVID-19 Pandemic upended the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Arizona. Our pandemic coverage part of this entry begins with the heartbreaking story of a young father in the hospital for nearly five months and his wife’s hopes he survives, recovers, and gets to meet his newborn baby. We also bring you pieces of our special series “Pandemic in Arizona: one year in.”

In April, the KTAR Newsroom produced a special series titled “Arizona’s Rising Real Estate” looking at the rising cost of building and buying a home in the Phoenix metro area. It included an explanation of how we got to a less than a week supply of available homes, the challenges for first time buyers, the lack of affordable housing and what the future may hold.

In September and October, we celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month with features surrounding the culture and issues of the Latino community in Arizona. We wrap up the submission with a story of the first female LGBTQ wrestler to compete in the Tokyo Olympics.