Photos of a memorial service for victims of a Marine helicopter collision and health columns by a Honolulu physician have resulted in awards for Honolulu Civil Beat in the 2017 Best of the West journalism contest.

The competition covering work done in 2016 was open to newspapers, magazines and news websites of all sizes in 14 Western states.

Civil Beat photographer Cory Lum placed second out of 22 entries in the News Slideshow category for his slideshow of a memorial service that accompanied a report on the causes of a mid-air collision of two Marine helicopters off the North Shore of Oahu that killed 12 service members in 2016.

The judges wrote of Lum’s work: “A well done photo package of a memorial for Marines killed in a helicopter crash. Nice work selecting both graphically striking and emotionally moving images that capture the feelings of those attending the event.”

First place in the category went to the Denver Post and third place to The Oregonian.

In the Special Topic Column Writing category, Dr. Kathleen Kozak took third place out of 37 entries for her Health Beat columns for Civil Beat.

Kozak’s entry included columns on the possibility of Hawaii passing an assisted suicide law, pedestrian fatalities in Honolulu, and the future of personal cultivation of marijuana in the state.

Kozak is an internal medicine physician at Straub Clinic and Hospital. She is also a part-time medical director for UHA Health Insurance and is the host of “The Body Show” on Hawaii Public Radio.

The category was judged by Sumathi Reddy, health columnist for the Wall Street Journal. First place went to the San Francisco Chronicle and second place to the Casper (Wyoming) Star-Tribune.