ASNE announces 2003 award winners
Posted 2/27/2003 5:44:00 PM

Winners of the 2003 ASNEAwards are:

• The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post: Elizabeth Clarke, Joel Engelhardt, Gary Kane, Christine Stapleton -- Jesse Laventhol Prize for Deadline News Reporting by a Team
• Dan Barry, The New York Times -- Jesse Laventhol Prize for Deadline News Reporting by an Individual
• Jonathan Tilove, Newhouse News Service, Washington -- The Freedom Forum/ASNE Award for Outstanding Writing on Diversity
• Michael Kelly, Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald -- commentary writing
• Amy Ellis Nutt, The Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J. -- nondeadline writing
• David Barham, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Little Rock; Andrew Malcolm, Los Angeles Times (tie) -- editorial writing
• James Smith, Record-Journal, Meriden, Conn. -- passion for journalism writing
• Ted Jackson, The Times-Picayune, New Orleans -- community service photojournalism

The Jesse Laventhol prizeseach carry a $10,000 cash award; all of the others will receive $2,500 prizes.The awards will be made April 10, during the Society’s convention in New Orleans.The winning entries and interviews with the winners and finalists are publishedin "BestNewspaper Writing 2003," by The Poynter Institute for Media Studies,St. Petersburg, Fla.

A look at the winners:

The Palm Beach (Fla.) Postteam won the Jesse Laventhol Prize for coverage of the sex scandal in the CatholicChurch. "The Catholic priest pedophile scandal has been written about in everynewspaper in the country. But the Post, on the day of a bishop’s resigning indisgrace, showed the humanity of both priest and victim," the judges wrote."The pieces caught the drama of the day’s events, adding context, motivationand compassion."

Barry won for his deadlinecoverage of Sept. 11, 2002, the first anniversary of the terrorist attackson the World Trade Center. Barry’s work was a "classic job of strong, evocationdeadline writing, with style, voice and narrative drive," the judges said.

Tilove won in diversitywriting for his series of stories about his visits to many of the more than500 Martin Luther King Avenues in communities across America. "His writing hadgreat depth and energy, and it reflected a deep understanding of racial complexitiesin America," the judges said. As he noted, these were "streets united by struggleand circumstance, by history and happenstance. One leads to the next and nextand back again."

Kelly won for his courageouscolumns about a horrific crime -- the abduction and rape of his daughter. Hewrote "with style, compassion, and even restraint. In doing so, provided realvalue in the debate over whether to name rape victims, while providing insightinto other issues such as crime and race," the judges said.

Barham and Malcolm deadlockedthe judges in the editorial writing category. Barham won for editorials thatbroke the rules. "David Barham wrote long, used big quotes and seemed to totallyenjoy what he was doing. It worked: His editorials were compelling, had personality,impact, character," the judges said.

Malcolm won for editorialsthat set a different tone from all the other entries. "It was graceful, clever,evocative, humorous. He played language like a musical instrument. His pieceon the death of the editor of Roget’s Thesaurus was ‘dazzling..,’ or perhapsastonishing, fascinating, impressive, exciting."

Nutt won for nondeadlinestories exploring five of the biggest unanswered questions of science. The judgescalled the task daunting, and said, "She succeeds not only because of superbtopic selection, but because of her ability to weave literary devices into simple,explanatory prose. Amy Nutt knows how to reward her readers - both with a learningexperience, and an occasional smile."

Smith took the passion forjournalism competition, this year’s designated special category. The judgessaid his editor’s column is "an impressive example of a classic small town editorfacing numerous challenges from powers unappreciative of the role of journalismin their community. Smith met those challenges head on and with courage, whilefinding the time to explain to readers his thinking."

Jackson was the winner inthe photojournalism category. His work put an intimate face on the humanityof school testing introduced to meet federal mandates. "The uncertainty forstudents and their families was palpable as the photographer won the trust ofhis subjects and told the story of a challenging year in a series that clearlyshowed the stakes and the complexity of school reform," the judges said.

The ASNE judges also recognizedthe work of other newspaper journalists as finalists:

Jesse Laventhol Prizefor Deadline News Reporting by a Team

The New York Times: JamesBennet, Joel Brinkley, Serge Schmemann
The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn.: Mickie Anderson, Yolanda Jones, Amos Maki, Stephen Price,Kevin McKenzie

Jesse Laventhol Prize forDeadline News Reporting by an Individual

Deanna Boyd, Fort Worth(Texas) Star-Telegram

Diversity

Kelley Bouchard, Maine SundayTelegram, Portland
Stu Whitney, Argus Leader, Sioux Falls, S.D.

Commentary writing

Kate Nelson, The Albuquerque(N.M.) Tribune
Robert Jamieson, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Nondeadline writing:

Barry Horn, The Dallas MorningNews
Elizabeth Leland, The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer

Editorial writing:

Mark Mahoney, The Post-Star,Glens Falls, N.Y.

Passion for Journalism writing

James Strang, The Plain-Dealer,Cleveland
Don Wycliff, Chicago Tribune

Community Service Photojournalism:

Rodolfo Gonzalez, Austin(Texas) American-Statesman
Don Bartletti, Los Angeles Times

This year’s contest attractedmore than 500 entries from news organizations throughout the United States andCanada.

The Jesse Laventhol Prizesare named in honor of a longtime Philadelphia newspaperman. They are endowedby his son, David A. Laventhol, a former editor and executive for Times Mirror,who is now chairman and editorial director of the Columbia Journalism Review.Laventhol has been a member of ASNE for many years and has chaired and servesas a member of the ASNE Awards Board. He said he wanted to encourage excellencein a key aspect of newspaper reporting "to recognize the best deadline workand to encourage more of it."

This is the second yeardiversity has been recognized as a permanent category in the ASNE competition.The Freedom Forum, which has partnered with ASNE on many diversity efforts,funds this award.

The ASNE Foundation -- whichis supported by gifts from ASNE members, newspaper companies and foundations-- funds the other prizes. The Poynter Institute administers the competition.Keith Woods of The Poynter Institute will be the editor of "Best Newspaper Writing2003."

The awards were made forwork completed in 2002. All daily newspapers and wire services in the UnitedStates or Canada are eligible to enter. Also eligible are other newspapers inthe Americas that are headed by an active member of ASNE. The work must be inEnglish.

Rich Oppel, Austin (Texas)American-Statesman, chaired the Awards Board this year. Other judges were: AndyAlexander, Cox Newspapers, Washington; Jim Amoss, The Times-Picayune, New Orleans;Caesar Andrews, Gannett News Service, McLean, Va.; Gerald Boyd, The New YorkTimes; Gregory Favre, The Poynter Institute, St. Petersburg, Fla.; Maria Henson,Austin (Texas) American-Statesman; Deborah Howell, Newhouse News Service, Washington;Ed Jones, The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, Va.; David Laventhol, New York;Pam Luecke, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va.; Walker Lundy, ThePhiladelphia Inquirer; Tim McGuire, Plymouth, Minn.; Skip Perez, The Ledger,Lakeland, Fla.; Maddy Ross, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Don Wycliff, Chicago Tribune;Carolyn Lee, The New York Times, chaired the photojournalism award panel. Threeother photo experts joined in the judging: Ken Geiger, The Dallas Morning News;Naomi Halperin, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.; and Ken Irby, The PoynterInstitute.

With about 820 members,ASNE is the principal organization of American newspaper editors. It is activein a number of areas, including open government, freedom of the press, journalismcredibility and ethics, newsroom management, diversity and readership.