Miami New Times' Francisco Alvarado, the Houston Press' Margaret Downing and The Village Voice's Elizabeth Green were all honored in the 2008 National Awards for Education Reporting. The competition, sponsored by the Education Writers Association, "honors the best education reporting in the print and broadcast media."
AAN members took home a fair share of the honors last week in the First Amendment Awards competition sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists' Fort Worth pro chapter, winning a combined three first places among eight print categories in the Texas-Oklahoma contest. Fort Worth Weekly took first place in the Reporting on Open Government and student categories, while the Houston Press finished first in the Defending the Disadvantaged category. The Weekly also won an additional second-place award, and the Press took one more second- and third-place finish.
Phoenix New Times and Tucson Weekly took home a total of 13 first-place awards, with New Times winning in eight categories and the Weekly placing first in five. New Times staff writers Sarah Fenske and Paul Rubin both triumphed in two categories, and the Weekly's Margaret Regan managed the same feat. Both AAN papers also received a number of second- and third-place prizes. Winners of the awards, which honor the best in Arizona print journalism, were announced last week at a Phoenix banquet.
AAN members are well-represented in the 2006 awards given out by the Education Writers Association, with a near-sweep of "Feature, News Feature or Issue Package" for papers under 100,000 circulation. In that category, Todd Spivak of the Houston Press took home First Place for "Cut Short," while Special Citations were awarded to Willamette Week's Beth Slovic for "Illegal Scholar," the Houston Press' Margaret Downing for "Opt In, Opt Out," and New Times Broward-Palm Beach's Kelly Cramer for "FCAT Scratch Fever." Kristen Hinman of Riverfront Times received a First Place award in the "Investigative Reporting" category for her Vashon High School Series.
Four writers at AAN newspapers have won awards in the 2001 National Awards for Education Reporting from the Education Writers Association. They are: Nigel Jaquiss, Willamette Week, first prize in investigative reporting for "The Poisoning of Whitaker"; Margaret Downing, Houston Press, first prize in opinion writing for "But Who's Counting"; Emily Bliss, New Times Broward-Palm Beach, second prize in feature writing for " A Scout for Life"; Mike Mosedale, City Pages (Minneapolis/St. Paul), special citation for "Take Till It Hurts."
The Nashville Scene and the San Francisco Bay Guardian snag nearly a dozen awards in the National Newspaper Association's Better Newspaper Contest. NNA will recognize the winners in all 125 categories at its 116th annual convention in September.
