This week the editor's space will be filled with shameless praise for my staff for their superb performance in the annual Alaska Press Club awards. The Sun Star received five awards this year.

Tom Delaune earned first place in Best Reporting on Crime or Court, small newspapers, for the story, "Solie's prior DWI conviction in Vermont."

Heather Taggard placed second in Best Feature Photo, small newspapers, with her "Mud Volleyball" photo. And Theresa Roark placed third in Best Portrait, small newspapers, with "Lind's last stand."

Robinson Duffy earned third place in Best Arts Coverage, all papers, with his lyrical movie review of "Cat in the Hat."

Taggard, Roark and Jamie Smith, an adjunct art professor, received honorable mention in Best Page Layout and Design, large papers.

In addition to the five awards received by the Sun Star, journalism students Tom Delaune, Gary Moore, Laurel Ford, and myself and journalism professor Brian O'Donoghue were awarded second place in Investigative Reporting for a story published in the Fairbanks Daily-News Miner revealing jury misconduct in a murder case.

The Sun Star was also awarded a 2004 Academic Freedom Award by the Alaska Community Colleges' Federation of Teachers for our efforts to gain access to public records. Norman Swazo and Dan O'Neill were also recipients.

The Sun Star staff has worked very hard this past school year to fill the pages of our newspaper each week with informative and interesting stories and photos and I am proud of their accomplishments.

Comment on this story...