Anniversary prizes

Just in time for its 30th-anniversary issue, the CN&R learned it had received three first-place awards and one second-place award in the 2006 California Newspaper Publishers Association’s Better Newspapers Contest, the most prestigious competition of its kind in the state.

In ceremonies held July 14, the CNPA announced the CN&R had won a first-place award among large weekly papers for its editorial pages, edited by Evan Tuchinsky and Robert Speer. Jaime O’Neill’s March 9, 2006, cover story, “Last Call for Alcohol,” about alcoholism and O’Neill’s recovery from it, won first place for writing quality. And Speer took first in the category of feature story, for “Dirty Secrets,” his July 20, 2006, cover story about his uncle’s battle to vindicate himself after being charged with and tried for sedition.

Speer also won a second-place award in the category of local breaking news for his ongoing coverage of the leadership crisis at Enloe Medical Center.

The other local papers taking home awards were Chico State’s lab paper, The Orion, which won first place among four-year university papers, and the Chico Enterprise-Record, which won a first-place award in the category of sports photo.