SN&R kudos

SN&R wound up with an armful of awards—five first-place and three second-place—in the most recent California Newspaper Publishers Association’s Better Newspapers Contest. Winners were announced in San Jose on Saturday, May 5.

Cosmo Garvin won first place in feature writing for his story about a father’s relentless effort to save his son from drug addiction (“The Oxycontin kid,” SN&R Feature Story, January 27, 2011). Garvin also won second place for his weekly column, Bites, and received a certificate of achievement in coverage of local government.

He shared a certificate of achievement in First Amendment/Freedom of Information reporting with former SN&R staffer Hugh Biggar for their work on water rates and usage in Sacramento. Biggar also won a first-place prize for sports writing for a story about the growing problem of concussions among local high-school football players (“Head games,” SN&R Feature Story, September 15, 2011).

SN&R managing editor Nick Miller took the first place award for business, financial and economic news writing with his story “The college bubble” (SN&R Feature Story, October 6, 2011). The paper swept the category, as the second-place award was won by Rachel Leibrock for her story on local home foreclosures (“Default!” SN&R Feature Story, December 16, 2010). Miller also earned a certificate of achievement in coverage of youth and education for his profile of Principal Allen Young at local charter high school The Met.

Editor Melinda Welsh won first place for special issue for an interactive project on how local people plan for their deaths (“Everybody dies,” SN&R Feature Story, June 9, 2011).

SN&R’s arts and entertainment section took first prize, local service member Paul Graham, who wrote of his experiences in Afghanistan, won a second-place writing award for “Medevac!” (SN&R Feature Story, September 29, 2011). And the paper also received certificates of achievement for front-page design and general excellence. (Kel Munger)