Star-Bulletin shines
in ‘Best of the West’
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin has won three awards in the 2004 Best of the West competition, competing against newspapers of all circulation sizes from 13 Western states.
Newspapers from Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming, in addition to Hawaii, were able to enter the competition, which was judged by journalists in the East. No other newspaper from Hawaii received awards in the competition.
The Star-Bulletin won a second-place award in the 2004 Best of the West competition for a comic book that previewed the University of Hawaii's football season.
The Star-Bulletin was honored in the following categories:
>> Words, Editing and Design
Second place, to Paul Arnett, Michael Rovner, Ben Henry, Kip Aoki and Randy Cadiente, for H-Men, a full-color comic book previewing the University of Hawaii's football season. (The project appeared only in Star-Bulletin print editions.)
"This creative entry shows a lot of guts and workmanship, not to mention great draftsmanship," the judges wrote. "It is an excellent integration of news with comic book aspects without one taking away from the other. Those involved in this project really thought outside of the box. It is an innovative way of attempting to reach young readers. Excellent work."
There were 83 entries in the category. It was won by the Arizona Daily Star, Tucson; third place was a tie between San Jose Mercury News and the Arizona Daily Star.
>> Project Reporting
Third place, to the Star-Bulletin staff, for "Ice Storm: Epidemic of the Islands."
"The Star-Bulletin provided deep reporting on an issue that had received plenty of coverage over the years -- the use of crystal methamphetamine," the judge wrote. "The paper provided personal stories that showed the effect of the drug on families and communities. It uncovered systemic failures by police, courts and prisons to gauge the level of use. Its depth of reporting is even more impressive given that it was forced to move its publication date up after the government organized a summit on the issue. This was an important effort that forced authorities to begin taking steps to address a state crisis."
There were 79 entries in the category, which was won by The Oregonian, with The Arizona Republic taking second place.
>> General Interest Column Writing
Third place, to Rob Perez, for his "Raising Cane" columns.
"Perez (was selected) for doing columns exposing the perks of government officials to the hardships of common folks to petty corruption by taxi cab dispatchers. This is what journalism is all about, isn't it?"
There were 66 entries in the category. First Place went to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, with second going to Deseret Morning News, Salt Lake City.
