Homer, Alaska, is at the end of the road -- as far as you can go on the paved road system of the United States. But it has two fine weekly newspapers, as proven by the awards handed out last night at the end of the Alaska Press Club's annual conference. The Homer Tribune won the award for best weekly, which is judged apart from individual awards, but the Homer News won more awards for writing."The Trib offers readers a blend of punchy writing, informed skepticism and a real engagement with its community," wrote the judge, investigative reporter Nigel Jacquiss of Willamette Week in Portland, Ore. He said the paper's four-part series on a proposed mine in a prime salmon-fishing area "was an ambitious examination of a complicated proposition, and exactly the kind of public-interest reporting that papers of all sizes should strive to execute." For major-paper stories on the mine, click here and here. The Tribune won first place in investigative reporting for the series, and also won first in business and government reporting. Five of its awards, all second or third place, were for photography.
The Homer News won first place for environmental reporting, education story and editorial cartoon, and its columnists took all three places in column writing. Michael Armstrong, the second-place columnist, won the environmental award for "a most distressing story on our consumptive ways," on trash in an otherwise pristine area. "this really is journalism at its best: fun to report, fascinating to read, jaw-dropping in its findings," wrote judge Douglas Fischer of Boulder, Colo., an award-winning environmental reporter. The Tribune is independently owned; the News is owned by Morris Communications. Another Morris paper, the Alaska Star of Chugiak-Eagle River, was the other top winner in the small-newspaper division.
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