Posted on: Sunday, June 24, 2001

Advertiser wins seven firsts in SPJ competition

Advertiser Staff

Staff members of The Honolulu Advertiser received seven top awards in the annual Excellence in Journalism competition sponsored by the Hawai'i chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Advertiser staff members also were named as finalists in three award categories. The winners, recognized for work published in 2000, were announced yesterday.

The Advertiser's Capitol bureau won first place for government reporting for its coverage of the elections.

Other first-place awards went to reporter Michele Kayal in the business reporting category for her stories about the effects of tourism on Hawai'i residents; reporter Dan Nakaso in the general news/enterprise reporting category for his stories on the state's 24-year war against Hawai'i's largest illegal cash crop, marijuana; and reporter Mike Gordon in the feature writing/long form category for his historical look at the fall of Saigon.

First-place awards also went to Dayton Morinaga in the sports reporting category for his piece on the multimillion dollar world of surfing and its influence on young minds; Kevin Dayton in the editorial opinion category for his piece, "A Community on the Edge," about Nanawale Estates subdivision outside of Pahoa on the Big Island; and Jon Orque, Stephen Downes, Martha Hernandez and Jerry Burris in the informational graphic category for the graphic, "Dawn of the Millennium."

Advertiser finalists were Nakaso in feature writing/short form, Robbie Dingman in government reporting and Catherine E. Toth in arts/entertainment writing.

Staff members of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin received top awards for spot news reporting, feature writing/short form, page design/news, page design/feature, column writing, editorial cartoon, feature photography, investigative reporting, and public service reporting.

In the open print competition, Hana Hou! Magazine received top awards for arts/entertainment writing, illustration and headline writing.

The Maui News took top awards for news photography, sports photography and photo essay.

For non-daily newspapers, Pacific Business News received three top awards and the Lahaina News received one.

Honolulu magazine received five top awards in the magazine category, Spirit of Aloha received one and Island Business magazine received one.

Hawai'i Public Radio took top honors for feature reporting among radio stations.

In television, KGMB won top honors in five categories, KHNL won three top awards and KITV won two.