P-R wins 5 Associated Press awards

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Former staff photographer Michael Betts captured this emotional moment with this photo on page A1 Jan. 20, 2010.

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September 5, 2010

Anonymous Press-Republican The Press Republican Sun Sep 05, 2010, 07:35 AM EDT

PLATTSBURGH — The Press-Republican has won five awards in the 2009-10 New York State Associated Press contest.

SPOT NEWS

Staff Writer Andrea VanValkenburg and News Editor Lois Clermont won first place in the Spot News category for "Murder suspect captured," coverage of double-murder suspect Anthony Pavone's early morning capture at a Kirkwood motel.

The coverage started with a story written by Clermont and placed on the Press-Republican website at 4:56 a.m., less than an hour after Pavone's arrest.

VanValkenburg talked with police sources, family members, the owner of the motel where Pavone was arrested and others to write a detailed account of the dramatic capture and the suspect's return to Plattsburgh, where he was arraigned and confronted by family members.

SPOT NEWS PHOTO

Staff Photographer Michael Betts won first place in the Photo Contest's Spot News category for "Fire displaces family," a photo that captured a Plattsburgh woman struggling with her emotions as firefighters worked to extinguish a fire at her home. After six years at the Press-Republican, Betts recently left for a job as chief photographer at the Goldsboro News-Argus in Goldsboro, N.C.

HEADLINE

Staff Writer John Coryer took second place in the Brightest Headline category for "Woe Canada! U.S. hockey team stuns northern neighbor, 5-3."

The story, which appeared during the Winter Olympics, was about the U.S. hockey team upsetting Canada 5-3 in one of its biggest wins since the famous Miracle on Ice in 1980, giving the Americans a perfect record in the preliminary round and assuring them a berth in the quarterfinals.

FEATURES

Assistant News Editor Rachael Osborne won third place in the Features competition for "Life, death and hope," a story that described her experience volunteering with a humanitarian organization in Swaziland, southern Africa. Osborne glimpsed the frailty of life in the tiny nation, where an entire generation has been wiped out by AIDS. Yet in the midst of all the poverty and death, hope for the country was displayed through a group of children who rejoice despite their suffering.

CONTINUING COVERAGE

Staff Writer Denise Raymo won third place in the Continuing Coverage competition for a series of articles about town action — and inaction — over an employee who had been involved in an accident and failed a drug test.

Raymo submitted a series of Freedom of Information Law requests after the man, a candidate for highway superintendent, was suspended by the Town Council for undisclosed reasons 10 days before the election.

By securing documents such as the accident report, transcripts from a post-accident investigation and work-assignment records, along with numerous interviews of public officials and sources, Raymo uncovered the controversy, which was later resolved as a result of her investigative reporting.