Published: April 01, 1998
Last Updated: May 20, 1999
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ASNE on the move

ASNE honors journalists for writing, deadline reporting

Seven winners have been selected in the 1998 Distinguished Writing Awards and Jesse Laventhol Prizes competition:

Ken Fuson, The Sun, Baltimore, non-deadline writing; Justin Davidson, Newsday, Melville, N.Y., criticism; Stephen Hunter, The Washington Post, also criticism; Michael J. Jacobs, Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald, editorial; John J. Keller, The Wall Street Journal, Laventhol prize for deadline reporting by an individual; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Laventhol prize for deadline reporting by a team; Patricia Smith, The Boston Globe, commentary/column writing.

The 1998 ASNE contest attracted nearly 500 entries. The Jesse Laventhol Prize individual and team winners will each receive $10,000 cash prizes. The ASNE Writing Awards winners will receive $2,500 prizes. The awards will be made during the Society’s convention. The winning entries will be published in Best Newspaper Writing 1998, produced by The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, St. Petersburg, Fla. They will also be accessible through ASNE’s Web site.

• The Jesse Laventhol Deadline Reporting Prize for work by an individual went to John J. Keller, The Wall Street Journal reporter who covers the telecommunications industry.
• The Laventhol prize for deadline reporting by a team went to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for its coverage of a Ku Klux Klan rally held in downtown Pittsburgh and the counter demonstrations.
• ASNE selected two prizes this year for criticism, in the rotating category of the awards. Justin Davidson was cited for his writing as Newsday’s classical music critic, along with Stephen Hunter, who reviews film for The Washington Post.
• Patricia Smith is a columnist for The Boston Globe and also a poet. Her winning pieces in the commentary/column-writing category included tributes to the late Mike Royko and to the survivors of the Tuskeegee, Ala., medical experiments.
• Michael J. Jacobs, editor of the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald and an ASNE member, won an award for his editorials written during the disastrous flood that destroyed the Herald’s plant and offices and devastated much of the city.
• The non-deadline writing category attracts the largest number of entries in the ASNE contest — 115 this year. Ken Fuson, The Sun, Baltimore, who won the 1998 prize, wrote about a group of high school students from a blue-collar suburban school and their efforts to produce a musical.