(24 entries)

Judge: Bartholomew Sullivan, The (Memphis, Tenn.) Commercial Appeal Sullivan was a 1999 winner of the ASNE Distinguished Writing Awards and Jesse Laventhol Prize Competition for Deadline News Reporting. His stories covered tornado damage in Manillas, Ark., the funeral of Carl Perkins, and the verdict in the Vernon Damer/Sam Bowers Ku Klux Klan imperial wizard trial.

First Place
James Ahlers and Ed Baker The Tribune "Deadly trenches" "Deadline public service at its best. Under the worst circumstances, a big event on a Saturday when no one is around and no one wants to talk, when police are typically without details, and there's an inclination to brief a story on B2 as another tragic accident, the newspaper rose to the occasion and produced a thorough report, linking a past history of irresponsibility, a sure sense of the industry it was exposing, a tremendous quote from the union man and a dreadfully characteristic response from a politician to tell a story summed up with a solid kicker: "This will concern a lot of people in the industry who will take notice and say, ŒWhat's going on here? Something's wrong.'"

Second Place
KRIS MAYES and CHRIS MOESER
The Arizona Republic
"New day for Symington"
"Obviously a tremendous statewide story, carefully and thoroughly told. The Symington victory on appeal produced an avalanche of reporting and story angles reflecting old issues and would have been anticipated, and like was, with a solid plan, not seat-of-the-pants reporting. That said, it was an exemplary package of how to do it right, capped by a quirky interview story with a recalcitrant witness removed during deliberations."

Third Place
VICTORIA HARKER
The Arizona Republic
"Children watched Daddy kill"
"First-rate coverage of a murder trial with excruciating details revealed in solid, unemotional prose. There's a lot of the courtroom's atmosphere in this story, the observation only a careful recorder would look for and only a fine reporter would reproduce. ŒThey listened as she begged for her life and pleaded to God, they told police. The woman also pleaded with the children to call police and 911. Insteaad, they obeyed their parents' order to go watch cartoon, said William Culbertson, deputy county attorney.'"

Honorable Mention
PENELOPE OVERTON
The Tribune
"Deadly shooting a blur"

and

MARY JO PITZL, JANE LARSON and JEFF BARKER
The Arizona Republic
"We can do better"
"Both show solid reporting well beyond the everyday. An interview with a victim that soon after an event displays a diplomacy that should be rewarded and the crowd interviews in the Clinton-in-Phoenix story showcased what so many of our editors ask for but what is usually pretty elusive. Nice work."