Community Journalist of the Year
(13 entries)

Judge: Lynne DeLucia, state editor, The Hartford Courant
She directed the Courant's coverage of the shooting rampage in which a state lottery worker killed four supervisors, then himself. The staff won a 1999 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news. Previously, she was city editor of the New Haven Register.

Winner
Monica Alonzo-Dunsmoor
Daily News-Sun of Sun City

Monica Alonzo-Dunsmoor, 24, is has been working full-time at the Daily News-Sun of Sun City for almost three years, covering a variety of beats, including health and social services. She currently covers Surprise, El Mirage and the Dysart Unified School District.
"This writer shakes things up and makes things happen" wrote judge Lynne DeLucia of the Hartford Courant. "If I lived in El Mirage, I wouldn't want this reporter tailing me. Just ask Town Manager Maggie Reese, who found out the hard way after her car was discovered parked at a casino during working hours. The reporter doggedly pursued Reese and the city council for answers. Month later, Reese was canned. Then after she left office, the reporter continued to dog, finding that Reese used a city-issued credit card for personal use. The writer gets what local news is all about and what readers want to read about. Excellent work."
Before becoming a full-time reporter, Alonzo-Dunsmoor worked for about five years as an intern for the News-Sun. She graduated with honors from Arizona State University in December 1999 with a B.A. in journalism.

First runner-up
Margaret Regan
Tucson Weekly

"The reporter has a terrific eye for stories and excels with each one she writes," wrote judge Lynne DeLucia of the Hartford Courant. "She takes a beat that is often viewed as a feature beat and turns it into a beat with an edge. Her topics are varied and interesting. Her writing is strong and descriptive. Here's just a sample of how she turns a phrase: 'Katharine was famous in Philadelphia for a life whose romantic outlines already had given it the shape of myth.' Her work was a pleasure to read."

Second runner-up
Allen Kalchik
HeatStroke News

Allen Kalchik is the editor, co-publisher and co-founder of HeatStroke News, a bi-weekly newspaper covering the Phoenix gay and lesbian community. Prior to establishing HeatStroke in 1996 with Kelly J. Reidhead, Kalchik, 39, worked as a bar manager, display designer and freelance writer for other gay community publications in Phoenix and Las Vegas.
In addition to editing HeatStroke, planning coming issues, promoting the paper and delivering and restocking it, Kalchik is the publication's chief reporter. His writing covers everything from human-interest profiles to celebrity interviews, politics, features, local news and the occasional op/ed column when he has time.
Kalchik grew up in rural northern Michigan and earned a bachelor's degree from Siena Heights University in Adrian, Mich., in 1982. He has lived in Arizona since 1986 and was First Runner-up to Community Journalist of the Year for 1999.
"The writer digs in time and time again, writing about issues that people care about," wrote Lynne DeLucia of the Hartford Courant. "Each story had great detail and good insight. The profile on the new Arizona House Minority Leaders Ken Cheuvront was especially strong in examining the struggles of an out gay legislator. Overall the writing was strong with good voice."