April 19–26, 2001
on media
Enough About You…
City Paper collected six honors and swept one category in the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association’s 2001 Keystone Awards.
"The Dominican Connection," a two-part series on drugs and politics by News Editor Howard Altman, Staff Writer Noel Weyrich and freelance contributor Jim Barry, tied for first in the Investigative Reporting category. John George of the Philadelphia Business Journal was the other honoree, for reporting on NovaCare.
Another City Paper contributor, Ralph Cipriano, took first place in Ongoing News Coverage for "The Ghosts of Meridian" and follow-up reports on allegations that the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections covered up fire-code violations for a politically connected building owner.
Movies & Books Editor Sam Adams and Editor David Warner owned the Personality Profile category. Adams won top honors for "The Mayor of Hostile City," on writer Jim Knipfel, and Warner took second for "Favorite Son," on playwright Michael Hollinger.
Staff writer Daryl Gale claimed second prize in Sports Story with "Mortal Combat," a rare glimpse inside the world of illegal dog fighting.
And the staff received an honorable mention in Headline Writing, for "The Agony and the Xmas-y," the title of a late December holiday movie roundup.
In the end, however, City Paper’s showing wasn’t enough to win the division (weekly newspapers with circulations of 10,000 or more) for what would have been the fifth straight year. Philadelphia Weekly won four first-place awards (in News Photo, Page Design, Graphic/Photo Illustration and Headline Writing) and two seconds (Feature Story and Headline Writing).
The biggest individual winner in the division this year was George of the Business Journal, who, in addition to the shared first in Investigative, won first in Sports Story and second in News Beat Reporting.
Overall, however, the division was dominated by the state’s four alternative newsweeklies — City Paper, Philadelphia Weekly, Pittsburgh City Paper (no relation) and In Pittsburgh (owned by Weekly owner Review Publishing). Combined, these papers registered 12 first-place finishes, six seconds and three honorable mentions in the 20 categories.
