Sun reaps honors at press group’s awards banquet

Sunday, Sept. 27, 1998 | 12:06 p.m.

The Las Vegas Sun collected seven first-place awards Saturday night at the annual Nevada Press Association dinner banquet at John Ascuaga's Nugget in Sparks.

Photographer Ethan Miller captured two of those awards for a spot news photo of a firefighter with a grieving mother and a feature shot of visitors at the veterans cemetery in Boulder City on Veterans Day.

Melissa Schorr won top feature-writing honors for a story on drug detoxification. Other top honors went to Tim Graham for sports feature, Mike Campbell for best editorial page and Mike Smith for editorial cartooning. The Sun also won first prize for best Page One design.

The paper and its staff collected a total of 22 honors, including seconds, thirds and honorable mentions.

Sportswriters Graham and Steve Carp took second-place honors for sports column and sports story, respectively. R. Marsh Starks earned second in spot news photography for a shot of the melee following a Mike Tyson fight at the MGM Grand hotel-casino. Miller also earned second place for multiple photos of the Metro Police SWAT force.

Steve Wilson captured second in the infographic category, and reporter Steve Kanigher grabbed a second-place award for a business story on the mortgage loan scandal involving the defunct Harley L. Harmon Mortgage Co. Sun staff also earned second place in the investigative category for coverage of a local anthrax scare, and the paper captured second place for best overall design.

Third-place honors went to reporter Gary Thompson in the business-story category, to sportswriter Dean Juipe for sports column writing, and photographer Steve Marcus for sports photo. Kanigher also captured thirds in community service and news feature for a series on Southern Nevada's foster-care system.

Honorable mentions were earned by reporter Karen Zekan for spot news and by Miller for portrait photo.