Sun honored for coverage of shooting

Thursday, March 23, 2000 | 2:43 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Coverage of the early morning shooting rampage at an Albertson's store last year has earned the Sun a third place in the 66th annual National Headliner Awards.

The Chicago Tribune and ABC News captured top honors in the 66th national awards to be presented May 6 by The Press Club of Atlantic City. They won Best of Show for print and television -- the Tribune for a series on the failure of the death penalty in Illinois and ABC News for the 12-hour documentary series "The Century." About 1,600 entries were judged.

The Sun staff received the third place for spot news for newspapers with circulation up to 75,000 for its same-day coverage of the shooting July 3 for which Zane Floyd will stand trial in June.

Coverage of the collapse of a bonfire structure at Texas A&M University earned first place in the category for The Eagle of Bryan-College Station, Texas, and the coverage of the crash of golfer Payne Stewart's private plane earned second place for the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Among newspapers with circulations greater than 75,000, the Rocky Mountain News earned the spot news category with coverage of the Columbine High School massacre, the Honolulu Advertiser took second for its stories on a gunman who killed seven people in an office building, and the Los Angeles Times took third for its story, "The Face of Hate."