Sun staff win recognition from peers for visual works

Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2007 | 7:02 a.m.

Las Vegas Sun

Two staff members of the Las Vegas Sun won awards from the Society for News Design, which conducts the largest annual journalism competition for newspaper design, photography, graphics and illustration.

The Sun's art director Chris Morris, who joined the newspaper in March, won for his illustration of the Las Vegas rock band The Killers.

Staff photographer Sam Morris, who has been with the Sun for seven years, won for his photograph "Daddy's OK." Morris also earned first place in the sports feature category of the Pictures of the Year International contest for the same photo - which showed a battered heavyweight embracing his daughters after a bout in October at the Thomas & Mack Center .

The Society for News Design is an international organization with more than 2,500 members from more than 50 countries. The competition, organized by Syracuse University in New York, is in its 28th year and drew nearly 14,000 entries from around the world.

This is the first time that the Sun has won awards in the competition.

"We're very happy to get anything recognized in this tough competition, but thrilled that the judges also recognized the excellent illustration work Chris Morris does for the paper," said Sun deputy managing editor Bill Gaspard, who supervises the newspaper's visual journalists.

"And Sam's photo was an amazingly powerful image that made a big impact on our readers as well as the judges."