LasVegasSun.com wins second straight EPpy Award for best news site in its class

By Sun Staff (contact)

Friday, May 8, 2009 | 2 a.m.

LasVegasWeekly.com

History of Las Vegas

For the second consecutive year, the Las Vegas Sun has won an EPpy Award as the best overall newspaper-affiliated Web site in its class nationally.

LasVegasSun.com, which launched a new design 16 months ago, won the top award for online sites with fewer than 1 million unique monthly visitors. The Wall Street Journal won the same award for Web sites with more than 1 million unique monthly visitors.

LasVegasSun.com also won first place in the category Best Web Special Feature — News or Event, for its multimedia section dedicated to the history of Las Vegas. The New York Times won the feature award in the larger category.

LasVegasWeekly.com was named the best entertainment Web site for those with fewer than 1 million unique monthly visitors. The Boston Globe won in the larger category.

The EPpy awards, sponsored by Editor & Publisher and Mediaweek magazines, were announced Thursday at the annual Interactive Newspaper Conference and Trade Show in New Orleans.

Nearly 400 entries were submitted for consideration in 32 categories.

“The sites that are honored are truly the best Web sites” in the media industry, said Len Muscarella, a new media consultant who coordinated the EPpys.

The Las Vegas Sun and Las Vegas Weekly are owned by the Greenspun family.

“It is heartening, even in this difficult time for the news business, that hard work and excellence are recognized and rewarded,” said Brian Greenspun, chairman and CEO of The Greenspun Corporation and president and editor of the Sun. “Our entire team at Greenspun Interactive and the Greenspun Media Group should be most proud of this accomplishment.

“Being best in the nation has rewards beyond immediate financial success,” he said. “My family shares in their accomplishments and looks forward to the time when our community recognizes what the rest of the country now knows. We couldn’t be more proud.”

The Sun was one of only four media Web sites to win more than one award. Others were CNN, ESPN and The Boston Globe.

The Sun was a finalist in two other categories — best sports Web site for its coverage of the UNLV Rebels and best Web special feature for its “Water Crisis” project.

The EPpy awards come two weeks after the Sun won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service and two days after it won nine first-place awards in the Associated Press California/Nevada Newswriting and Photo Contest.

“Our organization’s awards mean that this newspaper’s brand of journalism is world-class, regardless of the medium,” said Rob Curley, president and executive editor of Greenspun Interactive. “To be able to work with so many talented people is awesome on just about every level you could imagine.”

The Sun unveiled its new Web site in January 2008, and four months later won its first EPpy Award as the best newspaper-affiliated Web site in the country in its class.

In September 2008, the Sun’s Web site picked up the General Excellence Award from the Online News Association during the association’s annual Online Journalism Awards banquet in Washington, D.C. In addition to the win, the Sun’s Web site was a finalist in the Breaking News category for its coverage of the January 2008 Monte Carlo fire, as well as for the Multimedia Feature Award for "Boomtown: The Story Behind Sin City," an 11-part documentary on Las Vegas' history that was part of the Sun's History project.