MESQUITE -- The Ely Times won five awards during Saturday's 2008 Nevada Press Association Convention, held at the Casablanca Hotel, Spa & Casino in Mesquite.
The awards banquet is a time when competition is usually set aside for the state's newspapers to honor the accomplishments of each other through the Better Newspaper Contest.
But that artificial friendly atmoshere was sporadically shattered Saturday during the banquet, as Northern Nevada reporters would call out each time UNR scored points in its game with UNLV.
The game was being played simultaneously to the banquet, but up-to-the-minute results were phoned in. The Wolfpack defeated the Rebels 49-27.
The Ely Times won three, second place awards in its class: Best Editorial Writing (Kent Harper); Best Local Sports Column (John Plestina); and Best In-House Advertising Promotion (Shari Gilson).
The Times also won two third place award: General Excellence and Best Investigative or In-Depth Story (John Plestina).
The keynote speaker was Jerry Ceppos, Dean of the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno.
During his speech he announced the organization of the first statewide association to promote excellence in journalism in Nevada's high schools.
“This is a pivotal time to support Nevada education,” Ceppos said. “The Reynolds High School Journalism Association will promote networking and professional development among teachers, high journalistic standards among students and generally will leverage resources. This is the perfect role for a land-grant university.”
The Reynolds High School Journalism Association kicks off at the journalism school Oct. 4 with a half-day meeting of high school newspaper advisers and others to support curriculum development, equipment acquisition, and statewide communication.
Two women with long histories of managing newspapers in Northern Nevada were inducted into the Nevada Press Association Hall of Fame.
Since 2003, Anne Pershing has been executive editor of the Fallon Star Press, affiliated with the Reno Gazette-Journal. Previously she was the editor, general manager and executive vice president of the Lahontan Valley News in Fallon until 2003.
Tonia Cunning was the executive editor of the Reno Gazette-Journal when she retired last year.
She began as a feature writer with the Nevada State Journal in 1971. The Journal merged with the Reno Evening Gazette in 1983.
And Supreme Court Justice William Maupin was named a First Amendment Champion by the association for his defense of the state's open records laws.
