Log Cabin Democrat wins top APME award

AMOUNT MAGAZINE STATE PARK The Log Cabin Democrat won 18 individual awards and the state's General Excellence Award for medium-sized dailies in the Associated Press Managing Editors contest for 2008.

Winners were announced Saturday night during the organization's annual convention.

The Log Cabin has won the General Excellence Award, in which three complete editions of the newspaper are evaluated, nine of the last 10 years.

Editor Rick Fahr, elected Saturday as the group's vice president, said the awards were the result of teamwork throughout the Log Cabin Democrat operation.

"It takes every person in our company to make each day's edition come together," Fahr said. "From news gathering on the front end to printing and distribution on the back, every employee plays a role in creating our newspaper."

Fahr noted that the general excellence award is a high honor for the staff.

"We don't publish a newspaper to win awards, but it is rewarding for our peers to name our newspaper that best in our size division on a day-in and day-out basis," he said. "We've won this award a number of years in a row, and we think the award is a bit of validation for our work."

In individual competition, the Log Cabin won six first-place awards, four second-place awards and eight third-place awards.

The first-place awards were won by Fahr for a feature story he wrote while serving in Iraq, which detailed the atmosphere of a burn clinic in the region where local troops volunteered; David McCollum for a sports column about a momentum-changing play during the University of Central Arkansas' 41-17 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff; and education reporter Jessica Bauer in the beat coverage category for her coverage of former UCA president Lu Hardin. The staff of the Log Cabin also won first-place awards for headline writing, page design and graphics.

Second-place awards were presented to sports reporter Michael Allen for a story about Conway High School's perfect soccer season and the Log Cabin's staff for graphics, 2008 election coverage and a 2008 Sunshine Week project.

Third-place awards went to managing editor Waylon Harris for an editorial about the Oxford American magazine and its financial struggles; photographer Liberty Parks for her photography portfolio; McCollum for a column about his personal experience on the day Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn.; reporter Rachel Parker-Dickerson for an article in which individuals shared their stories about eating disorders, and for a story about Joe White's political campaign; Bauer for an article about busy back-to-school preparations; and to the Log Cabin staff for headline writing and for its special project about breast cancer awareness.

The Log Cabin Democrat competes against newspapers of similar size in the annual contest, and journalists from Iowa judged this year's contests.