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`A Community Coming Together'

JN wins top honors for coverage of Jewish community's
outpouring of kindness to Hechtman fire victims.

David Sachs

Senior Copy Editor

T

he Jewish News' team coverage of
last year's fire at the Hechtman
Jewish Apartments in West
Bloomfield was recognized last week for
journalistic excellence by fellow writers and
editors, who lauded its "solid writing and
reporting" of a "community coming together"
"The fire broke out on April 9, a
Wednesday, after our normal weekly news
cycle," said IN Editor Robert Sklar, "but our
news team sprang into action, posting daily
updates on our Web site, JNonline. We then
produced a sweeping multi-page print pack-
age for the following week's IN that focused
on the heartrending stories of Jewish com-
munity members who were most involved
as either fire victims or as givers:'
The JN's peers rewarded the paper's
efforts with first-place honors for cover-
age of breaking news. The Jewish News'
Hechtman fire story team included Editor
Sklar, Story Editor Keri Guten Cohen,
Associate Editor Alan Hitsky and special
writer Bill Carroll.
In all, the IN captured six Excellence in

Robert Sklar

Media Awards given by the Detroit Chapter
of the Society of Professional Journalists
(SPJ). Two other publications produced
by the IN's parent company, Renaissance
Media, received six additional prizes.
IN editors, writers and page designers
accepted the honors at the annual SPJ ban-
quet April 15 in Troy. The contest rated last
year's efforts by newspapers of similar cir-
culation size and was judged by journalists
from Chicago, Minnesota and Florida.
"Strong, deliberative, well-constructed"
is how the journalist-judges described the
weekly "Editor's Letter" by Sklar, nam-
ing him the year's top news columnist. In
addition, Sklar won another prize — sec-
ond-place for an editorial he penned
about the sudden change in leadership
at the Frankel Jewish Academy in West
Bloomfield.
"Our intent in the Editor's Letter,
Publisher's Notebook and our Editorials
is to provide depth of thinking on criti-
cal issues as they relate specifically to the
Detroit Jewish community" said Sklar.
"That, coupled with the Letters to the
Editor we receive and our Other Views
columnists, is why the JN remains an irre-

Deborah

Keri Guten

Schultz

Cohen

A24 April 30 2009

Alan Hitsky

Bill Carroll

placeable weekly forum for the
Jewish community to exchange
ideas."
The JN also took three awards
for graphic design. Creative
Director Deborah Schultz, Staff
Photographer Angie Baan and
Graphic Designer Lindsay
Schwartz won first place for
Front Page Design for their July
17 cover "4 Teens To Watch." A
very creative cover" is how the
judges described it.
Schultz, who won a total
=CA,
of six awards, and Baan,
who won three, also nabbed
second place in the same
category for their Aug. 21
"Israel At 60" cover, which
the judges labeled "eye-
catching."
Schwartz and photogra-
pher Morris Alkalay won
a second-place prize in
Feature Page Design for
the May 15 "Our Beloved
Homeland" layout.
Schultz won three awards for her work
designing Renaissance
Media's Beaumont
Hospitals' House Call
publication. She also won
design kudos for Xology,
Renaissance Media's
technology and lifestyle
magazine, as did pho-
Angie Baan
tographer Chris Chlor. In
addition, Baan won a

((

photojournalism award
for Beaumont's House Call
and photographer Irkaly
Shanidze won a first-
place prize for Xology.
"We pride ourselves
not only on producing
well-reported and well-
written publications, but
also well-designed," said
Sklar.
"Pleasing — and
even striking — page
designs draw readers.
We've invested the time
and effort in design
because we want read-
ers and advertisers to
recognize the JN and
Renaissance Media as
presenters of eye-catch-
ing publications with the
reader-grabbing content
to match.
"Despite riding the
economic rapids along
with every other news-
paper company this past year, the JN news
team and our sister news teams within
Renaissance Media have stayed focused on
producing the most comprehensive and
best quality publication possible;' added
Sklar. "The breadth of the award categories
confirmed this effort.
"From writing to design, our readers
can be assured of receiving professional
publications that stand up to independent
peer scrutiny"

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