Daily Herald wins four national writing, photography awards

The national Inland Press Association presented the Daily Herald today with four awards for excellence in writing and photography by daily newspapers with circulation of more than 100,000.

The association, which represents more than 1,000 daily and weekly newspapers in the United States, awarded the Daily Herald first place in explanatory writing and feature photography, as well as second place in investigative reporting and third place in editorial writing.

The paper's explanatory reporting entry was "The Two Faces of Lt. Gliniewicz" by Burt Constable, Lee Filas and Tim Broderick.

Its feature photography entry was "Who's Chicken?" by Rick West. The photo showed a 6-year-old making a scary face at a chicken that was refusing to let him pick her up at his family farm in Woodstock. The judges said, West's picture "captured a delightful expression with good contributing background."

Jake Griffin was honored in the investigative reporting category for a selection of stories from his weekly column, "Suburban Tax Watchdog."

The newspaper's editorial board was cited for a selection of five editorials.

Judges said the entry presented "well-written editorials that offer sensible solutions without being sanctimonious."

Inland Press Association is a 130-year-old organization made up of newspapers from across the country.

The awards were presented at a breakfast during the group's annual meeting at the J.W. Marriott hotel in Chicago.