Daily Herald named best website, wins other awards

The Daily Herald received five first-place awards Thursday in the annual Northern Illinois Newspaper Association contest, including best website, best news series and recognition for its editorial writing, sports column writing and education reporting.

It was the second NINA win in a row for the Daily Herald website, dailyherald.com.

Editor John Lampinen won for his editorial "A letter to the children of Sept. 11."

Best sports columnist went to Barry Rozner, whose entries included his take on Greg Maddux's speech at the Hall of Fame, Ray Rice's reaction to domestic abuse charges and the baseball life of Don Zimmer.

Political Editor Mike Riopell won for best news series for "We Were Almost Home: The story of Capt. Duckworth and the soldiers who saved her life," a narrative of the rescue of U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth after her helicopter was shot down in Iraq.

Staff Writer Melissa Silverberg won for best education reporting for her state school report card coverage, including the article "Does the ACT really tell you if you're ready for college?"

"These honors are a reflection of the hard and thoughtful work of our website team, our columnists, reporters, editors, photographers and everyone else who has a hand in getting the news out every minute and every day. I'm so proud to work with all of them," Managing Editor Jim Baumann said.

Other Daily Herald finalists are Editor of Data Journalism and Graphics Tim Broderick, who placed second and third for informational graphics; Assistant Managing Editor for Watchdog Reporting Jake Griffin, who placed third for in-depth news reporting; Riopell, who placed second for general features; Assistant Managing Editor for Opinion Jim Slusher, who placed third for editorial writing; and Photographer Mark Welsh, who placed second for sports photography.

The winners are named by the NINA in conjunction with the journalism program of the Northern Illinois University department of communications and were honored at a dinner at NIU's Holmes Student Center in DeKalb.