NEWSPAPER WINS PAIR OF ASSOCIATED PRESS AWARDS

The Southeast Missourian received two third-place honors in the Missouri Associated Press Managing Editors writing contest awards announced Saturday.

Marty Mishow won a third-place award in the spot sports coverage category for his story about Central High School's decision not to rehire three football coaches.

Also winning a third-place award for spot news was former Missourian reporter Julie Bollman for her story about a triple murder in Cape Girardeau.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch won the sweepstakes award for reporting excellence and swept the first-place awards for newspapers of its size.

Terry Ganey and the Post-Dispatch received the Fred Moen Sweepstakes Award for a series on the Second-Injury Fund, which also won first-place in the Community Affairs/Public Interest category for large newspapers in Missouri.

Ganey's digging into Missouri's fund for injured workers spurred two federal grand jury investigations and helped galvanize the central issue in former Attorney General Bill Webster's race for governor last year. Webster, a Republican who had been considered a favorite, ended up losing to Mel Carnahan by 19 percentage points.

The Columbia Daily Tribune took home four first-place honors for medium-size newspapers, and The Columbia Missourian won four first-place awards in the competition for small newspapers.