Public Employee Press

Tops in NYC: Public Employee Press and DC 37 Web site

District Council 37 members have the best newspaper and Web site in the local labor movement, according to the results of the Metro New York Labor Communications Council’s annual contest for work published in 2005.

The Public Employee Press, which competes in the tough high-circulation group, took five first-place awards and one second in the contest’s eight categories. The DC 37 site was rated first among union Web sites.

In awarding PEP first prize for overall general excellence, the judges said the paper “provides a good mix of union issues, larger issues and members’ voices” as well as “a lot of concrete information to encourage member involvement.” PEP often ranks in the contest’s top handful, but this year’s string of firsts is apparently unprecedented.

The top award in news writing went to Jane LaTour for an article the judges called “thoughtful and well written.” She contrasted the incompetent, corrupt, race and class-based government response to Hurricane Katrina with the magnificent human and union response to the suffering. First prize in feature writing went to Alfredo Alvarado, who won praise for the “muckraking tone” of his expose of how privatization at the Dept. of Education led to waste and corruption and hurt union members, the public and schoolchildren.

PEP also came in first in the “special topic of the year” competition for its series on the Iraq War by LaTour, Alvarado and Greg Heires. The judges pointed out that the articles included “sensitive human interest, incisive policy analysis, historical perspectives and the voices of union members” serving in the war zone.

Heires, LaTour and Diane Williams won a second for the “unique performance” of their series of “Profiles in Public Service” about union members, and PEP took first in photography for a shot by former staffer George Cohen.

The judges praised www.dc37.net for offering members a “well-organized and comprehensible” Web site that provides “easy access to the information you want and need.” The site was recently redesigned by Molly Charboneau, editor, and Jaee Pathak, designer and developer.

Heires, PEP’s senior associate editor, is president of Metro, which presented the awards June 22 at its annual convention.

“These awards show again that DC 37 goes to great efforts to keep our members informed and involved,” said Executive Director Lillian Roberts.