COWAN PRIZE IN JOURNALISM

Grey River Argus, 26 February 1949, Page 2

COWAN PRIZE IN JOURNALISM

WELLINGTON, Feb. 24

For his cow.iv.ge or the Mount Cook tragedy in which two ■ trampers lost their lives and six others were injured, Mr J. P. Kennedy, of the Christchurch Star-Sun, has been awarded the Cowan Memorial Prize in journalism. The judges’ lecomemnctations of this story were: “Enterprise in news gathering, and speed in transmitting it, together with pictures, to the office.” The second prize has been awarded to Mr 1. W. T. Munro, also of the Christchurch Star-Sun, for two special stories on the eradication of St John’s wort by insect parasites in the Upper Awatere valley. The third prize is shared by Mr lan Mackersey, of the New Zealand Herald, for a story in the Weekly News entitled "A Day in Rua’s Stronghold,” and Mr David N. Lawson, of the Manawatu Evening Standard, for his coverage of a fire at Pahiatua. The judges (Messrs L. J. Cronin and J. H. Hail) said in their report that they were disappointed at the number and quality of the entries. They had the impression that journalists were not entering their best articles. A difficulty encountered was that of deciding on the relative merits of straight news stories and feature articles. They suggested that the competition could, with advantage, be divided into two sections. '