Minnesota Independent wins three Society of Professional Journalists awards

The Minnesota Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists will be honoring the Minnesota Independent (formerly Minnesota Monitor) with three awards at its June 12 banquet, including one for best independent website. Rankings for the 2008 Page One Awards won’t be announced before the event, but Minnesota Monitor is placing for "Best Web Site (Independent)" as well as best independent online news story for Paul Schmelzer’s news analysis piece, "Annarama! Anna Nicole Smith and the Experience Newspaper." And former senior fellow Eric Black won a "best independent newsroom" award for his first-rate coverage at Minnesota Monitor of last year’s scandal and eventual resignation in the office of Minnesota’s US Attorney Rachel Paulose. He now writes for MinnPost.

Finally, the Minnesota Independent’s political writer, Paul Demko, won two SPJ prizes for his coverage of the Star Tribune while working for City Pages last year. One, "Newspaper War," won an honor for spot news, while another, "Trials and Stribulations" (co-written with G.R. Anderson, who now works for MinnPost), was recognized in the "In-Depth Business" category.

Last year, Minnesota Monitor became the first web-based news organization in the state to win a Page One award; Schmelzer’s piece on owner-driven newspaper endorsements won a second place in the special reports category.