Published: May 08, 2008 04:00 am         

Star wins two awards in state contest

A photograph from a local soccer game and stories about a shootout and fire in Margaretville earned New York Newspaper Publishers Association awards presented in Albany on Wednesday night.

The Daily Star staff received the awards at a reception and dinner at the State Room in downtown Albany. The association gave plaques to newspapers and certificates to their staff winners. The Daily Star won in the 10,000-to-24,000 circulation category.

Julie Lewis, chief photographer, won the Distinguished Sports Photography award for ``Crunch.'' The photograph shows three players in a soccer game between Laurens Central School and Poland in a Class D state quarterfinal game at the National Soccer Hall of Fame campus in Oneonta. It was published Nov. 11, 2006. Lewis won an association award last year in the features category.

The newspaper won 2006-07 Distinguished Breaking News Coverage honors for ``Body Found at Scene of Fire'' by reporters Jake Palmateer and Patricia Breakey and former staff writer Amy Ashbridge. The reporters covered the story of a manhunt and a shootout between state police and a suspect at a farmhouse in Margaretville on April 24 and 25, 2007.

Tanya Shalor, publisher of The Daily Star, said the photographic and news coverage shows the skill and dedication of the staff in reporting events to the community.

``I am extremely proud of the accomplishments of our staff,'' Shalor said Wednesday.

Managing Editor Cary Brunswick said covering events involving the trooper shooting and manhunt were especially challenging because Margaretville is about an hour from Oneonta, with limited cell-phone range.

``I remember Jake having to go down the road and to the top of a hill in order to call in,'' Brunswick said.

Later, Palmateer had to arrange to turn a story in using a computer at the Roxbury library.

All-in-all, the staff succeeded in a tense situation, Brunswick said. With Breakey in Margaretville, Lewis out on Route 30 with Palmateer, and Ashbridge tracking background on the shooter in Oneonta, they are deserving of the award, he said Wednesday.