This photo by Nevada Appeal photographer Brad Horn won first-place for best sports photo in The Associated Press News Executives Council's annual contest. The photo is of James Miyagishima as he is thrown from his bull during the bullriding event at the Reno Rodeo on June 25 at the Reno Livestock Events Center.
Nevada Appeal staffers have won three first-place prizes in the Associated Press News Executives Council's annual contest honoring the best newswriting and photography in California and Nevada for 2006.
Crime reporter F.T. Norton won in the spot news category for her reports of a girl found wandering Carson City's back streets after having escaped the bathroom where she'd been held captive for five years.
Norton wrote in her first story: "A tiny girl found pushing a shopping cart Thursday afternoon told a horrifying story to deputies that resulted in the arrest of her mother, grandmother and mother's boyfriend."
Features Editor Teri Vance won in the feature writing category for her three-part series on Raquel - a girl whose story begins with her addiction to heroin and cocaine in Dallas, continues through her transition to Carson City and her introduction to methamphetamine, and her struggle to regain control of her life.
Vance wrote: "Stumbling through the front door, she sees the note her father tacked to the wall.
"Get your stuff and get out," it says.
"Raquel knows he's scared. He saw her lying for a week in a hospital bed, nearly dead from a heroin overdose."
Brad Horn captured James Miyagishima as he is thrown from his bull during the bullriding event at the Reno Rodeo on June 25 at the Reno Livestock Events Center.
Horn said rodeo is his favorite sport to shoot.
"Most photographers fall in love with rodeo because of the visually dramatic action," he said. "So many cool things happen in it you can't miss it."
The Associated Press News Executives Council's annual contest honors the best newswriting and photography of 2006 by AP member newspapers in California and Nevada.
Awards in 59 categories will be presented at an evening banquet at the annual APNEC conference April 27. This year's APNEC winners were chosen by editors from AP member newspapers in Illinois from more than 1,000 entries.
The APNEC conference is being held in conjunction with the California Society of Newspaper Editors convention.
To read the full stories go to www.nevadaappeal.com and click on this story. The links to the stories are provided for you there.
If you are reading this story online, the links can be found below.
Story links
Police: Children starved, locked in bathroom, by F.T. Norton, Appeal Staff Writer:
https://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20060120/NEWS/101200086 or do an archive search for starvation.
I'm Raquel, by Teri Vance, Appeal features editor:
https://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20060518/NEWS/105180051
https://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20060519/NEWS/105190079
https://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20060520/NEWS/105200055
https://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20060520/NEWS/105200057
https://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20061203/NEWS/112030092
https://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20061203/NEWS/112030116