Four Stars and Stripes staffers have been recognized for their military coverage by Military Reporters and Editors, a professional association for military journalists.
For overseas coverage by small newspapers, that is those with less than 100,000 circulation, co-winners were announced, and both are from Stars and Stripes.
Monte Morin, a Stripes reporter operating downrange, was recognized for his series of articles from Iraq in fall 2005 that “caught the human angle in the middle of angst.”
The judges wrote that the stories were “extremely well-written. Morin has an eye for finding interesting people and then letting those characters lead the story.”
His co-winner was Joseph Giordono, Morin’s editor and a writer who deploys from Stripes’ offices near Darmstadt, Germany.
The association recognized Giordono for his series on the U.S. Army’s 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division during the final days of its one-year rotation to Iraq. “Terrific reporting” the judges noted. “Emotional writing.”
Receiving honorable mention for the category was Stripes’ Nancy Montgomery for her account of the U.S. Army’s 212th Mobile Surgical Hospital in its attempts to provide aid to Pakistani people following the October 2005 earthquake that killed some 87,000 people.
Stripes photographer Fred Zimmerman was recognized for his series of photos of Marines enduring the Jungle Warfare Training Center on Okinawa.
Recognized in the larger newspaper category was Greg Jaffe of The Wall Street Journal, and Russell Carollo and Larry Kaplow of The Dayton (Ohio) Daily News.
The association exists to advance public understanding of the military and to assure that journalists have access to places where the U.S. military and its allies operate.
Association president Sig Christenson, himself a reporter with the San Antonio Express-News, said that while judging such work is subjective and tricky, it’s clear that “all the entries have value, and you want to let the people know their hard work is recognized.”
