Cougar news services
University of Houston students who only read the letters page and work the crossword puzzle might be missing the best parts of their college newspaper.
Friday, The Daily Cougar won second place in the "Best All-Around Daily Student Newspaper" in a competition sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists. Daily Cougar cartoonist John Palamidy was also honored with a second-place award for best editorial cartoon.
The Cougar is within the confines of the SPJ's Region 8, which consists of Texas and Oklahoma. The UH paper beat the University of Texas at Arlington newspaper, The Shorthorn, to win the award. The Oklahoma Daily came in first.
The panel looked at all aspects of the paper, including news stories, photography and commentaries, in selecting winners.
"Winning individual awards is always nice," said Daily Cougar Managing Editor Scott Williams, "but coming in second place and beating out all the other schools in Texas and Oklahoma is a testament to how hard our entire staff works. It means even more when you take into consideration how small our budget is, compared to other schools."
Palamidy, who writes and draws Coogie, a daily strip appearing in The Daily Cougar, said, "I got second place. That just means I need to work harder."