May 6, 2008

Daily News reporter wins education awards

Daily News Staff Report

Daily News staff writer Will Oremus has won three awards in the annual 2007 California Teachers Association John Swett Awards contest.

Oremus was awarded certificates of merit in three different categories for daily newspapers with circulation under 100,000:

- Contribution by an Individual based on Continuous Coverage of Schools/Education Issues. Oremus followed the ongoing financial crisis of the six-school San Mateo Union High School District, a large and generally wealthy district that suddenly plunged into insolvency. As its problems mounted, Oremus worked to uncover and explain the forces behind the crisis - a devastating combination of internal mismanagement, tax code vagaries and plain bad luck.

- Contribution by an Individual for a Feature Story, "Third-graders shine light on solar fees." The feature story was about a class of ecologically minded third-graders who, in the process of their study of solar power, learned that their own city's permit fees for solar panel installations were among the highest in the region. Encouraged by their teacher, they marched down to City Hall and met with the mayor - who was so moved that she subsequently convinced her city council colleagues to drop the fees completely.

- Contribution by an Individual for a News Story, "The problem facing education on the Peninsula today."

"We're grateful that the association and its panel of journalist judges recognized Will's understanding of issues facing our schools and his ability to clearly lay them out for readers in his stories. We're proud of his work," said Mario Dianda, executive editor of the Daily News Group.