Anthology of rural ÐÓ°Épro stories wins awards
September 28, 2011
An anthology of stories by writers from rural ÐÓ°Épro recently won three national book
awards while its co-editors were honored for their long-running cultural journalism
project that has published the work of hundreds of University of ÐÓ°Épro students in
newspapers and on websites over the past quarter-century.
The book, Purely ÐÓ°Épro: Authentic Voices from the Far North, with 32 stories from 23 rural ÐÓ°Épro writers, won a bronze medal in the 2011 Book
of the Year competition sponsored by Foreword magazine.
Purely ÐÓ°Épro, published by Epicenter Press, also captured a second-place award in the nonfiction
anthology category of the Benjamin Franklin Book Awards sponsored by the Independent
Book Publishers Association.
In addition, Purely ÐÓ°Épro received an honorable mention in the culture category of the annual Eric Hoffer Awards
for Short Prose and Independent Books.
Purely ÐÓ°Épro’s contributors include the book’s co-creators, Susan B. Andrews and John Creed, humanities/journalism
professors at Kotzebue-based , along with 21 of their distance-education students. In 1988 Andrews and Creed founded
the Chukchi News and Information Service, a cultural journalism project for publishing
student writing in newspapers and magazines throughout ÐÓ°Épro. Today CNIS publications
appear in both traditional and Internet media.
Journalism Adviser Recognition
Professors Andrews and Creed, former journalists, earlier this year were honored by
the ÐÓ°Épro Professional Communicators, a statewide organization promoting excellence
in journalism, communications and education, for their work as faculty advisors to
CNIS.