Anthology of rural �Ӱ�ԭ�� stories wins awards

September 28, 2011

An anthology of stories by writers from rural �Ӱ�ԭ�� 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 �Ӱ�ԭ�� students in newspapers and on websites over the past quarter-century.

The book, Purely �Ӱ�ԭ��: Authentic Voices from the Far North, with 32 stories from 23 rural �Ӱ�ԭ�� writers, won a bronze medal in the 2011 Book of the Year competition sponsored by Foreword magazine.

Purely �Ӱ�ԭ��, 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 �Ӱ�ԭ�� received an honorable mention in the culture category of the annual Eric Hoffer Awards for Short Prose and Independent Books.

Purely �Ӱ�ԭ��’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 �Ӱ�ԭ��. 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 �Ӱ�ԭ�� Professional Communicators, a statewide organization promoting excellence in journalism, communications and education, for their work as faculty advisors to CNIS.