The Star Garners National Awards

The East Hampton Star has been notified that it has won five prizes in the National Newspaper Association's 1998 contest.

The Star won three first-place plaques, including the democracy award for an editorial, and for best review and best letter to the editor. In addition, the newspaper won honorable mentions for best letter to the editor grouping and excellence in typography.

The democracy award cited The Star for a Sept. 11, 1997 editorial by Carissa Katz that took Gov. George E. Pataki to task for vetoing the land bank bill that would have allowed East Hampton Town to levy a 2-percent tax on the sale of houses over $250,000 and vacant land over $100,000, with the money to go toward the preservation of open space. The Governor has since signed a bill that includes the five East End towns.

Winning Review

Josh Lawrence, now a freelance writer in New York City, won for his review of Phoebe Legere's CD, "Last Tango In Bubbleland," which appeared in the Oct. 2, 1997, edition. Mr. Lawrence described Ms. Legere as "fiercely original . . . too multifaceted to be categorized." Her new CD, he said, "is a collection of wild new Legeresque pop compositions mixed with a balance of straightforward ballads, folk, and R&B."

Steve Haweeli, who wrote what the N.N.A. deemed the year's best letter to the editor, on Dec. 18, suggested that those complaining about bad dining experiences or menu pricing disputes exact revenge by not going back to the restaurant in question rather than vent on the Star's letters pages. "This is folderol," Mr. Haweeli, a restaurant publicist who lives in Springs, said, "and a below-the-belt assault."

In the alternative, he suggested a new Star column to be called, "Whine & Dine," in which restaurants would get a chance to cite a few complaints of their own, regarding those who "abuse reservationists for a table, talk on cell phones while dining, have cell phones ringing while dining, show up late for a reservation, don't show up at all, treat wait staff and bar staff like chattel, get drunk and disorderly, come on to staff members, which includes inappropriate touching, leave less than 15 percent tips, or no tip at all."

The letters to the editor grouping cited appeared in the Aug. 21, 1997 issue. The letters, which included a plea that convicted drunk drivers be identified through special license plates, a thank-you to the Amagansett Volunteer Ambulance Company from a rescued body surfer, a friend's recollection of the late Lieut. Christopher D. Buckley, and discussions of the Town Airport's runways and Montauk's water problem, covered the better part of four pages.

J.G.