Daily News wins 5 awards from newspaper group

The Daily News won five awards in the annual Florida Society of Newspaper Editors journalism competition for 2006.

Harriet Howard Heithaus, who covers the arts for the Daily News, took first place in the criticism writing category.

"Sparkling writing and great use of detail and description help readers experience performances. Culture can be fun," the judges said.

Erik Kellar took first place for spot news photography. His winning entry involved coverage of a bank robbery in Bonita Springs.

"Excellent storytelling content in an unusual news photograph," the judges said.

The Daily News also received three third-place awards in the competition for newspapers of between 40,000 and 125,000 circulation.

Tom Hanson was honored for sports column writing and staffers Kate Frantz and Kori Rumore were honored for feature page design.

The other third-place award was for best newspaper Web site.

The awards were announced Friday at the annual FSNE convention in St. Petersburg.