News in Brief

National Writers Workshop ... Northern Star Hall of Fame inducts six ... E&P honors Northern Star Web site

Heavy hitters will highlight
National Writers Workshop

ST. LOUIS — Some of America’s top journalists will speak April 13-14 at the National Writers Conference, to be held at the St. Louis Marriott Hotel. Speakers include:

• New York Times managing editor Gerald Boyd, whose keynote is titled, “Journalism in a World Turned Upside Down by Sept. 11”;
• Best-selling authors Mark Bowden (“Black Hawk Down”), Debra Dickerson (“An American Story”) and Kitty Kelley (“Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography” and “Frank Sinatra: His Way”);
• Sports broadcasters Bob Costas (NBC Sports), Howard Berkes (National Public Radio) and Byron Pitts (CBS News);
• Pulitzer Prize winners Louise Kiernan (Chicago Tribune), Jon Franklin (University of Maryland), Tom French (St. Petersburg Times), Tom Hallman (Portland Oregonian) and Andrew Schneider (St. Louis Post-Dispatch).

Tuition for the conference is $80, $60 for students. For information, see www.nww-stlouis.org.

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Northern Star Hall of Fame inducts six

DEKALB — Six people were inducted recently into the Northern Star Hall of Fame, which honors alumni and friends of the daily student newspaper at Northern Illinois University. Honorees are:

• Joe Distelheim (NIU class of ’65), editor of the Huntsville Times, Huntsville, Ala., and former sports editor of the Detroit Free Press.
• Jerry Huston (NIU class of ’86), an attorney with the Chicago firm of Lord, Bissell & Brook.
• Tom McNamee (NIU class of ’76), Sunday editor of the Chicago Sun-Times. He and fellow Sun-Times reporter Don Hayner have written three books about Chicago, and co-hosted a radio talk show on WLS-AM.
• Gene Mustain (NIU class of ’69), assistant professor of journalism at the University of Hong Kong. Mustain has been one of America’s top investigative reporters, the Chicago Sun-Times andthe New York Daily News. He is best known for his 1988 best-seller, “Mob Star,” about John Gotti. He also wrote “Murder Machine” and “Gotti: Rise and Fall.” The latter became a highly rated HBO movie.
• Bud Nangle, NIU’s sports information director from 1947-49 and from 1967-84. Nangle was inducted as a “Friend of the Star,” due largely to his role in training young sports writers during their Northern Star days and beyond. He is retired and lives in Vista, Calif.
• Linda Ringstrand (NIU class of ’89), a former advertising representative for the Daily Herald. She also worked for the Los Angeles Times and Money Magazine. She now is a full-time wife and mother in Arlington Heights.

With the 2002 class, the 3-year-old Hall of Fame now has 25 members, including NINA board members Jim Slonoff and Lonny Cain, NINA founder Don Grubb, former executive secretary Jerry Thompson and NINA stalwarts Jeff and Kathy Farren.

Full information and biographies of all members may be found at : www.northernstar.info/alumni

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NIU student newspaper Web site
wins second national honor

DEKALB — The Web site of the Northern Illinois University student newspaper the Northern Star (www.northernstar.info) has won its second national award of the academic year.

Editor & Publisher bestowed its Best College Newspaper Online Service award on the Northern Star during February’s 2002 EPpy Awards in San Jose, Calif. The Star beat out two other finalists, Brigham Young University and Indiana University, and finished atop more than 150 entries.

In October, the Star's site won an Online Pacemaker award, considered the Pulitzer Prize of college journalism, from Associated Collegiate Press.

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