UAA student takes best reporting prize at Alaska Press Club

UAA student Mary Lochner won a Vern McCorkle Award for Best Business Reporting, taking first place in the small publications competition at the Alaska Press Club Awards, announced March 28. The winning entry, "Growing energy demands, a cold reality for Manokotak," was published July 24, 2008 in The Bristol BayTimes.

Judge Hal Bernton, a reporter for The Seattle Times, wrote, "Back in the summer, when it was easy to be distracted by other topics, Lochner sounded an alarm about an energy crunch hitting a Bush village. She documented two significant problems -- a lack of storage for gasoline and a lack of cash to fully fill village fuel oil storage tanks for heating (a problem that would become a much bigger issue in Bush Alaska later in the year as the cold weather hit)."

Mary Lochner is a psychology and Alaska Native studies student at UAA. Her previous journalism awards include two Alaska Press Club awards and one Gold Circle Award. She has worked for The Northern Light, The Alaska Star and The Bristol Bay Times.