Anthology of rural Alaska stories wins awards
September 28, 2011
An anthology of stories by writers from rural Alaska 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 Alaska students in
newspapers and on websites over the past quarter-century.
The book, Purely Alaska: Authentic Voices from the Far North, with 32 stories from 23 rural Alaska writers, won a bronze medal in the 2011 Book
of the Year competition sponsored by Foreword magazine.
Purely Alaska, 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 Alaska received an honorable mention in the culture category of the annual Eric Hoffer Awards
for Short Prose and Independent Books.
Purely Alaska’s contributors include the book’s co-creators, Susan B. Andrews and John Creed, humanities/journalism
professors at Kotzebue-based Chukchi Campus, 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 Alaska. 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 Alaska Professional Communicators, a statewide organization promoting excellence
in journalism, communications and education, for their work as faculty advisors to
CNIS.