COMMUNICATING EXCELLENCE: Columns, the UW alumni magazine, recently took home a host of Washington Press Association awards. Columns editor Tom Griffin, writers Jon Marmor, Julie Garner and designer Ken Shafer won for magazine feature story, publication edited by entrant, page layout, personality profile, special articles: arts and entertainment, religion and sports, feature photo; and first place for a non-profit organization magazine. UW News and Information writers Vince Stricherz and Greg Orwig won a first, third and honorable mention in the news release category. Orwig also won a second place for his series of releases on the Trans-Atlantic aerosonde flight.

SPJ AWARDS: Columns also picked up six awards at the Excellence in Journalism competition sponsored by the Western Washington chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. First place awards went to former UW News and Information Writer Nancy Wick for her article “Learning Curves,” and to Columns Associate Editor Jon Marmor for his sports story “Shooting Star.” Three second place awards were given to Columns Editor Tom Griffin for his story “The Brain Drain,” about the loss of faculty due to low pay, Marmor for his arts and criticism piece “Call of the Wild,” and Art Director Ken Shafer for his design work for Columns. Sandra Hines, UW News and Information assistant director, won a third place for her science and health article “The Big Chill.” UW News and Information Writer and UWeek Assistant Editor Molly O’Connor shared a second place for education reporting in daily newspapers for “Bellevue’s middle school muddle,” a story written when she worked at the Eastside Journal.

KUDOS: A series of almost-live reports from a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research ship, stationed near an undersea volcano off the Washington coast, recently earned a Washington Sea Grant Program Totem Award from the regional chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. The reports were filed last summer by Julie Huber and John Kaye, a pair of UW graduate students, and edited by science writer David G. Gordon . . . The American Academy of Microbiology has elected Jody W. Deming to be one of more than 1,500 of its Academy Fellows. ¶