'DP' inaugurates 111th Board at annaul banquet

and Melissa Wagenberg The dress was elegant, the food was not, and the behavior was? just silly. With characteristic Daily Pennsylvanian charm, the collective torch was passed from former Executive Editor Jordana Horn and the 110th Board of Editors and Managers to the 111th Board, led by incoming-Executive Editor Charlie Ornstein, at the annual DP banquet Saturday night. Following the cocktail hour and the generally forgettable dinner, DP bigwigs began a night of speeches and awards. The DP Alumni Association presented Wharton senior and outgoing Sports Editor Adam Rubin with an award for writing, and College junior and incoming Photography Editor Stephen Shapiro with an award for photography. Rubin also won the DP's prestigious Editor of the Year award. The News department awarded College sophomore Lisa Levenson Reporter of the Year, and incoming Associate Editor and College sophomore Kara Blond the Most Improved Reporter award. College sophomore Jeff Wieland received the Most Valuable Writer award from the Sports Department. He was joined in his honor by Wharton senior Adam Steinmetz, who took the department's Best Writer award, and by the Most Improved Sports Writer and College sophomore Srik Reddy. The Photo department became the focus of the evening when incoming editor Adam Mark, a College sophomore, stumbled up to the podium, to receive his award for Most Valuable Photographer. College sophomore Evelyn Hockstein was named Most Improved Photographer. College junior and 34th Street Magazine Managing Editor was named best Street writer, and College senior Bret Stuntz received the Most Valuable Player Street award. Among those recognized by the Business department were College junior Caroline Parmigiani and College junior Lori Lovitz, incoming Associate Sales Managers. But despite this glory, University President Judith Rodin said DP writers are more like "vigilantes" than honorable truth-seekers. "I watched the movie The Paper in preparation for dealing with people pretending to be reporters," she said in a speech which received a mixture of polite laughter and boos from the audience. After the dinner, banquet guests adjourned to the Penn Tower hotel for drinking and dancing -- with a decided emphasis on the drinking part. "If my memory serves me correct, the banquet was a lot of fun for all those who attended," Ornstein said. "But one thing is for certain. Kara Blond and Andrew Figel were the most drunk. I have never seen two people more drunk in my entire life." But while Blond and Figel were the most inebriated couple, they were hardly alone in their inebriation. "Jordana and I are lovers," said College junior Greg Montanaro, the new City editor. The very tipsy College sophomore and DP beat reporter Amy Lipman was overheard offering to bring the entire Sports Department home. Unfortunately for Lipman, no one took her up on her offer.