And the winner is...

The feature by Parker, a College senior from Bethesda, Md., and a former 34th Street features editor and DP assignments & features editor, entertainingly revealed the background behind New Deck Tavern's quiz game, as well as its proliferation to other Penn bars and establishments throughout the country.

"Hard to believe a bar game, and one often taken for granted on Penn's campus, has such an interesting history," said judge Luke DeCock '96, a sports writer at the Raleigh News & Observer.

"Throughout," said judge Scott Calvert '94, a reporter at The Baltimore Sun, "Parker displays a keen eye for description -- they were 'wedged' at a 'sticky brown table just below the crackling speakers' -- and makes excellent use of dialogue, giving readers a 3-D picture of the scene. Her lively writing style keeps the story moving, and she wisely avoids clich‚s and stereotypes in describing Quizo and its enthusiasts. She also crafts the story skillfully by weaving in background about the game's creator and the past fortunes of a previous Quizo juggernaut. All in all, a delightful read."

The distinguished judging panel also included Dennis Berman '96 of The Wall Street Journal, Andrea Ahles Koos '98 and Dave Lieber '79 of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Randi Feigenbaum Marshall '97 of Newsday and Jon Wilner '89 of the San Jose Mercury News.

Parker's feature edged a piece submitted by Dubilet about a West Philadelphia funeral-home owner, but Dubilet's strong writing and reporting skills earned him the second annual "Page One Award" and $500 for a different story.

Dubilet, a College junior from Warminster, Pa., and the DP's minority-affairs beat reporter at the time, revealed that university officials altered a photo on a commencement brochure by blackening the rainbow-colored tassel of a graduating student. The Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center had distributed the tassel. "They turned what would have been something very flattering into something insulting and hurtful," Dubilet quoted the pictured graduate as saying. Dubilet stayed on the story during the following semester, fulfilling the criteria for the Page One Award, by revealing the university had offered only a short, ambiguous apology to the student and had failed to set a policy on photo alterations, unlike the University of Wisconsin after an incident with similarities.

[Click here to read the the original story] [Click here to read the first follow-up] [Click here to read the second follow-up]

"These stories were by far the best of the entries," said judge Steve Stecklow '76, an investigative reporter at The Wall Street Journal. "They showed enterprise in that Dubilet followed up in September an incident that originally took place the previous school year. The reporting was impressive as well -- especially finding that another university had experienced a similar incident and had, unlike Penn, created a whole new policy as a result. And the third story exposed the inadequacy of Penn's response and the potential legal ramifications. Fascinating subject, good writing, excellent follow-up -- Alex Dubilet well deserves the DP Alumni Association's 'Page One' Award."

The "Page One Award" is the brainchild of DPAA president Bob Frost '60, a former reporter at The New York Times. Frost wanted to ensure the DP continued to aggressively pursue hard news, so he proposed creation of, and funded the cash prize to accompany, the new award which was first awarded last year. The "Page One" Award seeks to recognize students who search out a news story, pursue and persevere in getting the story in print, with accuracy and objectivity, and then produce appropriate follow-ups.

Hannah Bloch '84, an author formerly of Time Magazine, Lindsay Faber '00 of Newsday, Ed Gefen '88 and Gregory Richards '02 of The Florida Times-Union, Ross Kerber '89 of The Boston Globe and Peter Spiegel '92 of The Financial Times joined Stecklow as judges.