The two 2002 North Carolina Press Association awards given to Nathan Moreschi make a half dozen in total the sports writer has won since he joined The Wake Weekly staff.

Moreschi captured three awards in 1999, his first year of eligibility. He garnered another in 2000, a third for Sports Coverage. This year the one-man sports department took first place in the Sports Columns category and a third for Sports News Reporting.

Wake Weekly Editor Carol Pelosi, reporters Debra A. Golden and Colleen Lowry, Production Director Alphonza Merritt and Graphic Designer J.J. Lesley also won press awards this year. Golden, Merritt and Lesley shared kudos for a July 2002 photo page.

Additionally, the newspaper's staff was honored with a second place in the Editorial Page category, giving The Wake Weekly a total of six awards.

"For a newspaper, winning an award for its editorial page is very gratifying. It shows that our editorials and our diverse mix of columnists give us an edge over most papers," said Publisher Greg Allen.

The page, Allen continued, would not be great "without letters to the editor. For that, we have to thank our readers for taking time to share their opinions."

Moreschi, a 1993 Franklinton High grad, said his sports column submission dealt with the untimely death of former Red Ram scorekeeper Shantelle Tabron.

Tabron, Moreschi recalled, was not just helpful, she always waited until Moreschi and other reporters got all the information they needed before leaving the gym.

His sports news feature, Miracle Makers, followed the surprising story of last year's Wake Forest-Rolesville High School girls' basketball team and their exciting run to the state's Eastern Regionals. "That was fun to write about," said Moreschi, remembering how the team turned a poor start into a season to remember.

Allen congratulated Moreschi, saying his two awards are "a tribute to his hard work. He covers a lot of ground and Š writes about it well."

Pelosi, who has several press awards from her stint at The Wake Weekly in the 1970s and another after her return in 2000, took top honors for her feature, A Life on the Mend. The story updated readers on the recovery of Jeff Valentine, a local man seriously injured in a near-fatal wreck the year before.

That story, Allen said, "is a good example of going beyond the headlines to find a story."

Lowry, a longtime Raleigh resident, captured her first N.C. Press award with a second place in Feature Writing. Her piece, Grave Finders, followed two Franklin County men, Jerry Boswell and Joe Pearce, who search undeveloped areas looking for old or forgotten grave sites. The information they collect is turned over to the North Carolina Cemetery Survey.

Allen called Lowry's feature "a well-written piece accentuated (by) a wonderful layout."

The photo page, with pictures taken by Golden, depicted the year-end celebration of Jones Dairy Elementary's fifth-graders, students who made up the school's first class of kindergartners. The photos showed the class's concert and students involved in different games and activities during an outing at Blue Jay Point State Park.

Staff participation helped create the distinctive -- and winning -- layout, Allen noted, which made the photos nearly jump off the page.

Merritt and Lesley were named as co-award winners because of their contributions to the page's layout and design. The award is the first individual nod for Merritt, a 47-year Wake Weekly veteran.

Modern technology and additional personnel, he said, have given him more time to give input into layout. "It makes a big difference."

The award is a first for Golden and Lesley as well. Both have been on staff at The Wake Weekly for four years. Golden, the mother of three, lives in Wake Forest. Lesley is also a student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The N.C. Press Awards ceremony, originally scheduled for Jan. 23 in Chapel Hill, was postponed due to last week's snowstorm. A new date for the ceremony has not yet been set.