Observer photographers Michael Gordon and Karl McLarty were last Wednesday officially congratulated for winning Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) awards by the newspaper’s chairman, Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart, at an informal lunch he hosted in their honour at the Observer’s Beechwood Avenue headquarters in Kingston.

Stewart also used the occasion to present a special plaque to editorial cartoonist Clovis Brown for his sterling work over the years.

“You guys have done us proud,” Stewart said of the trio, “and this is just our way of saying thanks and to encourage you to keep up the excellent work.”

Gordon, the Observer’s senior photo editor, took the Ashton Rhoden Award for News Photography for his picture ‘Portia Doodling’, while McLarty won the Junior Dowie Award for Sports Photography, for his entry ‘Ball Grip’.

The doodle photo, which captured Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller doodling in Parliament during debate on a no-confidence motion brought against the Government by the Opposition, created controversy after it was published on October 18.

Simpson Miller, her supporters and senior government technocrats, angered by the photo, severely criticised the Observer.

In retaliation, House Speaker Michael Peart had a door built onto the press box in Parliament to prevent reporters from going into the area reserved for Hansard writers from where Gordon took the photo.

Last week, Stewart presented both Gordon and McLarty with cheques in recognition of their PAJ awards and again commented on how often the Observer has been copied by the competition.

Among the Observer products that have been copied are:

. the Business Observer;

. TeenAge;

. CXC/GSAT Study Centre;

. Page 2

. The Arts

. Splash Magazine

. Clovis Rewind;

. Christmas Cookbook; and

. Easter Cookbook.

Gordon, one of the foundation staff members of the Observer, thanked Stewart for the gesture, recalled the early days of the newspaper and said how proud he was to have been a part of its birth and growth.