NEW YORK (AP) – The Sun Journal was among six national newspapers selected to receive Freedom of Information citations from the Associated Press Managing Editors.

The newspaper was recognized for pursuing a report that had been withheld on the apprehension of Auburn Mayor Normand Guay for suspicion of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants in August 2003.

City Editor Karen Kreworuka praised reporter Scott Taylor’s diligent efforts in pursuing documents the Sun Journal believed were public record.

“That dogged pursuit turned into a staff project, as most of the reporters and many editors contributed to the effort,” she said.

The award is given to a journalist or a newspaper for work that advances the First Amendment, makes good use of Freedom of Information principles or statutes, or significantly widens the scope of information available to the public.

The Rocky Mountain News won the 34th annual APME’s Freedom of Information Award for reports on concerns about the chairman of the neurosurgery department at the University of Colorado School of Medicine

The other five papers that received citations were the Los Angeles Times, The Record of Hackensack, N.J., The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Sun-News of Myrtle Beach, S.C., and The Daily News of Red Bluff, Calif.

APME is an organization of editors, managing editors and online editors of the more than 1,700 newspapers served by the AP in the United States and the Canadian Press in Canada.

The award will be presented at the APME annual conference Oct. 13-16 in Louisville, Ky.