Times Writer Wins 2 Realty Writing Awards

David W. Myers, a real estate writer for The Times, is a double first place winner in the nation’s annual awards competition for outstanding real estate writing.

He won top honors for consumer writing in the National Assn. of Realtors’ 23rd annual Real Estate Journalism Achievement Competition for a four-part series dealing with various real estate investments. The stories ran on consecutive Sundays in the real estate section, starting on Feb. 1 and covered vacation homes, pitfalls of a landlord, real estate stocks and partnerships.

Myers also won the National Assn. of Real Estate Editors’ award for best newspaper report on real estate for a story published Dec. 14, 1986, on beach access issues in a lawsuit filed by two Ventura County homeowners against the California Coastal Commission. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled earlier this year in favor of James and Marilyn Nollan in what has become a landmark case dealing with property rights.

Don G. Campbell, Times staff writer, received an honorable mention in the consumer-writing category of the NAR contest for a two-part article published March 1 and March 8, exploring the increasing public interest in giving personal residences to nonprofit groups or colleges in return for lifetime annuities. Brian F. Banmiller, with KCBS News Radio, San Francisco, was top winner for the best realty reporting on network televison for his work as West Coast correspondent on reports dealing with cities promoting themselves for business purposes.

The NAR contest drew a record number of entries--more than 300--and was judged by a team of journalists, business professionals and academicians assembled by Bradley University, Peoria, Ill.

Myers, 28, joined The Times in July, 1986, following employment at the Investor’s Daily and Wall Street Journal.