3-AWARDS Sec.9-08AMDfinal.indd

Transcription

The Tennessee Press
28 - Awards
2008 University of Tennessee-Tennessee Press Association
SEPTEMBER 2008
State Press Contests Awards
GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARDS
September 2008
Special section
GREG WILLIAMSON | THE LEAF-CHRONICLE, CLARKSVILLE
THE LEAF-CHRONICLE, CLARKSVILLE
Group IV
CMYK
CMYK
From left, Multi-media editor Robert Smith, reporter Jamie Dexter, reporter Eric Snyder, reporter
Ann Wallace, managing editor Chris Smith and night editor Brian Dunn
THE ERWIN RECORD
THE ERWIN RECORD
Group I
From left, Cody Lewis, Brenda Sparks, Kevin Lewis, Donna Rea, Mark A.
Stevens, Anthony Piercy, Keith Whitson, Lesley Hughes and Eileen Rush
LAUREN ZECHMAN | SOUTHERN STANDARD, McMINNVILLE
SOUTHERN STANDARD, McMINNVILLE
Group III
Front to back, Charlie Johnson, Publisher Patricia Zechman, Duane Sherrill,
Margaret Hobbs, Lisa Hobbs, Seth Wright, Rob Nunley, Dale Stubblefield and
James Clark. Not in the photo is Veola Sutherland.
BRAD ALEXANDER | MEMPHIS BUSINESS JOURNAL
SAM SIMPKINS | THE TENNESSEAN, NASHVILLE
MEMPHIS BUSINESS JOURNAL
Group II
THE TENNESSEAN, NASHVILLE
Group V
From left: Seated, staff reporters Trey Heath, Andy Ashby, Chris Sheffield and Toby Sells; standing, staff reporter
Einat Paz-Frankel, production artist Angela Snell, managing editor Terry Hollahan, researcher Jason Bolton,
editor Bill Wellborn, design editor Lee Swets and Web editor Jane Donahoe
From left, entertainment editor Linda Zettler, senior editor Deborah Fisher, sports editor Larry
Taft, managing editor Meg Downey, director of online content Knight Stivender, senior editor
Alan Whitt, photo editor Tom Stanford, editor Mark Silverman, city editor Mike Kennedy and
business editor Randy McClain
INSIDE
AWARDS LUNCHEON
UT-TPAAWARDS LIST
2
3-20
NEWS PHOTOS
EDITORIALS
3-5
3-7
FEATURE PHOTOS
6-10
PERSONAL COLUMNS 8-12
SPORTS PHOTOS
11-13
HUMOR COLUMNS 13, 16-18
BEST ADS
TAPME AWARDS
19
22-23
SEPTEMBER 2008
CMYK
(Left) Contests Committee Chairman Victor Parkins welcomes people
to the State Press Contests Awards Luncheon July 18 in Nashville. TPA
President Tom Griscom talks about newspapers’ central role in the U.S.
society.
pete against each other, primarily in
Group III.
The 2008 divisions were as follows: Group I—Combined weekly
circulation of 5,000 or less; Group
II—Combined weekly circulation of
5,001-15,000; Group III—Combined
weekly circulation of 15,001-50,000;
Group IV—Combined weekly circulation of 50,001-200,000; and Group
V—Combined weekly circulation of
200,001 and more.
In earlier years, there were four
circulation categories, two non-daily
and two daily.
The Nebraska Press Association
judged a total of 1,394 contest entries
from 77 association newspapers.
The Leaf-Chronicle earned the most
first place honors, with eight. It won for
make-up and appearance, local features,
best personal humor column, best spot
news story, best education reporting,
investigative reporting, public service
and best sports photograph.
The Tennessean won six first-place
awards, for sports writing, Sunday editions, editorials, best spot news story,
best feature photograph and best sports
Contests! Contests!
Yes, it’s true. Awards were just conferred.
But the 2009 awards period
ends in just four months.
And this year the deadlines
will come earlier than usual,
in January 2009.
So, don’t rest on your laurels.
Get busy and start stashing
away potential entries for the Ad/Circ Ideas
Contest and the UT-TPA State Press Contests.
Awards period: Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2008
Deadlines: January 2009
photograph.
The Memphis Business Journal won
six first place awards, for make-up and
appearance, editorials, best single
editorial, best news reporting, best
education reporting and investigative
reporting.
The Oak Ridger won five first place
awards, for make-up and appearance,
local features, best single feature,
best personal humor column and best
feature photograph.
UT has co-sponsored the annual
contest since 1940.
The university’s Edward J. Meeman
Foundation honored nine newspapers
for their accomplishments in editorial
writing and public service journalism
with $200 awards in the categories of
best single editorial, editorials and
public service. The monetary awards
were increased from $100 for the first
year.
The foundation was established
in 1968 at UT to fund the contests as
well as journalism scholarships and
faculty fellowships. One newspaper,
the Memphis Business Journal, won
two awards for best single editorial
and editorials.
Other newspapers receiving Meeman awards were the News Sentinel,
Knoxville, The Leaf-Chronicle and
The Newport Plain Talk, public service; the Kingsport Times-News, The
Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro,
The Wilson Post, Lebanon, and The
Milan Mirror-Exchange, best single
editorial; and Grainger Today, Bean
Station, editorials.
Winners of four first place awards:
•LaFollette Press, for best single
feature, sports writing, best feature photograph and best sports photograph;
•News Sentinel, for best single feature,
best news reporting, headline writing
and public service;
•The Commercial Appeal, Memphis,
for local features, best personal column,
best education reporting and investigative reporting; and
•The Erwin Record, for local features,
community lifestyles, sports writing
and best news reporting.
Winners of three first-place awards:
• Chattanooga Times Free Press, for
make-up and appearance, community
lifestyles and best news photograph;
• Herald-Citizen, Cookeville, for sports
writing, best news reporting and best
special issue or section;
•Shelbyville Times-Gazette, for sports
writing, best spot news story and best
•Southern Standard, McMinnville, for
and promotion of newspapers;
•The Humboldt Chronicle, for makeup and appearance, public service and
best special issue or section;
•The Mountain Press, Sevierville, for
community lifestyles, editorials and
best feature photograph; and
•The Wilson Post, Lebanon, for community lifestyles, best single editorial
and investigative reporting.
Other first place award winners:
•Chester County Independent, Henderson, best personal humor column
and best feature photograph;
•Grainger Today, Bean Station, editorials and best personal column;
•Kingsport Times-News, best single
editorial and best single advertisement;
The Mt. Juliet News, best education
reporting and investigative reporting;
•The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro, best single editorial and best news
photograph;
•The Leader, Covington, best spot news
story and headline writing;
•The Milan Mirror-Exchange, best
single editorial and best sports photograph;
•The Newport Plain Talk, best education reporting and public service;
•Bristol Herald Courier, best special
issue or section;
•Carroll County News-Leader, Huntingdon, best single feature;
•Citizen Tribune, Morristown, headline writing;
•Herald and Tribune, Jonesborough,
best news photograph;
•Hickman County Times, Centerville,
best personal humor column;
•Johnson City Press, best personal
humor column;
•Macon County Chronicle, Lafayette,
community lifestyles;
•Monroe County Advocate & Democrat, Sweetwater, best news photograph;
•Overton County News, Livingston,
best single advertisement;
•Roane County News, Kingston, best
news photograph;
EDITOR’S NOTE
We are printing in this Awards
Section all the first place winning
entries from five instead of the
former four circulation groups
in the following categories: Best
Single Editorial, Best Personal
Column, Best Personal Humor
Column, Best News Photograph,
Best Feature Photograph, Best
Sports Photograph and Best
Single Ad. Most of the photos
were run very large and in color
on the newspaper pages. We wish
we were able to print the winning
photos in color, as large and in
the same compelling manner
as when they were originally
published. Thanks to all the
newspaper staffers who sent their
photos or in other ways provided
information for this section.
—Elenora E. Edwards
Managing editor
•Robertson County Times, Springfield, best personal column;
•The Daily Herald, Columbia, promotion of newspapers;
•The Daily News, Memphis, local
features;
•The Daily Times, Maryville, best
single feature;
•The Greeneville Sun, best personal
column;
•The Lebanon Democrat, editorials;
•The Millington Star, headline writing;
•The Paris Post-Intelligencer, best
personal column;
•The Portland Leader, best spot news
story;
•The Rogersville Review, best special
issue or section;
•The Standard Banner, Jefferson City,
public service; and
•Union City Daily Messenger, best
sports photograph.
The complete list of winners is
available at www.utk.edu/news/docs/
tpa2008.pdf and is printed in this section, beginning on Page 3.
Winners from 2000 through 2008 are
posted on www.tnpress.com.
A slide show of first place images is
available at www.tnpress.com/statepresscontests.html.
Tom Overton, Monroe County Advocate & Democrat, Sweetwater, will serve
as 2008-09 contests chairman.
Awards luncheon and training factoids
•Total number of attendees: 219,
including staff members and
speakers
•Member newspapers represented: 55, with 200 attendees
•Dailies: 21, with 74 attendees
•Non-dailies: 34, with 126 attendees
•Attended training: 61
Drive-In Training - 27
Drive-In Training photos
UT, TPA announce State Press Contests winners
Newspapers across Tennessee won
top awards in the University of Tennessee-Tennessee Press Association’s
2008 State Press Contests.
General Excellence winners and their
points were as follows: The Erwin
Record, 55; Memphis Business Journal,
46; Southern Standard, McMinnville,
64; The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville,
66; and The Tennessean, Nashville, 71.
They received the awards July 18 at
the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel
in Nashville.
Seventy-seven newspapers submitted
a total of 1,394 entries that were judged
by the Nebraska Press Association.
The 2008 contests mark the sixth consecutive General Excellence Award for
The Erwin Record. Both the Southern
Standard and The Tennessean have
received seven General Excellence
Awards out of the 10 years since the
points-based award, formerly called
Sweepstakes, was established in 1999.
The Leaf-Chronicle has won the award
three times, and this was a first for the
Memphis Business Journal.
Victor Parkins, 2007-08 Contests Committee chairman, presided.
TPA President Tom Griscom acknowledged the large turnout of newspaper
staff members. He said it was important
to let people know “what newspaper
people do, why, and why it is important
to those we serve.”
Hank Dye, UT vice president for public
and government relations, presented
awards. Charles Primm, communications coordinator, announced winners,
and Amy Rummel, media specialist, took
individual award photos. Amy Blakely,
assistant director of media relations,
handled a PowerPoint presentation. Jay
Mayfield, communications coordinator,
assisted Dye. Also attending was Gina
Stafford, UT assistant vice president
and director of media relations.
A change in the contests for this year
added a fifth division for competition,
those divisions being based on total
weekly paid circulation instead of
non-daily or daily status. This change
caused dailies and non-dailies to com-
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
•Attended luncheon: 207
•Member paper with the most
attendees: The Tennessean, Nashville, with 18
•Universities represented: 2, with 8
attendees
•Training session with the most attendees: “Get Your Audience in Gear,”
with Adell Crowe, with 39 attendees
Win Anderson, The News-Democrat, Waverly
Donna Rea, The Erwin Record, and husband, Larry
Sara Withrow and Scott Broden, The Daily News Journal,
Murfreesboro
Andrew Oppmann, The Daily News
Journal, Murfreesboro, Drive-InTraining
chairman
Chris Fletcher, The Daily
Herald, Columbia
Hugh Jones, Shelbyville TimesGazette
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
2 - Awards
Mary Reeves, Shelbyville TimesJim Wozniak, Johnson City Press, and John Kiener, Herald Gazette
and Tribune, Jonesborough
A ‘sweepstakes’ history
The UT-TPA State Press Contests began many years ago, in 1940.
During a period at about the mid-20th century, a sweepstakes
awards was established. Later it was abandoned.
Then the Sweepstakes Award was reestablished in 1999 as a
points-based award. At that time, points were assigned as follows:
first place (6 points), second place (5 points), third place (4 points),
fourth place (3 points), fifth place (2 points), sixth place (1 point).
The newspaper in each of the four contests divisions (Group One,
Group Two, Group Three and Group Four) with the highest total
points in its group received the Sweepstakes Award.
In 2006, the category of General Excellence replaced the Sweepstakes Award. Since 2007, only five places are awarded, with points
as follows: first place (5 points), second place (4 points), third place
(3 points), fourth place (2 points) and fifth place (1 point).
1999 Sweepstakes Award winners
Group I:
Chester County Independent, Henderson
Group II:
The Review Appeal, Franklin
Group III:
The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro
Group IV:
The Tennessean, Nashville
Group I:
Group II:
Southern Standard, McMinnville
Group III:
Group IV:
Group I:
The Rutherford Courier, Smyrna
Group II:
Group III:
The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville
Group IV:
2006 General Excellence Award winners
Group I:
The Erwin Record
Group II:
LaFollette Press
Group III:
Group IV:
Group I :
Group II:
Group III:
Group IV:
Chattanooga Times Free Press
Group I:
The Erwin Record
Group II:
The Standard Banner, Jefferson City
Group III:
The Daily Herald, Columbia
Group IV:
The Commercial Appeal, Memphis
Group I :
The Erwin Record
Group II:
Group III:
Group IV:
Group I:
The Erwin Record
Group II:
Group III:
Group IV:
Group I:
The Erwin Record
Group II:
Group III:
Group IV:
Note: a fifth division was added to the State Press Contests for
2008. All divisions are based upon total weekly paid circulation,
which meant some dailies and non-dailies competed in the same
division. The divisions are as follows:
Group I: Combined weekly circulation of 5,000 or less
Group II: Combined weekly circulation of 5,001-15,000
Group III: Combined weekly circulation of 15,001-50,000
Group IV: Combined weekly circulation of 50,001-200,000;
Group V: Combined weekly circulation of 200,001 and above
2008 General Excellence Awards winners
Group I:
The Erwin Record
Group II:
Memphis Business Journal
Group III:
Group IV:
Group V:
Crowe talks elements of effective site
BY ELENORA E. EDWARDS
Managing editor
Four things are important to make
a newspaper Web site effective: good
content, elements the readers will
return for, the possibility of comment
and a sense of community. That was the
message of Adell Crowe’s presentation
during TPA Drive-In Training July 18
in Nashville.
Crowe had the close attention of those
who attended her session. Her sense of
humor was apparent throughout.
One of Crowe’s first points was to
recommend people read a speech Tom
Curley, president of Associated Press
Managing Editors, made and which can
be found at www.ap.org.
Moving into her main topic, Crowe
urged attendees to write as clearly as
possible and not to write leads that are
too long. On the Web, she said, content
must be scannable.
She suggested using little or no
punctuation in each sentence and to
alternating sentence length.
People love “air” when reading, she
said. “This is more true on the Web
than in print.”
Crowe said a site must contain basic
rules for responding to
some comments that
will be “hurtful.” Be
nice. Respond only once,
directly to the person
who commented. Always start a comment
by thanking the writer
for reading the site and
taking time to comment.
She also injected that
such comments can
provide tips that lead to
newspaper stories.
The Web site must
touch the community,
Crowe said. The newspaper can visit organizations such as the PTA
and invite them to participate in the site. One
newspaper includes a
ELENORA E. EDWARDS | TPS
music page on its Web
Crowe
site, gives karma points
information that people will refer to and gives away prizes.
regularly, such as weather and local
USA Today features individual
government contact information.
readers.
Veryimportant, she said, is to make it
Crowe has extensive newspaper expepossible for readers to comment on what rience. She is former head of training
is on the site. And she suggested setting for USA Today.
CMYK
WORTH REPEATING
Fact, opinion and the Crafton mess
BY MARK SILVERMAN
Editor, The Tennessean, Nashville
This is the difference between a
reporter, a columnist and an editorial
writer:
A reporter investigates an issue or
chronicles an event, places the news
in context, seeks all sides and avoids
judging who is right or wrong.
A columnist views the news through
the prism of his or her personal
experience and values, and provides
a perspective that sometimes assigns
praise or blame.
An editorial writer goes through the
fact-gathering process of a reporter
and then presents a point of view as
a columnist might. But unlike the
columnist, the point of view is that of
the newspaper’s editorial board rather
than his or her personal opinion.
Confusing? It can be to a reader. Unless
you’re involved in journalism, it can be
difficult to imagine that a reporter can
keep his or her personal views out of
a story. It also can be difficult to believe
that a newspaper’s editorial positions
have no influence on news coverage.
But that’s the case — and that’s the
reason mainstream newspapers and
their Web sites have for so long been
the most credible information sources
in their communities.
Understanding that separation of
duties is especially difficult when it
comes to some issues — such as the
English-only crusade by Metro Councilman Eric Crafton.
Our reporting has shown that claims
made by Crafton are exaggerated and
misleading.
Our columnists have questioned both
the practical reasons for his proposal
and the moral underpinnings of his
campaign.
Our editorial board has called for
the defeat of this year’s ballot petition
— just as it hailed former Mayor Bill
Purcell’s veto of the council proposal
last year. That’s because it believes the
initiative is misguided, impractical,
dangerous to individuals’ health and
well-being, a detriment to the region’s
growth, and racist.
The next news event will probably
come this week, when the council
takes up Councilman Ronnie Steine’s
measure asking fellow members to urge
voters to reject Crafton’s initiative.
Our news coverage will continue to
probe both the motivation of those
behind the measure and its possible
unintended consequences.
We also will try to discover the
identity of those putting up the money
behind the petition drive. The very fact
that the financing sources have been
kept secret raises suspicions that some
backers might have unsavory agendas.
It is possible that there’s nothing nefarious about the funding and, indeed, you
might find yourself in agreement with
the supporters. But don’t you want to
know who is bankrolling Crafton before
you sign on? That’s one reason for our
continued reporting on the issue.
We’ll continue to report the public
safety impact of signs, of telephone
messages and of conversations held in
a language that many lawful residents
find difficult to understand.
And we’ll continue to report on the
barriers faced by many people who
want to learn English but can’t because
of limited access to classes and other
reasons.
We’ll report about the likely impact
of Crafton’s measure on the ability of
our region and our state to attract businesses like Nissan and Volkswagen.
(Would Crafton’s backers have banned
the German translators who facilitated
the negotiations to bring the automaker
to Tennessee?)
What about reporting the other side
of the issue — exploring substantive
reasons that argue for enacting the
measure?
We’ve tried—and we will continue to
try. But once you get past the pat phrases
and look for concrete examples of how
this proposed law might improve life in
Davidson County, it becomes difficult
to find the other side.
Our columnists will continue to
express their views — sometimes tied
to news events and sometimes flowing
from their sense of right and wrong.
And our editorial board will continue
to urge residents and officials to do what
it believes is right. Our position is that
an English-only law is potentially dangerous from public safety and economic
development standpoints; further, we
believe it to be a morally reprehensible measure that appeals to some
well-meaning people on an emotional
basis in the same way that Adolf Hitler
appealed to some Germans’ national
pride after World War I.
The roles of reporters, columnists
and editorial writers will always differ
— even if their work may suggest the
same conclusions on some stories.
(Aug. 3, 2008)
SEPTEMBER 2008
WORTH REPEATING
Grainger Today revisits
why we do what we do
While awards are certainly nice to
receive, last week’s UT-TPA Awards
ceremony was a time for Grainger Today
to reflect why we do what we do.
Newspapers play many roles in a
community.
None of those roles is any more important than providing solid news content
and meaningful commentary.
The role of newspapers in keeping
an eye on government and closely
scrutinizing public policy has been
around as long as journalism itself. In
an open and free society, an open, free
and candid press is crucial.
It is disturbing to see many newspapers shrink back from that role, turning into little more than community
newsletters with editorial pages that are
either full of personal humor columns,
syndicated columns or, in some cases,
no editorial page at all.
An open, free and unfettered press
was closely tied to the American Revolution, and it can be strongly argued
that without it, the colonies would
have never been rallied to the cause
of independence. The framers of the
Constitution and the Bill of Rights
ensured the freedom of the press with
the First Amendment, making the kind
of government oppression and control
from which colonialists sought their
liberty unconstitutional in the new
United States. After the Revolutionary
War and the signing of the Constitution,
the press kept a close eye on the new
government and its newly elected officials. In the mid-1800s the Penny Press
exposed government corruption and
abuses of power, expanding even further
the role of the public watchdog.
During the 19 th century Joseph
Pulitzer forever changed the face of
American journalism, distinguishing
himself as the foe of political corruption. During that time of aggressive,
proactive, open and free press, Mark
Twain coined the phrase, “Never pick
an argument with a man who buys ink
by the barrel.”
As the 20th century began, William
Randolph Hearst continued with the
same kind of media activism, causing
his detractors to label his journalistic
style “yellow journalism,” but building
a media empire hallmarked by exposing
corruption, providing a forum for social
commentary and setting high standards
for editorial candor.
Newspapers are directly tied to our
form of government and way of life
in America.
In many parts of the world the press is
not free and neither are the people.
The trend of newspapers in this country to eliminate or water down editorial
pages is something to worry about. At
Grainger Today we are proud to follow
in the footsteps of great newspapermen
such as Edward J. Meeman, who fought
against political corruption and championed civil rights causes throughout
his illustrious journalism career in the
state of Tennessee.
Page one is the face of a newspaper.
Advertising revenue is its lifeblood. The
editorial page is its heart and soul.
At Grainger Today we are committed
to serving Grainger County in these
ways.
Everyone may not always like the
facts we report.
Readers may not always agree with
editorials.
Letters to the editor will not always
be popular or reflect prevailing public
opinion.
However, stimulating the public dialogue can never be a bad thing.
As proud as we are of being recognized
by our peers for excellence in journalism, our greatest source of pride is
the humbling privilege of serving the
citizens of Grainger County.
(July 23, 2008)
Al Cross talks about covering economic and business coverage by
newspapers. He is director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and
Community Issues at the University of Kentucky, Lexington. The Rural
Blog, www.uky.edu/comminfostudies/IRJCI/blog.htm, carries stories
about journalism and issues and is both a source of stories of interest to
newspapers and a source of story ideas.
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
FROM PAGE 2
AWARDS
MAKE-UP AND APPEARANCE
Group I
1. The Humboldt Chronicle
•Headline/Photo combination was excellent on front page and sports page
•Very pleasing to the eye
•Excellent overall
2. The Erwin Record. Anthony D.
Piercy, Mark A. Stevens, Lesley Hughes,
Keith Whitson, Brenda Sparks
3. Lake County Banner, Tiptonville
4. Grainger Today, Bean Station. Jim
Zachary, Ann Cason, Robert Turner
5. The Portland Progressive
Group II
1. Memphis Business Journal. Lee
Swets
•The design is clean and attractive
•Good use of graphics
•Good headline font
2. Nashville Business Journal. Anne
Pringle, Dave Raiford, Garrison Wells,
Scott Takal, Todd Stringer, Carol Smith
3. The Daily News, Memphis
4. Monroe County Advocate & Democrat, Sweetwater. Mia Rhodarmer
5. The Herald-News, Dayton. John
Carpenter,Tiffany Soyster, Max Hackett,
Cathy Barnes
Group III
1. The Oak Ridger
Layout is excellent. I especially liked
the dominant art. It is easy to follow
stories & know which photo, headline
goes with which. Liked the use of
graphic on Feb. 15 in economic development story.
Don’t like centered headlines. I prefer
left-justified, except over features. Photo
quality & content was very good. Loved
the Valentine’s Day feature package!
It wouldn’t hurt to air things out
a little & go with 4 stories on front
instead of 5.
Would like to see subheads on all
stories to make it more consistent.
Don’t like subheads italicized.
Overall - the best of the lot. Sports
was excellent.
2. The Newport Plain Talk
3. Southern Standard, McMinnville
4. The Tullahoma News
5. Shelbyville Times-Gazette. David
Melson, Carol Spray, Mary Cook
Group IV
1. The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville
Attractive – good looking newspaper
from an appearance standpoint. This
paper is just a cut above the rest of
the class because of its general appearance, mechanic production, good use of
photos & graphics. Also a good mix of
ads & news on each page and its overall
design was hard to beat.
2. The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro
3. The Daily Herald, Columbia
4. The Mountain Press, Sevierville
5. Citizen Tribune, Morristown
Group V
1. Chattanooga Times Free Press
Good use of color!
Front page makes you want to read
inside
Index important on front page!
Keep up the good work!
2. News Sentinel, Knoxville
3. Kingsport Times-News
4. Johnson City Press
5. The Jackson Sun
BEST SPOT NEWS STORY
Group I
1. The Portland Leader. Smokefree
Tennessee, Sonya Thompson
Definitely a hot-button topic right
now. Loved the lead! This story gave
a great, human-interest perspective to
the issue. I liked it very much.
2. The Middle Tennessee Times,
Smithville. Newborn found in restaurant
trash, Chris Tramel
3. The Portland Progressive. Man
saves firefighter
4. Grainger Today, Bean Station.
Utility stymies records request, Sarah
McCarty
5. The Millington Star. Man dies in
police custody
Group II
1. The Leader, Covington. The great
escape, Greg Little
Love the tongue-in-cheek approach;
even your officials seemed to play along.
Very well written. Interesting topic with
“slice of life appeal.”
2. The Courier, Savannah. Estranged
husband ambushes, wounds wife, Ron
Schaming
3.The Standard Banner, Jefferson City.
Crops are just dried up
4. The News Examiner, Gallatin. Local
businessman accused of $53 million
scam, Katrina Cornwell
5.The Herald-News, Dayton. Possible
tornado rips up Dayton, Max Hackett
Group III
1. Shelbyville Times-Gazette. Holton
execution, Clint Confehr
Haunting. An excellent piece of
journalism. Nothing can beat an eye
witness report.
2. Southern Standard, McMinnville.
Voluntary manslaughter, Duane Sherrill
3. Roane County News, Kingston.
Father & son burn in fire
4. The Oak Ridger. Tragedy strikes;
youth dips
5. Southern Standard, McMinnville. I
figured I was a goner, James Clark
Group IV
1.The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville. Man
kills himself at council meeting, Eric
Snyder, Jason Austin
•Great lede, very dramatic
•Use of BO’s quotes before his death
really tell the story
•evokes emotion, a man with no
where else to turn but to death
•image of his wife throwing herself
on him!
SEE AWARDS, PAGE 4
Awards - 3
Dept. of Children’s Services dropped ball
BY BOB PARKINS
The Milan Mirror-Exchanges
Little Austin Cash, who was a vibrant,
bright, 19-monthold boy, is fighting
for his life in the
Memphis LeBonheur Children’s
Hospital, a victim
of alleged child
abuse.
Today he’s lying
Parkins
in critical condition
with a cracked skull, brain damage,
lifeless and blind. Physicians say his
condition isn’t likely to improve if
he lives.
The sad thing is that the Gibson
County Department of Children’s Services (DCS) had been forewarned that
the child, who was practically raised
by great-grandparents in Milan, was
in danger while in the hands of the
tot’s father and stepmother, who now
live in Martin.
The court had granted the real father
2008 STATE PRESS CONTESTS
First place award
Best single editorial
Group I
The Milan Mirror-Exchange
partial custody of the child between
him and the child’s mother who lives
in Milan.
The great-grandparents noticed
signs of abuse early on when the child
left Milan to stay with the father in
Martin. When Austin was returned,
they noticed burns and bruises on the
child after visits with the boy’s real
dad. Once, the boy’s lips were parched
from apparent dehydration and lack
of nourishment, the grandparents
noticed. They made several pictures
and urged the DCS to keep the child
away from an environment of obvious
abuse. But they got no relief from DCS
counselors who assured them that they
had visited the Martin home and things
would improve.
It didn’t; instead things got much
worse for the child.
On the night of July 28, Austin was
taken to Volunteer Hospital with lifethreatening head injuries and airlifted
to Memphis LeBonheur. (See story on
page 1).
The child’s father and stepmother
were arrested on charges of aggravated
child abuse and neglect. They are currently in jail unable to make bond and
have been bound over to the Weakley
County Grand Jury in September.
The stepmother had several children
of her own who have been placed in
foster homes.
The tragic truth is that this alleged
abuse could have been prevented had
the ball of justice not been dropped by
someone who wasn’t doing their job.
We pray there’s hope for little Austin.
His relatives are devastated.
He deserves better and so do the
taxpayers of Gibson County.
Someone needs to face the music in
this blatant case of irresponsibility!
(Aug. 14, 2007)
EDITOR’S NOTE: Bob Parkins,
editor and publisher of The Milan
Mirror-Exchange, died April 17.
ENGRAVINGS
The Shelbyville Times-Gazette was
awarded the 2007 Kohl’s Distribution
Excellence Award in recognition of
its commitment to providing errorfree distribution of Kohl’s preprinted
advertising section. “Your newspaper
has shown that planning and teamwork
among departments creates the ideal
distribution process,” Kohl’s officials
wrote in a letter accompanying the
award.
|
Sherry Hasty was employee of the
month of August at The Tullahoma
News. She works in accounting and has
been with the paper 24 years. She has
received the same honor before and also
was named employee of the year.
|
The Jackson Sun was the recipient
of the 2008 Performing Star Award of
Leadership Jackson. Roy W. Heatherly,
president and publisher, accepted the
award.
First place award
Best news photo
Group I
Herald and Tribune,
Jonesborough
CHARLIE MAUK | HERALD AND TRIBUNE, JONESBOROUGH
Sad farewells were said as the 730th Quartermaster company from Gray
and Erwin headed off for training in Mississippi. (July 10, 2007)
Mauk
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
26 - Drive-In Training
FROM PAGE 3
BEST NEWS REPORTING
Group I
1. The Erwin Record. NFS secrecy
Excellent news coverage. Solid reporting. Very smooth, easy to read style. A
superb effort.The reporter’s digging was
impressive. Great leads and excellent
word choice.
2. GraingerToday, Bean Station. Utility
district, Jim Zachary, Sarah McCarty,
Barbara Womack
3. The Millington Star. Woods road
to recovery
4. The Millington Star. Carruthers’
death
5. Herald and Tribune, Jonesborough.
MRSA, Heather E. Seay
Group II
1. Memphis Business Journal. Housing crisis
Many excellent entries in this class,
but this one topped the field on the basis
of the quality & volume of information &
analysis of a very complex topic.
2. The Standard Banner, Jefferson
City. Strategic plan
3. The Herald-News, Dayton. County
sales tax, Max Hackett
4. The Courier, Savannah. Teen attempts suicide/school security, Ron
Schaming
5. The News Examiner, Gallatin. You
better back up
Group III
Mary Winkler stories, Duane Sherrill
Wow – excellent story, obviously of
huge local interest. You do a great job
summarizing the long hearings & not
bogging them down in detail, while also
giving the readers some color – describing the scene, the people, etc. I would
have liked to see more community
reaction – maybe a story on the church
or on community at large.
2. The Oak Ridger. No more waiting;
Vietnam War family, Beverly Majors
3. The Paris Post-Intelligencer. Judge
orders closing of local strip club, Ken
Walker
4. The Lebanon Democrat. Third general sessions judge issue, J.R. Lind
Managing editor
BNP
B
NP G
Gp.
p. IIII
MELISSA KINTON | MONROE COUNTY ADVOCATE AND DEMOCRAT, SWEETWATER
Reba Campbell, 84, drove her car into Sweetwater Creek on Oct. 12. Sweetwater police officers were nearby and arrived within seconds, jumped in and pulled her from the cold water.
(Oct. 12, 2007)
Kinton
First place award
Best news photo
Group II
Monroe County Advocate
and Democrat, Sweetwater
Mayor Willie Herenton’s reasons for
wanting to build a new football stadium
to replace the Liberty Bowl boil down to
two arguments: Renovating the existing
stadium would be a waste of money, and
“the opportunity is before us” to build
something new.
Those are weak arguments for a
proposal that could cost in the neighborhood of $200 million.
We’ve faced this question before.
Visionaries phrase it this way: Why fix
up the old building when we can build
a new building? Pragmatists ask this
question: Why build a new building
when we can fix up the old one?
Sometimes the facts come down on the
side of the visionary, and sometimes
they support the pragmatist’s view.
We’ve talked to the mayor, we’ve examined both scenarios, and this time we
stand behind the pragmatists when we
say no to the mayor’s proposal.
We strongly disagree that renovating
Exploring the world of earmarks,
those special funds members of
Congress secure every year, was
explained July 18 by Bill Allison,
a senior fellow with the Sunlight
Foundation in Washington, D.C.
Earmarks are funds tacked onto larger
funding bills. Traditionally, they’ve had
little control or attention.
Allison pointed out that in fiscal
year 2008 there were 12,000 earmarks
amounting to $18.3 million and that
not every earmark is crooked, bad or
a waste.
Other basic information about the
earmarks Allison provided is that every
year there are some 34,000 requests, an
average of 78 per member of Congress.
He added that more fund-raisers are held
at the time earmarks are requested,
in March and April, than at any other
time.
To check on earmarks in one’s state,
a reporter can go to www.taxpayers.net
and find, in a blue box on the left, a report
on FY 2008’s earmarks. Clicking on that
will bring up an extensive spreadsheet,
Allison noted.
Allison led those attending the session
through the discovery process with a
PowerPoint presentation and references
to various Web sites.
To request an earmark, a member
of the House must file a letter. These
provide good information. The letters
are available in a downloadable Excel
format.
Allison said that a good resource on
earmarks is Steve Ellis, who can be
contacted at (202) 5468500, extension 126. Allison said Ellis “knows
everything and is a
good guy.”
Allison noted that information about fiscal
year 2009 earmarks may
not be available until
after the federal election
in November.
The earmarks request
procedure is different
for the Senate, as a letter must be filed, but it
states merely that the
senator has no financial
interest in the request,
but it does not specify
the beneficiary.
Allison pointed out
some earmarks that
appeared to be favors
for lobbyists and others
that were “interesting
though not corrupt.”
He suggested that earmarks are indicative of
a systemic problem, that sometimes a
contribution to the congressman or
congresswoman’s funds is the only way
to get one’s attention.
Only a fraction of the earmarks are
ever investigated or evaluated by the
press, other watchdogs or by voters.
Allison provided a list of Web sites
that can help someone trying to look
into them:
www.capitolwords.org
www.congresspedia.org
www.earmarkwatch.org
www.fedspending.org
Allison
www.followthemoney.org
www.fortune535.org
www.governmentdocs.org
www.louisdb.org
www.maplight.org
www.metavid.org
www.opencongress.org
www.opensecrets.org
www.publicmarkup.org
www.speechology.org
www.theopenhouseproject.org
The site for the Sunlight Foundation
is www.sunlightfoundation.com.
SEE AWARDS, PAGE 5
We see no reason to raze Liberty Bowl
BY EDITORIAL STAFF
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
Allison walks through check on earmarks
AWARDS
•Great writing throughout.
2. The Daily Times, Maryville. He’s
going to kill me, Jessica Stith
3. The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro. Feds raid local homes, Brandon
Puttbrese
4. The Mountain Press, Sevierville.
Life without parole, Jeff Farrell
5. The Daily Herald, Columbia. Man
dies after being struck with ax, D.
Frank Smith
Group V
1. The Tennessean, Nashville. Gore
wins Nobel Prize, Leon Alligood
Well crafted. Incredible background
and in-depth research. Great editorial
decision to cover every angle. It’s obvious this was a huge, well thought-out
team effort.
2. Bristol Herald Courier. Shock,
despair
3. News Sentinel, Knoxville. Warehouse fire
4. Chattanooga Times Free Press.
Tornado, Ryan Harris
Plane crash, Lauren Gregory
CMYK
SEPTEMBER 2008
First place award
Group II
the stadium is a waste of money. The
Liberty Bowl is structurally sound
and functional. It’s an architecturally
appealing structure. It has not outlived
its usefulness.
If you haven’t done so lately, take a
drive by the Liberty Bowl. Go ahead and
tour the perimeter of the entire site that
is home to the stadium, the Children’s
Museum and the Mid-South Coliseum,
and was once home to Libertyland and
Tim McCarver Stadium.
Take a few moments to contemplate
the potential for redeveloping the site.
And then ask yourself why a new
football stadium must be a factor in
this vision.
The site is currently anchored by
two viable tenants: the Liberty Bowl
and The Children’s Museum. The rest
of the 170 acres is essentially a blank
slate. Tear down the Coliseum, bulldoze
the detritus that was once Libertyland,
clear out the fairgrounds and you have
created a developer’s playground.
We urge the mayor to revisit the
facility assessment report conducted
by architecture firm Looney Ricks
Kiss, which priced renovations at
$34.2 million, and the renovation study
submitted by SSR Ellers/HOK, which
proposed spending $95 million to spruce
up the facility. Find a middle ground
between those proposals and spearhead
the effort to create a new and improved
Liberty Bowl.
The University of Memphis, the
teams playing in the AutoZone Liberty
Bowl and Southern Heritage Classic,
and the fans deserve a better facility
than the one we have now.
We hope the mayor doesn’t let his
vision for a better fairgrounds get obscured by his desire for a new stadium.
Let the Liberty Bowl stand.
(Feb. 2-8, 2007)
BNP 3
In the earmarks session, from left, Jennifer Peebles, The Tennessean, Nashville; J. Todd Foster, managing editor,
Bristol Herald Courier; and Brad Schrade, The Tennessean, with Jim Charlet, Brentwood, in the background
Scripps Howard Foundation announces Journalism Awards
DAVID DOONAN | ROANE COUNTY NEWS, KINGSTON
Doonan
Roane County Sheriff’s Deputy Bob Childs sadly looks
over the wreckage from the car accident that killed
Heather Mitchell and her young daughters. (July 20,
2007)
First place award
Best news photo
Group III
Roane County News, Kingston
The Scripps Howard Foundation May
9 announced the winners of its annual
National Journalism Awards, honoring
the best in print, Web and electronic
journalism and journalism education
for 2007.
The awards, open to all U.S. news
organizations and college journalism
educators, recognize excellence in 17
categories such as editorial writing,
human interest writing, environment,
investigative, business/economics,
Washington and public service reporting, commentary, photojournalism,
radio and television reporting, Web
reporting, college cartooning, editorial
cartooning and journalism education.
The awards also honor distinguished
service to the First Amendment.
“These awards celebrate the role of
journalism in a democratic society
and we are proud to recognize the
nation’s best writers, photographers,
cartoonists, editors and teachers,”
said Mike Philipps, the Foundation’s
president and chief executive officer.
“Our country and our communities
are better places because of the work
honored by these awards.”
The Scripps Howard Foundation is
the philanthropic arm of The E. W.
Scripps Co.
The National Journalism Award winners of particular interest to Tennessee
are as follows:
Distinguished service to the First
Amendment—News Sentinel, Knoxville, which received $10,000 and the Edward Willis Scripps award for exposing
an abuse of Tennessee’s Open Meetings
Act and successfully challenging that
violation in the courts.
Journalism teacher of the year—Dr.
Elinor Kelley Grusin, professor, Department of Journalism, University of
Memphis, who received $10,000 and the
Charles E. Scripps award. Her school
also received a $5,000 grant. The award
is given in cooperation with the Association for Education in Journalism and
Mass Communication.
ENGRAVINGS
Bennett wins cartoonists award
C l ay B e n n e t t ,
Chattanooga
Times Free Press,
added the Ink
Bottle Award to
his honors during
the Association of
American Editorial
Cartoonists (AAEC)
Bennett
convention June 28
in San Antonio, Texas.
In April, Bennett was a Pulitzer Prize
finalist for work the previous year at
the Christian Science Monitor. Also
in April, Bennett won the 2007 Thomas
Nast Award for best international
editorial cartoons from the Overseas
Press Club of America.
Bennett has been with the Chattanooga Times Free Press since late 2007,
and he is a member of the Washington
Post Writers Group.
In fact, Bennett has received so many
honors (including the 2002 Pulitzer)
that the AAEC played a video spoofing
his prize prowess and gave him a
trophy for “Outstanding Distinguished
Excellence in Winning Awards” before
presenting him the Ink Bottle plaque
for contributions to the AAEC and
editorial cartooning.
AAEC President Nick Anderson of
the Houston Chronicle and WPWG said
a major reason for the Ink Bottle honor
was Bennett’s work as AAEC president
in 2005-06. During that “tumultuous
and eventful” time, recalled Anderson,
Bennett worked on such things as
finding a new management company
fo r t h e A A E C , u p g r a d i n g t h e
organization’s Web site, diversifying
the AAEC’s membership by attracting
more alternative cartoonists, and
responding to the eliminations of
high-profile cartoonist positions at
the Los Angeles Times and The Sun
of Baltimore.
“That was a dark harbinger” of
more cartoonist cuts to come, said
Anderson. “Clay was very eloquent in
our defense.”
Bennett also responded to the huge
reaction in the Muslim world to the
Muhammad cartoons published in
Denmark. He did this through proxies
such as Anderson because Bennett
didn’t want to further endanger thenkidnapped Christian Science Monitor
colleague Jill Carroll.
And Bennett later aided the AAEC by
helping to coordinate an online auction
of cartoons to raise much-needed funds
for the organization.
NAA recognizes industry’s best
Industry professionals attending the
Newspaper Association of America’s
Marketing Conference recognized the
brightest leaders in their profession.
The conference was in February in
Orlando, Fla.
Awards of interest to Tennesseans
follow.
The Tony Mineart Newspaper Merchandiser of the Year Awards honor
retailers who have demonstrated a
long-term cooperative effort to sell and
market newspapers in their stores and
who model the industry’s cutting edge
approach to single-copy promotions.
•MAPCO Express, nominated by The
Commercial Appeal, Memphis, for the
Elvis Week promotion
Newspaper Carriers of the Year
Awards were created to honor newspaper carriers for outstanding achievement. Entrants competed in local and
regional-level competitions before
moving on to the national level.
•Sharon Miser, senior category, The
Greeneville Sun
The Display Federation Sales and
Marketing Leadership Award is presented to an individual for significant
and sustained excellence in serving the
newspaper industry both inside and
outside his or her organization in the
field of advertising.
•Leslie Giallombardo, vice president
of advertising, Gannett Co., McLean,
Va. She is the former publisher of The
Tennessean, Nashville.
NAAF cites outstanding NIE programs
The News Sentinel, Knoxville, won
two first place awards from the Newspaper Association of America Foundation
(NAAF), which recognized outstanding
Newspaper in Education and youth
content programs for their efforts to
encourage the use of newspapers in the
classroom. The awards were presented
as part of the Young Reader Seminar
May 15-18 in Phoenix, Ariz.
The newspaper was the only one to
win two first place NIE Content Awards.
They were as follows:
For original curriculum, 60,001 to
149,999 circulation—News Sentinel,
Knoxville, Alice W. Dollar, NIE manager
For special projects, 60,001 to 149,999
circulation—News Sentinel, Knoxville,
Alice W. Dollar, NIE manager
“Newspaper in Education programs,
coupled with newspaper content aimed
at young people, do more than provide
teachers a valuable teaching tool; this
early exposure is often the spark that
motivates students to read newspapers
throughout their life,” explained Margaret Vassilikos, senior vice president
and treasurer of NAAF. “This relationship has benefits beyond readership.
Recent Foundation research indicates
that people who use newspapers in the
classroom and read newspaper teen
content are more likely to become civically engaged adults,” she said.
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
4 - Awards
SEPTEMBER 2008
Tennessee Press Association
Drive-In Tr
Training
FROM PAGE 4
September 2008
Special section
FAC director Policinski talks about
the people and the First Amendment
CMYK
Managing editor
Gene Policinski laid it on the line
for people attending the TPA Drive-In
Training. “Newspapers fundamentally
will save the republic,” he said. “Fair,
accurate, complete, truthful, biased or
unbiased—newspapers are essential to
the way the country functions.”
Policinski, executive director of
the First Amendment Center (FAC),
revealed that he began his journalism
career in 1969 at a 1,600-circulation
newspaper in Greenfield, Ind. He has
worked for other news media, notably
USA Today, and since 2004 has been
executive director of the FAC at Vanderbilt University in Nashville and in
Washington, D.C. and vice president
since 2007.
Policinski was the keynote speaker at
the annual training event, which was
held July 18 at the Millennium Maxwell
House Hotel in Nashville.
He said that newspapers don’t point
out enough the role they play in our
society. “On the street, that’s real life
democracy—that’s what you do,” he said
to the 60 people in attendance.
Policinski talked about the 2007
State of the First Amendment Survey
(SOFAS) commissioned annually by the
FAC. A new one will be out around Sept.
16, Constitution Day, he said.
Sixty-four percent of people know that
free speech is part of the First Amendment, the speaker pointed out, but only
19 percent know that religion is part
of it. Sixteen percent know the amendments sets out a free press; 16 percent,
right to assembly; and 3 percent, the
right to petition the government.
Three out of 10 Americans can’t
name any of the five freedoms, Policinski said. And when asked in 2002
if the First Amendment goes too far
in guaranteeing rights, 41 percent
strongly agreed. But, changes in the
people’s opinions about freedoms is
changing, Policinski noted. In 2007, in
answer to the same question, only 14
percent strongly agreed. And, 55 percent
strongly disagreed.
The change, the speaker suggested,
has been the result of 9/11 and fear of
the loss of freedoms in the climate since.
“The public has reset itself, clearly,”
he said.
Referring again to the 2007 SOFAS,
Policinski noted that in 2000, when
people were asked if the press had too
much freedom, 51 percent said yes. But
in 2007, 34 percent said the press had
too much, with 13 percent saying it had
too little freedom and 50 percent saying
it was about right.
“These are great numbers, good
news,” he commented.
It isn’t all good news, he said, noting
that when asked if the news media try
to report the news without bias, in 2005,
only 13 percent said yes, and in 2007,
only 16 percent.
An interesting factor, Policinski said,
is that Americans are beginning to
become accustomed to having a publication identify its stand on certain
issues. This might not be a bad thing,
he asserted, as if a news medium clearly
knows what is going on, why not express
an opinion about it?
Another question on the survey
is whether falsifying or making up
stories is a widespread problem. This
is important, Policinski said, because
it has to do with trust.
In 2005, 40 percent strongly agreed
there was a widespread problem, with
25 percent mildly agreeing, 20 percent
mildly disagreeing and 11 percent
strongly disagreeing. But in 2007, the
numbers improved, with 36 percent
saying they strongly agreed, 26 percent
mildly agreeing, 22 percent mildly
disagreeing and 12 percent strongly
disagreeing.
“Who told you about Enron and Jason
Blair?” the speaker asked. There is
more research, more attempts to correct
errors than in any other institution, Policinski said. It will pay off, he said.
Newspapers need to talk to people
about veracity, have a way to fix errors and have correction columns.
Americans are looking for things they
can trust and are beginning to wake
up to talk about ways to acknowledge
errors.
In another area, people were asked
if the government should be able to
require news media to offer an equal
amount of time to conservatives and liberals. On TV, 38 percent strongly agreed;
on radio, 35 percent; and in newspapers,
36 percent. Those who mildly agreed
were 26 percent, TV; 26 percent, radio;
and newspapers, 26 percent.
If there is not vigorous objection,
there may be some congressmen who
want to regulate newspapers as well as
other media. It is frightening that some
want to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine,
Policinski said.
When in 2007 asked if they thought
that running a certain amount of “positive news” in return for being granted
a license was appropriate, 21 percent
strongly agreed and 19 percent mildly
agreed, the speaker said.
“We do not teach our youth to worry
about the heavy hand of government,”
Policinski said. “Editors don’t either,”
he added.
Newspapers must not give up their
ground of providing the information
the people need as well as what they
want, the speaker said.
Another question on the survey was
whether journalists should be allowed
to keep their sources confidential. In the
1997 survey, 58 percent strongly agreed
and 27 percent mildly agreed. In 2007, 27
percent strongly agreed and 32 percent
mildly agreed.
Despite a 10-year attack on the concept
of using confidential sources, the public
still thinks it is OK. And 50 percent of
newsrooms say they have rules about
confidential sources, Policinski said.
“If we use them sparingly, it will be
OK,” he opined.
When asked if newspapers should
be allowed to freely criticize the U.S.
military about its strategy and performance, in 2004, 32 percent strongly
agreed and 24 percent mildly agreed,
while in 2007, 39 percent strongly agreed
and 21 percent mildly agreed.
Policinski then turned his remarks to
the state of the student press.
Asked if public school students
should be allowed to report on controversial issues in a student newspaper
without the approval of school officials,
in 2005, 20 percent agreed and in 2007,
25 percent.
In a similar question about college
students, who are adults, in 2001, 33
mildly agreed, and in 2007, 34 percent
agreed.
But a Knight Foundation survey
of high school students showed they
thought it was all right for the government to read a story to say it was OK.
However, when it came to music, 75
percent said they should have free
speech in music.
Policinski
Policinski said as a society we don’t
To a question on using anonymous
teach students about the First Amend- sources, the speaker said we should be
ment or about defending it, but the as transparent as possible. In letters to
student press is a great opportunity the editor, ask people to use their names,
for young people to learn, especially which is “very American.” Use reasonif they have support from the local able editorial judgment with letters to
news unit.
the editor, just as one does with news,
In comments during questions, Po- he suggested. “A writer can’t just rant;
licinski suggested that in addition to he has to have something to say.”
running a story based on investigative
“People are looking to us to tell
reporting, a newspaper also tell what it them what we stand for,” Policinski
took to do the story.
said. “We are in the information and
“Local is trustworthy,” he said. “The opinion business,” but we should not
closer you are to your source, the more allow “blather.”
credibility you have.” He noted, “Of
“People are looking for someone they
course, you can fritter it away, but if can trust, a friend, someone in their
you have credibility, you have gold.” county they can rely on,” Policinski
He added that newspapers need to hold said.
the government accountable, tell people
He provided printed information on
about cookies and taxes, say “good job” the First Amendment Center, where
and tell them a good time to buy a car. one can for free use columns on First
“The more we touch people and let them Amendment topics. The Web site is
touch us, the better we are.”
www.fac.org.
Andrew Oppmann, left, and Kent Flanagan; Robyn Gentile in background
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
Awards - 5
AWARDS
Stories on Jerry Cooper’s plight, James
Clark
Group IV
1. Herald-Citizen, Cookeville. Elementary school fire, Mary Jo Denton
School coverage is first-rate.
2. The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville. Bo
Wood suicide, Eric Snyder, Jason Austin,
Ann Wallace
3. Elizabethton Star. When do we start
digging? Steve Burwick
School funding, Derek Hodges, Stan
Voit
5. The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville.
Drought relief, Jimmy Settle, Nate
Karlin
Group V
1. News Sentinel, Knoxville. A dozen
done
There are few things more gratifying
than seeing the newspaper come out
as the hero. Many reporters go through
the diligent work of government coverage, and the News Sentinel is leading
the way.
2. The Commercial Appeal, Memphis.
MLGW favoritism, Trevor Aaronson,
Michael Erskine
3.The Jackson Sun.The Winkler story,
Tonya Smith-King
4. The Tennessean, Nashville. DNA
tests expose inconsistency, Melvin
Claxton, Sheila Burke
5. Johnson City Press. Downed
plane
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
Group I
1. Mt. Juliet News. Sticks & stones,
Laurie Everett
Fantastic! This series was an interest-
ing and riveting read from beginning
to end. It provided everything – factual
info, personal stories and helpful tips.
Great job!
2. The Erwin Record. Zero tolerance,
Lesley Hughes, Anthony D. Piercy
3. The Milan Mirror-Exchange. Head
Start abuse, Steve Short
4. Smithville Review. Prescription
drug abuse
5. Lake County Banner, Tiptonville.
Capable & personable
Group II
1. Memphis Business Journal. Will
Sears Crosstown rise again? John
Scruggs, Andy Ashby
What a great story! This was quite
an effort and was very well written.
Both writers drew me into the various
aspects of the story. The research done
on projects at other Sears buildings was
tremendous. I find absolutely nothing negative to say about this work.
Excellent!
2. Memphis Business Journal. Doctor
shortage, Toby Sells
3. Monroe County Advocate & Democrat, Sweetwater. Director of schools
selection, Melissa Kinton
4.The Daily News, Memphis. Prostitution plagues Memphis, Rosalind Guy
5. LaFollette Press. Jellico’s financial
woes, Natasha LaFayette
Group III
1. The Wilson Post, Lebanon. Zack
Owensby, Mandy Maxwell
Good - the variety of story topics. It
was both news and investigative.
2. The Oak Ridger
3. The Lebanon Democrat. Laurie
Everett
First place award
Best news photo
Group IV
The Daily News Journal,
Murfreesboro
AARON THOMPSON | THE DAILY NEWS JOURNAL, MURFREESBORO
Christian Golczynski, 8, receives the flag from his father’s
casket from Lt. Col. RicThompson during the graveside at
Wheeler Cemetery in Bedford County. Golczynski’s father,
Marcus, was killed the week before. (April 5, 2007)
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
Thompson
SEE AWARDS, PAGE 6
No longer publish squabble
BY SAM HATCHER,
JOHN B. BRYAN
AND JENNIFER HORTON
The Wilson Post, Lebanon
We’re tired and we’ve heard from a
number of our readers who are equally
as tired of reading about the ongoing “he
said, she said” saga between Lebanon
City Councilor William Farmer and
Mayor Don Fox.
Please let this serve as notice to both
that we’re not publishing more of the
same. If they choose to continue their
feud, we urge them to use another
newspaper or another source but do
not rely on The Wilson Post.
Simply stated, our newspaper is not
about this.
And furthermore, we do not believe
this represents good government.
The majority in our community, we
believe, are sick of this entire mess.
And, as for our newspaper, we apolo-
First place award
Group III
gize to our readers for inflicting the
pain of this ongoing city hall squabble
on you and promise in the days ahead
we will focus on matters of much
greater importance including profiles
of distinguished citizens, local sports,
schools and education, and business
growth and development.
Our community is on the threshold
of a prosperous future, but in the
meantime it seems some of our elected
officials have their heads in places
where the sun doesn’t shine and are
apparently blind to what’s happening
around them.
(Sept. 28, 2007)
First place award
Best news photo
Group V
Henry
DAN HENRY | CHATTANOOGA TIMES FREE PRESS
Kathy and Darrell Chambers sob after receiving the flag
that covered the casket of their son Lance Cpl. William
Craig Chambers July 8 at Anderson Memorial Gardens in
Ringgold, Ga. (July 9, 2007)
AWARDS
FROM PAGE 5
CMYK
SEPTEMBER 2008
4. Shelbyville Times-Gazette. Brian
Mosely
5. Roane County News, Kingston
Group IV
Gangs in Clarksville, Eric Snyder
The gang problem stories not only
document the current reality, but offer solutions. They are complete and
professional.
2. The Daily Times, Maryville. Immigrant: Judge told me to go home,
Rick Laney
3. The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville. Water without fluoride, Nate Karlin
4. The Daily Herald, Columbia. City
loses 500K, Samantha Ballard
5. The Greeneville Sun. Businessman alleges unfair treatment, Nelson
Morais
Group V
On the take, Marc Perrusquia
Political corruption exposed through
excellent reporting. The investigation
was thorough, the writing concise.
2. The Tennessean, Nashville. Poor
oversight, Clay Carey
3. Bristol Herald Courier. It’s your
money, J. Todd Foster, Kathy Still,
David McGee, Mac McLean, Debra
McCown
4.TheTennessean, Nashville.TN Mine
enriched Gore, Bill Theobald
FEMA folly, Trevor Aaronson
BEST EDUCATION REPORTING
Group I
1. Mt. Juliet News. Bullying.
Part 1 - great use of narrative writing
Part 2 - amazing story by principal,
nice reporting
Part 3 - Great interview w/inmate
*Great service to community, powerful writing, an important topic
Also great use of graphic for series
Bus drivers - great feature, Laurie
Everett
2. The Millington Star
3. The Milan Mirror-Exchange
4. The Erwin Record. Lesley Hughes,
Anthony D. Piercy, Mark A. Stevens
Tony Smith, Heather E. Seay, Lynn J.
Richardson, Sarah Winters
Group II
1. Memphis Business Journal. Michael Sheffield
Solid piece of work. Entertaining
as well as informative & important.
Excellent!
City. Steve Marion
3.The Leader, Covington. Echo Gaines
Denmark
4. Monroe County Advocate & Democrat, Sweetwater. Melissa Kinton,
Tommy Millsaps
5. The Herald-News, Dayton. Tiffany
Soyster, Max Hackett
Group III
FROM PAGE 22
Scanner oven - great unique feature
on youth; interesting lede gets reader
into story
Removed - nice coverage of a big issue in community; clear writing helps
to follow confusing story; great use of
sources to tell the story
2. Crossville Chronicle. Josh Hayes
4. The Wilson Post, Lebanon. John B.
Bryan, Tommy Bryan, Zack Owensby
Everett, J.R. Lind, Sara McCarty, Andy
Reed
Group IV
Ann Wallace
Great! You hit some very serious topics here and really get into the details.
Good writing. You go into subjects as
varied as school bus a/c, ELL, the state
report card and still go deeper to discuss
the schools that “passed,” “failed,” and
changed status from before in detail.
2. The Daily Herald, Columbia. Skyler
Swisher
3. The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro. Scott Broden
5. Herald-Citizen, Cookeville. Bobbie
Bruton
Group V
1.The Commercial Appeal, Memphis.
Kristina Goetz, Marc Perrusquia, Dakarai
Aarons
A most impressive job of investigative
reporting. I realize you were fortunate
to have the subject matter to report on,
but you took it to a level of excellence
SEE AWARDS, PAGE 7
Pickard
thanks the following:
•The University of Tennessee Office of Public Relations
and members of the staff Hank Dye, Amy Blakely,
Charles Primm, Amy Rummel, Karen Collins and Gina
Stafford, the College of Communication and Information and the School of Journalism and Electronic
Media
for the excellent relationship that has existed
for 68 years. During this time UT has participated in
the implementing of the UT-TPA State Press Contests
and has provided plaques and certificates and assisted
in various other
facets of the awards event.
•Victor Parkins, editor
of The Milan Mirror-Exchange,
2007-08 Contests Committee chairman,
•Members
of the 2007-08 TPA Contests Committee
for their contributions, guidance
and support of the contests.
JULIE PICKARD | CHESTER COUNTY INDEPENDENT, HENDERSON
First place award
Best feature photo
Group I
Chester County Independent,
Henderson
Hender sonview
apartment kids enjoy playing in the
drainoff water after
a rain shower. (Aug.
9, 2007)
Sheriff should give statistics on firing five
BY SAM STOCKARD
The Rutherford
County Sheriff ’s
Office is shirking its
responsibility to the
public by refusing to
divulge the reason
for firing five jail
personnel.
After an internal
Stockard
probe, four jail officers and one maintenance man were
released two weeks ago for “improper
conduct with inmates.”
Now that the sheriff ’s office investigation is complete and the employees have
been fired, it’s time to let the people
know exactly why. “Improper conduct”
isn’t specific enough.
We can only imagine what’s being said
community-wide about the firings, and
it can’t be good, because when information is lacking, people’s imaginations
run wild.
Instead of turning over personnel
files, the sheriff’s office is hiding behind
First place award
Group IV
Murfreesboro
state law that exempts records from
Tennessee’s Open Records Act if they
are part of an ongoing investigation.
The sheriff ’s office makes a good
argument, but only to a point.
Turning the case over to the District
Attorney’s Office to determine whether
any of the five should be charged with
criminal conduct is the right thing to
do. The sheriff ’s office removes itself
from any potential conflict of interest
by allowing another agency to handle
the criminal investigation.
But since the sheriff ’s internal probe
is complete and the five have been fired,
that part of the matter is finished.
Consequently, the employee records and
investigation should be public record.
We trust the DA to conduct an impartial investigation into this matter.
Whether people know why they were
fired won’t impact his case one bit.
The public will know eventually,
anyway, once the DA completes the
investigation. By keeping the specifics
secret, the sheriff’s office is playing hideand-seek with the Open Records Act and
doing a disservice to the public.
The jail is an $11.2 million operation,
and people expect it to be run efficiently,
which we believe it is. After serving
time there, inmates typically say they
don’t want any part of 940 New Salem
Highway again. That’s the way it
should be.
Yet, the public should also know what
is going on inside the walls of the county
jail, and if five employees have to be
fired, the sheriff should tell the people
why. They deserve to know, because even
though those five are on the sheriff ’s
payroll, they work for the taxpayers.
The people’s right to know always
outweighs any desire by the sheriff ’s
office to conceal the information – even
if temporarily – about how the jail and
sheriff ’s office are running.
(June 10, 2007)
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
Long is recipient of SCMA’s Green Award
TAPME
2. Daryl Sullivan, The Daily Times,
Maryville, Musical Silhouette
3. Lindsay McDonald, The Jackson Sun,
Catchin’ a Ride
2. David Fuzzell, Union City Daily Messenger, Big Swing
3. Dallus Whitfield, The Lebanon Democrat, Cheers!
Sports photography
1. Robert Smith, The Leaf-Chronicle,
Clarksville, What a Special Night
Clarksville, Quit Pulling
3. Aaron Thompson, The Daily News
Journal, Murfreesboro, Home Run
Sports photography
2. Dallus Whitfield, The Lebanon Democrat, Season End
3. Danny Parker and Jimmy Jones,
Shelbyville Times-Gazette, Foot to Nose
Photojournalism
1. Andrew McMurtrie, The Jackson Sun,
Homeless in Jackson
Journal, Murfreesboro, Fallen Hero
3. Karen Kraft, The Daily News Journal,
Murfreesboro, In the Garden
Photojournalism
1. Danny Parker, Shelbyville TimesGazette, Reason to Rock
2. Chris Menees, Union City Daily Messenger, Days of Yesteryear
3. Donna Ryder, Union City Daily Messenger, Open County Fair & Nutrition Day
Individual achievement/
body of work in photography
Journal, Murfreesboro
Maryville
Murfreesboro
1. Curt Habraken, The Mountain Press,
Sevierville
2. Chris Menees, Union City Daily
Messenger
3. Donna Ryder, Union City Daily Messenger
DIVISION III
WRITING
Daily deadline reporting
1. J.R. Lind,The Lebanon Democrat, State
Judiciary Reprimands Local Judge
2. Clint Confehr, Shelbyville Times-Gazette, Holton Executed
3. Angela Williams, The Mountain
Press, Sevierville, New Hope Thrift Store
Destroyed
Bare necessity
Features reporting
1. Gail Crutchfield, The Mountain Press,
Sevierville, Price of Freedom
2. J. R. Lind, The Lebanon Democrat,
Queen’s Pigeon Alights in Watertown
3. Derek Hodges, The Mountain Press,
Sevierville, Putting the Brakes on DUI
Sports/outdoors reporting
1. Mike Hutchens, Union City Daily Messenger, It’s Official - Wood Resigns
2. Andy Reed, The Lebanon Democrat,
Umpire Retires
3. Cobey Hitchcock, The Mountain Press,
Sevierville, Against All Odds
Business news
1. Angela Williams, The Mountain Press,
Sevierville, It Doesn’t Rate Well
Changing Face of Manufacturing Costs
Jobs
Sevierville, Home or Business?
Malcolm Law Investigative Reporting Award: Brian Mosely, Shelbyville
Times-Gazette, Somalis in Shelbyville
PHOTOGRAPHY
Spot news photography
1. Kay Rose, Shelbyville Times-Gazette,
Farewell for a Hero
2. Chris Menees, Union City Daily Messenger, Safe and Sound
3. Chris Menees, Union City Daily Messenger, Topsy-Turvy Test
Feature photography
Sevierville, School’s Out
Awards - 23
“The press was protected so it could
bare the secrets of government and
inform the people.”
Hugo L. Black,
Former U.S. Supreme Court justice,
1971
Dale Long, circulation director of The
Greeneville Sun,
was awarded the
William C. Green
Jr. Award by the
Southern Circulation Managers Association at its 89th
Long
annual conference
in April in Baton Rouge, La.
The Sun is the “flagship” newspaper
of Jones Media, based in Greeneville.
Long also has responsibilities for
overseeing production operations of
the Sun, including prepress, printing
and post-printing, as well as other Jones
has been a member of the Tennessee
Press Association Circulation Committee since 1995 and has served as its
chairman.
Long has played many roles in SCMA
and has held various positions leading
up to his becoming president in 2006.
When presenting the award, current
SCMA President Dean Blanchard said
of Long, “Even though he is from Tennessee, his heart is as big as the state
of Texas.”
Long and his wife of 29 years, Linda
Kay, have a daughter, Autumn Malone.
She and her husband, Cody, have a
daughter, Kylie.
News Sentinel wins ETSPJ Best of Show
More than 80 journalists and guests
attended the annual Golden Press Card
Awards of the East Tennessee Society of
Professional Journalists (ETSPJ) May
10 at The Foundry to congratulate winners of this year’s competition.
Mia Rhodarmer, editor of the Monroe County Advocate and Democrat,
Sweetwater, ETSPJ vice president/
Golden Press Card, was in charge of
the contest and banquet. She was assisted by Dr. Dorothy Bowles, professor
at the University of Tennessee School
of Journalism and Electronic Media,
Knoxville.
Clint Brewer, president of national
SPJ, spoke. He is editor of The City
Paper, Nashville, and former editor of
The Lebanon Democrat.
WORTH REPEATING
Sometimes if you don’t toot your
own horn, that horn goes untooted. Or
something like that. Pardon this break
from the usual critique of the issues of
the day to let us engage in a mild form
of self-congratulation.
The Mountain Press, the newspaper
we thank you for reading, did quite
well in two state contests, the results of
which were announced last week.
The paper won 15 awards, including
three for first place, in the Tennessee
Press Association contest. We competed
against a number of Tennessee newspapers in that category, with a weekly
circulation of as much as three times
what ours is. Then the next day the
Associated Press Managing Editors
group announced winners of the state
AP contest, and we won four first place
awards–more than any other small daily
in the state. In addition to those awards
we won three third-place citations.
Newspaper people don’t work for glory
or prizes, but they are nice when they
do come. Each year we gather up our
best work in the different categories
and send them in, hoping to do well but
never knowing. Entries are judged very
subjectively, usually by a single journalist in another state. Sometimes we don’t
win when we think we should have,
and win when we doubted we would.
The trick is not to get too exhilarated
when you win or too down when you
Media publications.
He is active in the community as well,
being a member of the Kiwanis Club,
Greene County Partnership, Greene
County United Way and Brown Springs
Baptist Church. He is president of the
USS Greenville Inc., a Greenevillebased support group for the crew of
the nuclear submarine named after the
East Tennessee city. He is a member of
the local Moose Lodge.
Long is a graduate of West Greene
High School and attended Walters State
Community College. In his professional
field, he has attended the Inland Press
Foundation Circulation Academy and
don’t. But when you do well, it’s nice
to share it with our readers.
Our newsroom works hard to produce
quality stories and photos each day. We
never miss a day of publication, and
every day is different, with new content,
new ads, new photos and new things
to enjoy. Small-town journalism as we
practice it is the most fun, because you
are closer to the people, and what you
do seems to mean more and have more
impact than big-city papers. We produce
a lot of refrigerator journalism – stories
that families cut out and attach to the
door of the refrigerator. It’s fun when
we go to someone’s house and see clippings displayed in that way. But we also
enjoy the more serious stories, when we
point out wrongdoing or enlighten a
community to something going on they
need to know. We do a lot of that.
The recognition of our work by judges
in the two contests is cake icing, a pat
on the back to make summer seem
more bearable. But mostly it means
we are doing some good things that,
hopefully, are appreciated by our readers. Thanks for spending time with The
Mountain Press.
(The Mountain Press, Sevierville,
July 24, 2008)
Read
The Tennessee Press,
then pass it on
The top two awards overall are the
Horace V. Wells, Jr. Community Service Award and the Golden Press Card
Award given to the top entrant among
all the Award of Excellence winners in
all categories.
Wells was the founder and longtime
editor and publisher of the Clinton
Courier-News.
The Wells Award went to Scott Barker,
Rebecca Ferrar, Ansley Haman and
Hayes Hickman of the News Sentinel,
Knoxville, for “Knox County Turmoil,”
and the WBIR-TV News Team won
for “Knox County Files.” The judges
said, “This is an ultimate public service
with continuing commitment to follow
through.”
The Golden Press Club Award was
shared by the two news media on the
same subject. For this award, the News
Sentinel’s entry was “Knox County
Chaos” by Rebecca Ferrar and Ansley
Haman.
For the first time, ETSPJ held a high
school essay contest in which the chapter winner will go on to the national SPJ
level to compete with contemporaries
from across the country for scholarships
worth up to $1,000. The ETSPJ winner
was Christopher Bernard of Knoxville,
who was presented a certificate and a
check for $50 during the GPC banquet.
Larry Van Guilder, editor of the Halls
Shopper-News, was contest chairman.
One can see the complete list of winners, including many newspapers, at
www.etspj.org.
TPA
Winter
Convention
Feb. 4-6
2009 Press Institute & Winter Convention
DoubleTree Hotel • Downtown Nashville
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
6 - Awards
SEPTEMBER 2008
CMYK
TAPME awards presented July 19 in Nashville
The Commercial Appeal, Memphis,
was the big newspaper winner July 19
in the annual journalism competition
sponsored by the Tennessee Associated
Press Managing Editors.
For newspapers with more than 40,000
daily circulation, The Commercial
Appeal won seven first place awards:
features reporting, sports/outdoors
reporting, business news, feature
photography, sports photography, photojournalism and individual achievement/body of work in photography.
Additionally, the paper’s Marc Perrusquia won the Malcolm Law Investigative
Reporting Award for a story, “Culture
of Corruption.”
The award was established to honor
Malcolm Law, associate editor of The
Jackson Sun, who died in December
1972. The award pays tribute to the
dedication of Law to the concept of
the Associated Press as a news cooperative.
The Tennessean, Nashville, was
awarded first place for Web site and
sports photography.
Rounding out the divisional first-place
winners, the News Sentinel, Knoxville,
won for daily deadline reporting, and the
Chattanooga Times Free Press won for
spot news photography.
For newspapers with daily circulation between 10,000 and 40,000, The
Jackson Sun won five first-place awards:
deadline reporting, feature reporting,
sports/outdoors reporting, best Web
site and photojournalism.
Additionally, Tonya Smith-King of the
Sun won the Malcolm Law Investigative
Reporting Award for a story on Mary
Winkler.
In the same division, The Daily News
Journal, Murfreesboro, won for spot
news photography and feature photography. The Daily News Journal’s Aaron
Thompson won for individual achievement/body of work in photography.
Other first-place winners in the
division were The Daily Herald, Columbia, for business news, and The
Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville, for sports
photography.
For newspapers with less than 10,000
circulation daily, The Mountain Press,
Sevierville, won four first place honors: feature reporting, business news,
feature photography and individual
achievement/body of work in photography (Curt Habraken).
The Shelbyville Times-Gazette won
first place for spot news photography
and photojournalism. The Union City
Daily Messenger won for sports/outdoors reporting and sports photography.
The Lebanon Democrat won for daily
deadline reporting.
Brian Mosely of the Shelbyville
Times-Gazette won the Malcolm Law
Investigative Reporting Award for his
work on Somalis in Shelbyville.
Best of Show Awards were chosen
from among those who placed first in
selected categories.
The print award went to Marc Perrusquia of The Commercial Appeal for his
series titled “Culture of Corruption,”
and the photography award went to
Aaron Thompson of The Daily News
Journal for his series of photographs
titled “Fallen Hero.” Both received
$100.
The complete awards list follows.
DIVISION I
WRITING
1. Staff, News Sentinel, Knoxville, McClung Warehouse Fire
2. Ashley Rowland, Chattanooga Times
Free Press, Firefighter Funeral
3. Marc Perrusquia, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Herenton Sex Plot
Features reporting
1. Daniel Connolly, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Immigration’s Impact
2. Melvin Claxton and Sheila Burke, The
Tennessean, Nashville, DNA
3. Mary Powers,The Commercial Appeal,
Memphis, Brain Surgery
1. Ron Higgins, The Commercial Appeal,
Memphis, Larry Finch Battles Back
2. Scott Cacciola, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Rampage Jackson
3. Mark Wiedmer, Chattanooga Times
Free Press, Art of Fatherhood
Business news
1. Tom Charlier and Jane Roberts, The
Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Boll
Weevil
2. Chas Sisk and Jennifer Brooks, The
Tennessean, Nashville, A New Middle
Tennessee
3. Naomi Snyder, The Tennessean, Nashville, McLean Stories
Web site
1. Staff,TheTennessean, Nashville, www.
tennessean.com
Malcolm Law Investigative Reporting Award: Marc Perrusquia, The
Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Culture
of Corruption
PHOTOGRAPHY
1. Dan Henry, Chattanooga Times Free
Press, Soldier Funeral
2. Gillian Bolsover, Chattanooga Times
Free Press, Remembering Our Veterans
3. Angela Lewis, ChattanoogaTimes Free
Press, Welcome Home
Honorable mention, J. Miles Carym
News Sentinel, Knoxville, Remember
My Brother
Feature photography
1. Mark Weber, The Commercial Appeal,
Memphis, Smoke
Memphis, Memorial Day
3. Shelley Mays, The Tennessean, Nashville, Hand of Thanks
Sports photography
1. (TIE) Mark Weber, The Commercial
Appeal, Memphis, Dodge Ball
1. (TIE) Bill Kingsley, The Tennessean,
Nashville, Fiery Crash
Memphis, Tongue Tied
Press, Brake Adjustment
Photojournalism
Appeal, Memphis, Pit Bulls
1. (TIE) Karen Pulfer Focht, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Brain Surgery
2. Clay Owen, News Sentinel, Knoxville,
Faithful to the End
3. (TIE) Andy McFee, Chattanooga Times
Free Press, Leukemia Twins
3. (TIE) Mike Brown, The Commercial
Appeal, Memphis, Convocation
1. Karen Pulfer Focht, The Commercial
Appeal, Memphis
Memphis
3. (TIE) Larry McCormack, The Tennessean, Nashville
Appeal, Memphis
Sports photography
Photojournalism
Homeless in Jackson
Maryville
Murfreesboro
DIVISION III
WRITING
Journal, Murfreesboro House Fire
2. Katie Morgan, The Jackson Sun, Still
Have Each Other
3. John A. Gillis, The Daily News Journal,
Murfreesboro, Escape From Fire
Feature photography
Journal, Murfreesboro, A Son’s Loss
SEE TAPME, PAGE 23
DIVISION II
WRITING
1. Tonya Smith-King and Pete Wickham,
The Jackson Sun, Winkler Verdict
2. Wendy Isom and Ned Hunter, The
Jackson Sun, Selmer in Mourning
3. Jessica Stith, The Daily Times, He’s
Going to Kill Me
Features reporting
1. Tracie Simer, The Jackson Sun, Homeless in Jackson
2. Mark Boxley, The Daily Times,
Maryville, The Cop and the Addict
3. Adam Sparks, The Daily News Journal,
Murfreesboro, They Were Coming Here
1. Joshua Parrott, The Jackson Sun,
Dream Come True
3. Roger Garfield, The Daily News
Journal, Murfreesboro, A Cardinal Honor
for Jordan
Business news
1. Greg Menza, The Daily Herald, Columbia, GM Plant
2. Ned Hunter, The Jackson Sun, Waiting to Fly
3. Tim Adkins, The Daily News Journal,
Murfreesboro, Formula for Success
Web site
1. Staff, The Jackson Sun, www.jacksonsun.com
Malcolm Law Investigative Reporting Award: Tonya Smith-King, The
Jackson Sun, The Winkler Story
PHOTOGRAPHY
Journal, Murfreesboro, House Fire
Have Each Other
Feature photography
Catchin’ a Ride
AP BEST OF SHOW
Story by Marc Perrusquia, photos by Jim Weber
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
FROM PAGE 6
Awards - 7
AWARDS
beyond that of your peers.
Great use of multiple sources and
presented in an easy to read, easy to
understand format. An outstanding job
of reporting on an issue that has great
impact on the school & community.
2. The Tennessean, Nashville
4. Johnson City Press. Sam Watson,
Ben Ingram, Jim Wozniak
5. Bristol Herald Courier. Debra McCown, Khristopher J. Brooks
LOCAL FEATURES
Group I
1.The Erwin Record. Mark A. Stevens,
Lesley Hughes, Jerry Hilliard, Anthony D.
Piercy, David Thometz, Brenda Sparks
•Tremendous graphics for super
power. Well written. “Little Joe” is fun.
Need extracted quote on jump for “Super Power.” Please. Hilliard gives great
photo of inmate. It makes the page.
•Pastor retires is well done. When you
look at “In Good Hands” and Minister
Killed pieces, it’s clear this newspaper
stands out in its class, probably ANY
class. Legends of the Fall is icing on
the cake. The experience of judging
your fine newspaper has me wishing
for the next issue.
2. Mt. Juliet News. Laurie Everett
3. Carroll County News-Leader, Huntingdon. Shirley Nanney
4. Herald and Tribune, Jonesborough
5. The News Leader, Parsons
Group II
•Every lead pulled me immediately
into the story.
•Nice variety of feature content, from
profiles to public interest.
•Great job in educating readers about
things they may otherwise take for
granted.
2. Memphis Business Journal
City
4. The Courier, Savannah. Terry VanEaton, Linda Folkerts
5. The Gallatin Newspaper. Marjorie
Lloyd, Tim Nixon
Group III
1. The Oak Ridger
Wonderful page design, placement
and visual appeal!
•Had a job to do. . .Very nice! This
wonderful man tells the story in his
words, not the writer’s.
•Shoulder feature - Lots of useful info
with a unique graphic to draw you in.
All in all - very well done. . .substance,
local flavor and eye appeal!
James Clark
3. The Newport Plain Talk. Kathy
Barnes-Hemsworth, Duay O’Neil, Jim
Hekel
4. Shelbyville Times-Gazette
5. The Paris Post-Intelligencer. Ken
Walker, Steve McCadams, GlennTanner,
Leslie Sensing
Group IV
Good use of color
Loved the story on the sophomore
basketball players
Home & Garden story was very current & insightful
Weekly column, out of context, is a bit
jaw dropping, but very entertaining
Story on Hookah bar was surprising
– would be neat to try one out
Superb story in Living Section faith
& grief
3. The Daily Herald, Columbia. Chris
Fletcher, Skyler Swisher, Greg Menza
4. The Greeneville Sun. Bob Hurley,
Wayne Phillips, Lisa Warren, Jim Feltman, Todd DeHaven
Group V
1. The Commercial Appeal, Memphis
•Story subjects were interesting. Photos complimented the subject matter.
SEE AWARDS, PAGE 8
NATASHA LAFAYETTE | LAFOLLETTE PRESS
LaFayette
First place award
Best feature photo
Group II
LaFollette Press
Julianna Sidener enjoys the cool streams of water at the
grand opening of LaFollette’s Splash Park on Sept. 21.
(Sept. 27, 2007)
Lack of honesty, not money, is real problem
BY STAN WHITLOCK
Kingsport Times-News
At a recent Kingsport roundtable
discussion on the
need for K-12 education reform, Tennessee Gov. Phil
Bredesen encouraged local business
leaders to hold “the
Whitlock
political structure”
accountable for education decisions.
The governor, a Democrat, then proceeded to take a shot at several Northeast Tennessee Republican lawmakers
who, as Bredesen put it, “happily voted”
for education funding reform in the
General Assembly session recently
ended but not for the 42-cent per pack
increase in cigarette taxes to fund it.
“You can’t let people get away with
that,” the governor said.
But Bredesen’s attempt to paint
targets on the backs of his political
opposites on an issue as critical as
education is disingenuous, especially in
a year when the state’s extra revenues
could have easily funded this latest
K-12 initiative.
As the governor also well knows, the
principal problem in Tennessee’s public
schools isn’t a matter of money, but
mendacity. The Tennessee Department
of Education is not being forthright
about the academic abilities of the
majority of its students. The department recently claimed, for example,
that 87 percent of Tennessee students
First place award
Group V
are proficient in eighth grade math. A
national test, however, shows that only
21 percent actually exhibit that skill
level—a difference of 66 points on a
100-point scale.
Gov. Bredesen’s answer to that has
been to complain to the Times-News
editorial board about the No Child Left
Behind law and to promise a tougher
high school curriculum and greater
accountability—albeit when his term
of office has effectively ended—in
exchange for an extra half-billion in
new funding for schools beginning
right away.
Like President (George W.) Bush,
who argues that border security isn’t
possible apart from a larger comprehensive reform of immigration policies,
Gov. Bredesen claims that Tennessee
schools can’t adopt more stringent
academic standards without first receiving hundreds of millions of dollars
in new annual funding. Each of these
assertions is false on its face.
It’s obvious that securing our border
with Mexico has absolutely nothing
to do with what happens to the estimated 12 million illegals now in this
country.
Similarly, an accurate assessment of
Tennessee students’ academic abilities
isn’t dependent on extra K-12 funding. It
doesn’t cost any more to record an “F”
on a student’s report card than it does
an “A”—although it likely keeps the
Department of Education in Nashville
from being burned to the ground by
angry parents.
State Rep. Nathan Vaughn, a Kingsport
Democrat who was also in attendance
at the governor’s roundtable, praised
Bredesen, noting that on the subject
of education reform, the governor had
“looked at what was the right thing to
do as compared to what was the politically expedient thing to do and made
the tough decisions.”
But what’s difficult about Gov. Bredesen or Rep. Vaughn offering one of their
major constituencies—the education
lobby—a vast amount of new money?
If Gov. Bredesen and Rep. Vaughn
really want to demonstrate how tough
and courageous they are, they might
make a small start by ceasing to pat
themselves on the back for pouring
even more hundreds of millions in tax
dollars into a state education system
that has spectacularly failed to prepare
a majority of this state’s children for
productive lives.
There isn’t anything faintly difficult
or courageous or right about rewarding
the Department of Education in this
state for a job poorly done.
Earlier this year in an editorial
board meeting, Times-News editors
discussed Tennessee’s lack of honesty
in accurately assessing the abilities
of public school students with local
lawmakers.
To his credit, Rep. Vaughn readily
admitted the problem but then observed,
“Most parents don’t want to hear that
stuff about their kids.”
Perhaps Rep. Vaughn is right—but
then again, who can say? The choice to
know, or not to know, the true academic
abilities of their children has cynically and systematically been denied
to Tennessee’s parents year after year
by state educators.
The result is that even if parents
suspect the truth about their child’s
abilities, the state provides false and
ultimately disastrous assurance that
all is well.
Well, that is, until the child tries to
tackle college and can’t get past his
required freshmen courses or applies
for a job and can’t land it because he
never mastered fractions in middle
school.
If Gov. Bredesen is sincere about
himself and others in the “political
structure” being held accountable for
public education in this state, here’s
our challenge: start raising proficiency
standards across the board, say 10
percent a year, until they match the
proficiency standards embodied in
the U.S. Department of Education’s
National Assessment of Educational
Progress tests.
Commit to doing that and report
the results each year, so that parents,
students and others can see for themselves whether Tennessee schools are
succeeding or failing. That would be
tough. That would be courageous. And
it would be the right thing to do.
(June 28, 2007)
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
22 - Awards
The Tennessee Press
Good ole’ boying not good enough
CMYK
BY JIM ZACHARY
Editor, Grainger Today, Bean Station
The words “good
ole’ boy” can mean
a lot of different
things.
A good ole’ boy
can simply be a
hard working, salt
of the earth, simple
living, trustworthy
Zachary
fellow who would
do anything in the world to help family,
friends and neighbors. In that case, give
us more good ole’ boys.
A good ole’ boy can be the kind of a guy
who spends all his time in a bass boat,
in the deer woods, or chasing a coon
dog. A good ole’ boy can be someone
who grew up here, has lived here his
entire life, gone to the same church, held
down the same job, knows everybody
and everybody knows him.
Those varieties of good ole’ boys you
can live with. In fact, a good ole’ boy can
be the best neighbor you’ll ever have.
However, sometimes, the words “good
ole’ boy” mean something far more
unseemly, unsavory and unwanted.
Does anyone deny there is a good ole’
boy network, where it is not a matter of
what you know, but who you know?
I am not too crazy about Wikipedia,
the free Internet encyclopedia. Principally, I don’t care much for Wikipedia
because anyone can contribute to it, regardless of their level of expertise, the
accuracy of their definitions, strength
of their credentials or validity of their
observations.
However, a Wikipedia entry hits the
nail right square on the head with this
offering:
“The good ole’ boy network describes a
system of social networking and perceptions alleged to exist prevalently among
certain communities and social strata
in the United States. Although the term
originated in the South, these networks
can be found throughout the U.S. and the
rest of the Western world. It is typically
taken to refer to informal legal, judicial,
social, religious, business, and political
associations among white males (“good
ol’ boys”); however, in modern times can
be composed of either or both sexes. In
some areas, the good ole’ boy network is
said to still exert considerable influence
over many aspects of local government,
business, and law enforcement. Usage
of the term can often imply a wrongful
exclusion of others from the network;
however, often the emphasis is on inclusion of a member, as in, “doing a good
ole’ boy a favor” (Wikipedia).
When elected officials do dirty deals,
hire relatives, do favors for payola, look
the other way when their friends and
family mess up, try to sneak, hide and
slip some piece of public business or
legislation through without taking
ownership, violate open meetings
legislation, and generally behave in
an underhanded way, sometimes we
say, “they good ole’ boy-ed it.”
Last week I sat in a public meeting
First place award
Best personal column
Group I
Grainger Today, Bean Station
up in Rogersville that lasted all of
four seconds (yes that is a bit of an
exaggeration, but not much, replace
seconds with minutes and you’d be
pretty doggone close) where a new
director of schools was hired. There
were no discussions, no deliberations,
no public considerations, just a couple
of brief rehearsed statements, a motion,
a second, and a quick vote. Yep, they
good ole’ boy-ed it, all right, and wait,
it gets better, or worse, I should say.
Now the state of Tennessee says, “all
decisions,” and all DELIBERATIONS,
“toward a decision” must be done in
public (T.C.A. 8-44-102). That means no
private meetings, no telephone calling
for strategizing, no emailing among
officials regarding their vote, and no
private retreats where they discuss the
public’s business. These things are all
good ole’ boy-ing, and all violate the law.
The law further says, “Any action taken
at a meeting in violation of this part
shall be void and of no effect.” Now, I
say all of this to commend the Grainger
County Board of Education. While they
did, at one point, discuss “closing” their
deliberations, when hiring a new director, they checked with their lawyer and
opted to keep the meetings open and
then they thoroughly discussed their
choices between the final two candidates
in open meetings. They voted, by voice
vote, and re-voted and voted again.
They continued to deliberate in open
meetings, each member working to
convince fellow members. They could
have chosen to go the good ole’ boy
route, but they did not. Granted, it took
them a while to reach a decision and
the “stalemate” and even a suggestion
the top two candidates meet and decide
among themselves who should be the
director of schools was a bit comical,
at best, but the BOE kept it all open and
above board, shall we say.
As I left the Rogersville meeting I was
a little ashamed of my hometown and
of Hawkins County. I was, at the same
time, a bit proud of Grainger County.
Then, when I saw the local newspaper
coverage up there and the way the
controversy was not so much as alluded
to, it made me appreciate working for
a publication such as Grainger Today
that prides itself in strong community
journalism and in providing an open
and free public forum.
Oh, and I said it gets better—when
the whirlwind vote was taken by the
Rogersville City School Board, the
person hired happened to be the wife of
a member of the board itself (though,
he did not vote). Regardless of how
qualified or unqualified, even Wikipedia
would have that classified as the “good
ole’ boy network,” hard at work. At least,
that’s the way it seems to me.
(June 6, 2007)
SEPTEMBER 2008
AWARDS
Awards - 21
GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARDS - FRONT PAGES
FROM PAGE 7
Layout, esp. using white space, also
attracted me to the stories. Keep up
the good work.
4. Bristol Herald Courier
BEST SINGLE FEATURE
Group I
1. Carroll County News-Leader,
Huntingdon. Special D-Day, Shirley
Nanney
Watch AP Style. Good, emotional
story that held my interest.
Hurschel knows
3. The Erwin Record. Addressed to a
friend, David Thometz
4. The Erwin Record. Wanted: Ad in
Record, Jerry Hilliard
5. Chester County Independent, Henderson. WWII Vet, James A. Webb
Group II
1. LaFollette Press. Act of vigilantism,
Susan Sharp
Fantastic! This story made me angry
and sad all at the same time. Your
presentation of the facts in this case
was wonderful!
2.The News Examiner, Gallatin. Game
changed Gallatin
3. The Knoxville Journal. The quiet
side of the game
City. Blue’s backpacks, Steve Marion
5. Carthage Courier.The gift of inspiration, Scott Winfree
Group III
1. The Oak Ridger. Momma they got
me a heart, Beverly Majors
•A wonderful, horrible story magically
told. Quotes from both families are
amazing. Very compelling human interest story. A masterfully job by Majors.
Give her a raise immediately!
2. The Wilson Post, Lebanon. Her life
once stolen, Sam Hatcher
Will to walk, James Clark
4. The Oak Ridger. Soldier dies in
Iraq
Couple celebrates 70 years
Group IV
1. The Daily Times, Maryville. Cop &
addict, Mark Boxley
“Alcoa Office” - strong - impressive
story makes you wonder what Boxley
will write about next.
2. The Greeneville Sun. 10 years ago
today, Bill Jones, Tom Yancey, Bryan
Gillespie
3. Cleveland Daily Banner. Passport,
cane
4. Citizen Tribune, Morristown. Duty
5. The Greeneville Sun. Fragile start,
Lisa Warren
Group V
1. News Sentinel, Knoxville. Faithful
to the end
The subject matter was compelling
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
THE ERWIN RECORD
Group I
Group II
SCOTT FRAKER | THE OAK RIDGER, OAK RIDGE
Mira Ryczke Kimmelman of Oak Ridge spent five and a
half years in ghettos and labor and concentration camps
in Germany and Poland during World War II. She told her
chilling yet inspirational life story to attendees of a local
Women’s History Month program. (April 13, 2007)
Fraker
First place award
Best feature photo
Group III
The Oak Ridger, Oak Ridge
– very well written & illustrated. Most
readers can relate – a primer on attitudes
about death and dying. It takes the
reader through – compassionately – the
final stages of life.
2. The Jackson Sun. Searching for
home, Tracie Simer
3.TheTennessean, Nashville. Lessons
from losing, Leon Alligood
Menace unabashed, Cindy Wolff
5. Bristol Herald Courier. It’s Conway,
Joe Tennis
COMMUNITY LIFESTYLES
Group I
1. The Erwin Record. David Thometz,
Jerry Hilliard, Anthony D. Piercy, Mark
A. Stevens, Brenda Sparks, Bryan
Stevens
Pictures were great. Articles well written. Interesting variety of topics.
2. Carroll County News-Leader, Huntingdon. Ron Park, Shirley Nanney
Heather E. Seay, Kristen Swing, Charlie
Mauk, Ron Caylor, Sarah Winters, Bea
Casey, Lynn J. Richardson
Group II
1. Macon County Chronicle, Lafayette
Nice consistency in articles. Good
color pictures. Nice articles – easy reads.
By far the best in this group!!
Lloyd, Gary Grace
3. The Rogersville Review. Ellen
Myatt
4. Monroe County Advocate & Democrat, Sweetwater. Phylis Bellamy, Mia
Rhodarmer
5. The Herald-News, Dayton
Group III
1. The Wilson Post, Lebanon. Dana
Bryson
no comment
3. Crossville Chronicle. Laura Gwinn
4. The Lebanon Democrat
5. The Tullahoma News. Tamara
Belinc
Group IV
Enjoyable reading featuring array of national & local lifestyle news. Entertaining
info from celebrity news & local.
SEE AWARDS, PAGE 9
SOUTHERN STANDARD
McMinnville
Group III
THE LEAF-CHRONICLE
Clarksville
Group IV
THE TENNESSEAN
Nashville
Group V
CMYK
8 - Awards
MAKE-UP AND APPEARANCE AWARDS - FRONT PAGES
THE HUMBOLDT CHRONICLE
Group I
Group II
THE OAK RIDGER
Oak RIdge
Group III
THE LEAF-CHRONICLE
Clarksville
Group IV
CHATTANOOGA TIMES FREE PRESS
Group V
FROM PAGE 19
4. The Tennessean, Nashville. 100
Years in Nashville
5. News Sentinel, Knoxville. Paid
in Full
SUNDAY EDITIONS
Dailies
•Wow! Where do you start? There
aren’t enough good things to say about
this paper. Great in-depth writing, local
issues and local voices. Great color
quality and pages that are easy to read
and easy to use.
Not that I’d suggest such a thing, but
if a newspaper could keep somebody
home from church, this would be it.
3. The Jackson Sun
CMYK
PROMOTION
OF NEWSPAPERS
Dailies
1. The Daily Herald, Columbia. Baby
contest, Thomas Browne
Awesome idea! Followed through with
enough meat to see that it succeeds.
AWARDS
Talent search
3. The Daily News, Memphis. Law
week, Jen Simmons
4. Johnson City Press. Her, Suzanne
Huron
5. Elizabethton Star. Trustworthy
source, Eveleigh Hatfield, Harvey
Prichard, Phyllis Davis
Non-dailies
US campaign
I loved it! Your “turn to us” is a terrific
inventive campaign. Awesome!
2. The Erwin Record. Promotion
series, Mark A. Stevens, Anthony D.
Piercy, Lesley Hughes, Betty Davis,
Brenda Sparks, Keith Whitson, David
Thometz
3. The Gallatin Newspaper. Who
we are
Stuck on Charlie, Ron Caylor, Charlie
Mauk, Lynn J. Richardson
Valentine
BEST SINGLE ADVERTISEMENT
Dailies
1. Kingsport Times-News. Tomato
Fest III
As the last entry in this category I
looked at, the ad really jumped out
at me. The use of color, the easy-toread font & the size used for the font
all helped to make up an attractive &
informative ad. Great composition!
2. Bristol Herald Courier. Farmers
Market
3. The Greeneville Sun. Donate life
4. The Daily Herald, Columbia. Adopt
me, Emily Goad
5.The Paris Post-Intelligencer. All they
want for Christmas, Jacquta Burke
Non-dailies
1. Overton County News, Livingston.
Santa’s office help, Darren Oliver
Very personal touch. The kids’ costumes and naming them I am sure
caught reader’s eye to see if they knew
any of them. Nice incorporation of the
bank’s slogan with Santa’s Office.
2. Carthage Courier. Red hot buys
3. Macon County Chronicle, Lafayette.
World finance
4. The Erwin Record. We play hard,
Anthony D. Piercy, Cathy Huskins, Mark
A. Stevens
5. The News Leader, Parsons. Home
& garden show, Mark Trimmer
It is likely that an Oct. 7 meeting in
Nashville will help many voters across
America decide who they want to be our
next president.
That’s when the third of three presidential debates will be held at Belmont
University. We began brainstorming our
coverage plans last week.
Now, the Belmont “debate” won’t be a
classic political debate — two candidates
standing at podiums fielding questions
from a moderator or a panel. Rather, a
town hall meeting format will have the
candidates answer questions and talk
with a group of undecided voters from
across the country, folks selected by the
commission that stages the debates.
This will be the final debate for the
candidates. Its timing in early October
and its open format suggest the Belmont
session may play a critical role in the
campaign.
But why plan coverage so early, especially when the event will be covered
by national political reporters anyway?
One of our missions is to cast national
issues in a local context. To make the
Belmont debate especially meaningful,
we intend to show the potential impact
on Tennessee of the candidates’ stands
on the issues that by then will have
become central to the campaign.
All Sides, Angles Covered
We’ll look at the issues in advance of
the Belmont meeting — outlining the
stakes, noting previous positions and
pointing out any factual flaws with the
claims or promises.
Afterward, we will assess what
was said — again, from a Tennessee
perspective.
We will interview the people at the
town hall session for their take, and we
will ask for your views as well.
We also will provide coverage of the
thousands of people who will come
to Nashville for the event — national
print, broadcast and online media as
well as political operatives for both
campaigns.
We hope to share with you their
observations of the campaign as well
as their view of Nashville.
Fact is, while this will be an important
moment in the presidential campaign,
it also will be a very big moment for
Belmont University and Nashville. It
will place the university and the city
on the world stage for a reason other
than the music industry, health care
or our other calling cards.
To accomplish our coverage goals,
we’ll likely have four reporters assigned
to the debate — before, during and after.
Two editors will work on the coverage,
plus at least two photographers and one
videographer.
We will provide updates from Belmont
on Tennessean.com throughout the
debate. We’re also toying with another
idea — creating our own town hall meeting for selected local residents.
Perhaps we will ask representatives
of each campaign to participate. Perhaps we will conduct our town hall
online. Perhaps we will invite voters
to discuss the issues at a meeting at
The Tennessean offices or at another
venue.
As we develop our coverage plans,
I’d like to hear from you. Would such
a local town hall meeting approach
be worthwhile? What other coverage
would you like to see?
Please let me know. It’s not too soon
to plan.
(June 29, 2008)
ENGRAVINGS
T he Tennessee Education
Association awarded two statewide
School Bell Awards for excellence in
media coverage of education May 9
in Nashville.
Ann Wallace, The Leaf-Chronicle,
Clarksville, won for outstanding coverage by an an individual reporter, and
Alice Dollar, Newspaper in Education
manager at the News Sentinel, Knoxville, won for outstanding coverage by
a large daily newspaper.
SCMA elects three
The Southern Circulation Managers
Association elected three Tennesseans
to the board of directors at its 79th
annual conference April 20 through 23
in Baton Rouge, La.
Jim Boyd of the News Sentinel,
Knoxville, was named second vice
president. Glen Tabor of the Kingsport
Times-News was elected treasurer, and
Dale Long of The Greeneville Sun was
named director at large.
Wendi C. Thomas,
columnist with The
Commercial Appeal,
Memphis, has been
inducted into the
Scripps Journalism
Hall of Fame after
winning multiple
first place awards in
Thomas
Scripps writing contests for commentary. The newspaper
celebrated with her on July 14
She joins the likes of Geoff Calkins,
Alan Spearman and the now-departed
David Waters of The Commercial Appeal
in the hall of fame.
Thomas attended Memphis schools
and Butler University in Indiana, where
she graduated with a degree in journalism. She has been a reporter or an editor
at The Indianapolis Star, The Tennessean, Nashville, and at the Charlotte
(N.C.) Observer. In August 2003, Wendi
returned to Memphis after a 14-year
absence to be the metro columnist for
her hometown paper. Her column appears on Sundays.
|
John Sale, Jim Weber and Alan
Spearman won the National Press
Photographers Association first quarter
of 2008 Best Use of Photography Clip
Contest. They are with The Commercial
Appeal, Memphis. The clip was the front
page of Feb. 7, lead headline, “Lives Lost
and Tarred,” about a tornado’s effect in
West Tennessee.
|
The Office of Communications and
Marketing at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has won 23 awards from
the Volunteer Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, including two
first place awards for Tennessee Today,
the new faculty/staff communications
program.
In all, UT won 28 awards. In addition
to the 23 won by UT Knoxville’s Office
of Communications and Marketing,
the UT system won two awards and
the Institute of Agriculture won three
awards. The honors were announced
April 10 at the annual awards dinner
sponsored by the local PRSA chapter.
Of the 23 awards garnered by UT’s Office of Communications and Marketing,
seven were Awards of Excellence, nine
were Awards of Quality and seven were
Awards of Merit.
“We have a great staff,” then-Vice
Chancellor for Communications Tom
Milligan said. “It’s important that we
measure our work against the very
best in our city and region. It’s very
gratifying to be supporting University
of Tennessee and have our good work
recognized by our peers.”
Marketing won Awards of Excellence
for Tennessee Today in both the internal
relations and electronic newsletters
categories. The faculty/staff newsletter
is distributed weekly in print, as well as
daily in electronic and Web forms.
Assistant Director of Media Relations
Amy Blakely won two Awards of Excellence for writing, one for press releases
detailing how renowned UT forensic
anthropologist Bill Bass was enlisted
to examine the exhumed remains of
the Big Bopper and one for a Tennessee
Alumnus feature about Fr. Bernard
O’Connor, a UT alumnus now working
at the Vatican. UT Knoxville’s Office of
Communication and Marketing won
Awards of Quality for the following:
•Tennessee Governor’s Academy
publicity efforts, in the category of
public service. Those most involved
were Media Relations Coordinator Jay
Mayfield and Angie Dobbs.
•The Donor Leadership Appreciation
Event invitation designed by Baker.
•“Homegrown Music,” a Tennessee
Alumnus feature written by Blakely.
•eTorch, a monthly electronic newsletter delivered to alumni. Those most
involved were Editor Diane Ballard and
Web Designer Leigh Shoemaker.
•The Ready for the World Web site
designed by Darren Hughes.
•The UT National Alumni Association Tour Program direct mail materials designed by Lee Hume.
•The safety program, which included
Fort Sanders Safety Day, posters, booklets and other crisis communications
materials. Those involved included the
Media + Internal relations team, Powell
and Designer Jill Sanders.
•“Where in the World is Smokey?”
a community relations project aimed
at focusing attention on the Ready for
the World initiative. The program is
coordinated by Blakely.
•“Alexander and Gordon at Forefront
of Scientific Leadership,” a column
written by Mayfield.
The office won Awards of Merit for:
•“AUTumn in Knoxville” faculty/
staff appreciation event publicity
materials designed by Dobbs.
•The “Taking PrecaUTions” safety
poster series written and edited by
Powell and designed by Sanders.
•“Harry Potter,” a press release written by Blakely about a law professor
who is a Potter aficionado.
•Reaching Out, a magazine about
UT’s community service and outreach
efforts edited by Powell and designed
by Sanders.
•utk.edu, the university’s main Web
site designed by Hughes.
•Cultural Attraction Series direct
mail materials edited by Mary Marshburn and designed by Dobbs.
•“All That Glitters Is Orange,” a
brochure describing services provided
by the Office of Communications and
Marketing, written and edited by Powell and designed by Sanders.
The UT system office received two
Awards of Excellence, one for President
John Petersen’s 2007 tour of campuses
and one for “A Statewide Campus,” the
2007-2008 TV commercial. The Institute
of Agriculture received Awards of
Quality for a TV news story on UT
Extension’s Tai Chi program, written
and produced by Chuck Denney and
Doug Edlund, and its Third Thursday
newsletter, written by Margot Emery
and designed by Donna Hundley. The
Institute won an Award of Merit for
“Do You Want to Help the World?”, an
undergraduate recruitment catalog
written by Mary Albrecht and designed
by Rich Maxey.
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
AWARDS
ENGRAVINGS
Belmont debate to spotlight Nashville
BY MARK SILVERMAN
SEPTEMBER 2008
FROM PAGE 8
5. Elizabethton Star. Bryan Stevens,
Janie McKinney, Robin Johnson
Group V
Wonderful, wonderful sections from
pets to hats to a 47-year-old in a marching band.You provided your readers with
touching down-to-earth well-written,
nicely packaged stories.
SPORTS WRITING
Group I
1. The Erwin Record. Kevin Lewis,
Bryan Stevens, Lesley Hughes, Anthony
D. Piercy
Strong writing on unusual sports (by
Bryan Stevens) leads to an excellent
section. Staff covered wide range of
sports including individuals & coaches
and former players.
2. Carroll County News-Leader, Huntingdon. Shirley Nanney, Jim Steele,
Lorna Jablionski, Ron Park, John
Latham, David Hampton
3. Smithville Review
Smithville. Brent Arnold
5. Herald And Tribune, Jonesborough.
Heather E. Seay, Steven LeMaster
Group II
1. LaFollette Press. Dwane Wilder
Very nice leads (though they could be
shorter & more crisp)
Wonderful blend of personal side
of sports outside the lines with game
account.
Use of interesting & non-typical treatments of writing a plus.
Tons of quotes – reader gets it straight
from the coach’s/athlete’s mouth first
hand.
Very well done! Congratulations.
2. Carthage Courier. Scott Winfree
Darren Reese
4. Monroe County Advocate & Democrat, Sweetwater. Corbitt Hollingsworth,
John Taylor
5. The Herald-News, Dayton. Cathy
Barnes
Group III
1. Shelbyville Times-Gazette. Danny
Parker, Gary Johnson
•Both writers showed great expertise
in their writing skills. Sentence structure
was excellent, the stories were easy to
read from start to finish.
•Some leads were stronger than the
others in capturing attention, but overall
they were well written.
•I especially enjoyed the features on
Ryan Morton and the one on the QB-
Awards - 9
Wedding planning craziness well worth end results
BY ERIC MILLER
Robertson County Times, Springfield
Planning a wedding is a lot like
the Iraq war—seemingly easy to accomplish goals that end
up causing a lot of
suffering and costing a great2 deal of
time and money. Of
Miller
course, fairy tales
aren’t cheap and for the 50 percent of
marriages that don’t end in more suffering and more money spent, the effort
is all worth it in the end.
Now, I’ve just gotten married so,
statistically speaking, the jury’s still
out, the chips have yet to fall where
they may and other such whatnot. That
said, I believe that my wife and I have
what it takes to die of old age within
feeble reach of one another and I’m
not just saying that to justify the cost
of our fairy tale.
When I first proposed to my wife—in
Spanish because I could pretend I meant
to ask her to pass the butter if her reaction were less than favorable—I believed
planning a wedding would be quick and
easy. Preacher, church, flowers, food and
you’re out. And, of course, being boastfully faux-confident like a man who sees
his fiancee’s ex-boyfriend and says, “I
could take him,” I told my bride-to-be
that planning a wedding could easily
be done in three months.
One case of antacids and three separate but similarly empty bank accounts
Center friendship: Those stories did an
excellent job of drawing in interest.
5. The Newport Plain Talk. Seth Butler,
Paul Meador
Group IV
1. Herald-Citizen, Cookeville. Buddy
Pearson, Craig Delk
•All-around quality writing. Stories all
opened with solid leads that drew me
into the story. Preview stories had me
looking ahead to games with anticipation. Game stories were actual stories
instead of 1st quarter-4th quarter playby-play. Excellent work!
2. The Daily Herald, Columbia. Justin
Lamb, Marion Wilhoite, Ryan Callahan
3.The DailyTimes, Maryville. Leonard
Butts, John Brice
Jason Davis, Cobey Hitchcock, Lionel
Green
Group V
•Mr. Kuharsky does a great job of telling these stories, the ones away from
the bright lights and adoring enablers.
Real stories about real people who happen to be involved with sports.
First place award
Group II
Robertson County Times,
Springfield
later, this shell-shocked groom and his
sparkling bride were at the altar. Despite
three months of epic stress, we managed to get everything together. All of
the groomsmen had their tuxedos and
the bridesmaids were wearing their
matching dresses and all had made it
safely to our sides at the altar. I bit my
tongue as four more junior bridesmaids
that I felt to be entirely unnecessary
lined up behind the bridesmaids, which
I guess was in case any of them wanted
to tag out.
Then, four flower girls with a justhappy-to-be-here-and-ooh-a-shinyobject attitude later, my bride walked
down the aisle. Her startling beauty
stopped my grumbling and reminded
me to enjoy the moment. Hand-in-hand,
we ascended the stairs and entered our
fairy tale.
That is, of course, if fairy tales ended
with a punch-line.
After months of stress and hard
work and managing to pull together a
beautiful ceremony, we were absolutely
blindsided by the preacher.
Dressed in a suit with a red shirt and
red tie that made me think of how the
devil would have been dressed in a bad
‘80s movie and aided by an interpreter
to translate the Spanish ceremony into
English, the preacher turned the altar
into a stage and he chewed the scenery
like he was trying to win an award.
We were treated to nearly an hour
of what was a mixture of wedding
ceremony, premarital counseling and
a sermon full of brimstone.
Random is an accurate way to describe
the preacher’s approach. I believe it
may be the first wedding ceremony to
ever feature the word “fornicate” in two
languages and I will swear on a stack
of Bibles that he asked everyone in the
audience to give their spouses “some
honey” right there in the church, which
I am reasonably sure meant he wanted
everyone to kiss each other. Except for
the bride and I, of course. Instead of
telling us when to kiss, we just waited
until he paused and then waited some
more to make sure that pause wasn’t
some sort of trick before I lifted my
wife’s veil and gave her the wedding
kiss we had been practicing for weeks
for that very moment.
Seeing my wife sleeping peacefully
nearby as I write this and despite the fact
that her family is now waiting for us to
announce that she is pregnant, I know
now that I would go through everything
all over again and wear a chicken suit
at the altar if that’s what I had to do to
marry the love of my life.
Of course, if I could do it all over
again—and this is the part where I
offer advice to those who are starting
to plan their weddings—I wholeheartedly recommend a leisurely courthouse
wedding.
(Sept. 5, 2007)
EDITOR’S NOTE: Eric Miller is
now with the Hendersonville Star
News.
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
20 - Awards
•The stories aren’t the same ol’-same
ol’ and that’s refreshing.
2. The Jackson Sun
Jim Masilak
EDITORIALS
Group I
Zachary
•These are what editorials should be
– hard-hitting, clear, persuasive, full of
righteous indignation and about public
bodies and public policies that matter
to people. This newspaper is fulfilling
its duties as part of the democratic
system. Way to go!
Janice Willis-Barnett, Ralph Hood, Ray
Knapp, Connie Denney, Charles Holt
Group II
1. Memphis Business Journal. Terry
Hollahan, Jane Donahoe
•Good topics and good writing that
keeps things moving and kept me
reading.
SEE AWARDS, PAGE 10
JEFF FARRELL | THE MOUNTAIN PRESS, SEVIERVILLE
Firefighter Lynn Rawlings hangs upside down as he
simulates a construction rescue during a training exercise. (April 4, 2007)
Farrell
First place award
Best feature photo
Group IV
The Mountain Press, Sevierville
SEPTEMBER 2008
What a beautiful Christmas it was for me and my wife!
BY C. ERNEST WILLIAMS
The Paris Post-Intelligencer
It was a beautiful
Christmas Day in
South Texas, and the
celebration of the
incarnation of the
Son of God became
deeper for me than
it had ever been
before.
Williams
I spent the day
watching my wife die of breast cancer.
It may seem odd to write that it was a
beautiful and intimate experience, but
it was just that.
She had been diagnosed with the
disease 13 years ago and had enjoyed
nine years free of any symptoms. We
traveled the North American continent
together in a recreational vehicle,
served churches together in three states
and enjoyed a wonderful retirement.
Four years ago, her cancer was found
to be active again, and since then there
has been a regular routine of chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
These also were shared and became
CMYK
FROM PAGE 9
First place award
Group III
part of the story of our marriage.
Even as she progressed from a walker
to a wheelchair to a hospital bed and
finally a hospice facility, each step was a
new adventure in which I learned anew
how to love her.
Ginny was a nurse. She had the
temperament and the intellect to be a
superb nurse. She practiced pediatric
nursing in Albany, N.Y. and Trenton,
N.J.
Then after marrying me in 1973,
she spent 14 years with St. Joseph’s
Infant Home in suburban Cincinnati,
Ohio—first as a volunteer, then renewing her license in Ohio and joining the
staff as a nurse, and then becoming
director of nursing.
St. Joseph’s was a special place for
special children who were severely
brain-damaged, multiply-handicapped
and profoundly retarded.
Some had been resuscitated at
AWARDS
2. LaFollette Press. Linn Hudson
3. News-Herald, Lenoir City. Linda
Brewer
City
Carpenter
Group III
1. The Lebanon Democrat. Amelia
Hipps
The writer writes decisively and lays
out the facts that lead to her conclusion,
bringing the reader along. Well-written
and very readable. Congratulations!
3. The Paris Post-Intelligencer. Bill
Williams
4. The Oak Ridger
5. The Wilson Post, Lebanon. Sam
Hatcher, John B. Bryan
Group IV
Stan Voit
Engaging writing about important
public issues. Shorter paragraphs – and
shorter editorials – would be even better. But these pieces definitely serve
the public.
Fletcher
Alane S. Megna
4. The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro. Sam Stockard
5. The Daily Times, Maryville. Dean
Stone
Group V
1. The Tennessean, Nashville. Mike
Morrow
I like the challenges these editorials
present to readers: 1) What’s needed to
keep hockey team. 2) A great endorsement for mayor – challenging voters to
make good choice. 3) And, best of all,
seeking support for Fisk University and
keeping artwork in Nashville!
Editorial Board
3. Bristol Herald Courier. Andrea
Hopkins
birth, when death would have been
certain and might have been more
benevolent. Some had been born with
abnormalities.
One had fallen on his head from
a third-floor window. One had been
beaten into insensibility by an adult.
Virginia, as director of nursing,
had to deal with the families of these
children.
One parent might devote such exclusive attention to the care of this child
that the spouse and other children were
left out, and a separation occurred.
Another parent might be so unable to
accept a “defective” child that he or she
would abandon the family.
Ginny showed amazing patience
and compassion in dealing with these
families.
In her position, she was in charge of
planning an expansion of the facility.
The state passed a law which said that
any facility which had more than eight
patients was a hospital and had to have
a doctor on hand 24 hours a day and a
number of other things St. Joseph’s
couldn’t afford.
So it was decided that several eightpatient cottages would be built on the
It takes a reporter
“Federal whistleblower legislation
protects employees who step forward
with accounts of wrongdoing in
government or corporate America....
Yet without a committed reporter on
BEST SINGLE EDITORIAL
Group I
1. The Milan Mirror-Exchange. DCS
dropped the ball, Bob Parkins
Well crafted. Very emotion-packed.
This editorial gets its point across well.
A nice, big screaming headline would
have been more effective, though. Do
not use exclamation points. Let your
words be the exclamation point. This
piece stands head and shoulders above
the rest. Good job.
2. Grainger Today, Bean Station. Tabling county business, Jim Zachary
3. Mt. Juliet News. Questionable
backgrounds, Laurie Everett
4. The Millington Star. Patience
crucial
5. Carroll County News-Leader, Huntingdon. Absurdity, Ron Park
Group II
1. Memphis Business Journal. We
see no reason
SEE AWARDS, PAGE 11
campus. My wife was the one responsible for planning the kind of facilities
that would be needed for nearly doubling
their clientele of 32 children.
She did it excellently, and I was very
proud of her.
Ginny was also a minister’s wife,
and loved it. She loved the Lord Jesus,
loved His church and loved the pastor.
Together, we did things I would not have
been able to do alone.
In several churches, she prepared, and
I led, a Passover celebration in which
the words and acts of Jesus at His last
Passover with His disciples were presented. Congregations learned to eat
borscht, gefilte fish, matzo ball soup,
lox and other Jewish delicacies.
They learned what piece of bread
Jesus broke—the second of a group
of three!—what cup he passed and
what normally happens at the time
when Jesus got down and washed the
disciples’ feet.
She loved being hostess at events in the
manse; she loved teaching children in
the Sunday school and directing youngsters in Christmas and Palm Sunday
presentations; and loved preening me
to make me look as good as possible
Partipilo
If...then
hand to bring the story to the public’s
attention, these individuals would be
whistling in the dark.”
Neal Shapiro
President, NBC News, 2004
First place award
Best feature photo
Group V
FROM PAGE 18
before entering the sanctuary.
I loved walking out after the benediction, taking her by the hand, and leading
her to the doorway to greet the people
with me as they departed—and the
people loved it, too.
Christmas was always special between
us, and never more than this year. She
acknowledged my presence, although
she could no longer speak. She knew
we were together, and was calm and
free of pain.
The image in my mind, strangely,
was that of a pilot preparing to land an
airliner. It doesn’t happen all at once.
There is a sequence of events.
You feel the power cut back to the
engines; you see the lights go on; you
feel it when the wing flaps go down;
you hear the landing gear clunk down
into position; and finally comes the
touch down.
I watched Ginny as if she were going
down a checklist, as one body system
after another shut down until she
finally came in for a perfect, almost
imperceptible landing.
She could not have received a more
beautiful Christmas gift.
(Jan. 15, 2007)
“If journalists cannot be trusted
to guarantee confidentiality, then
journalists cannot function and there
cannot be a free press.” Judith Miller
Reporter, The New York Times, 2004
JOHN PARTIPILO | THE TENNESSEAN, NASHVILLE
Willie Daniels, left, and Rick Harding, in the basket,
take down the S on the BellSouth Building in downtown
Nashville. The building, often called the Batman building, will be renamed the AT&T Building. AT&T bought
BellSouth (in 2006). (April 4, 2007)
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
gration; crime, freedom of information
DUI, Jeff Ferrell, Derek Hodges, Stan
Voit
4. The Greeneville Sun. Director of
schools; rediscover Greeneville
5. The Daily Times, Maryville. Community; fire victims, Anna C. Irwin, Iva
Butler, Jessica Stith, Bonny C. Millard
Group V
1. News Sentinel, Knoxville. Taking
a stand
Thank you from the rest of us for standing up for what is right. This is why we
are in the business – it is our job & duty
to keep government honest.
2. Bristol Herald Courier. Government
salaries
3. The Tennessean, Nashville. Escaping justice
Faces of the homeless
Memphis & the world
BEST SPECIAL ISSUE
OR SECTION
Group I
1. The Humboldt Chronicle. Got
Berries, April Jackson, Danny Wade,
Beverly Ward
I loved the wide array of pictures and
articles that described the event. Sounds
like the community is very involved with
this festival & through this section there
are many color photos/ads to bring it all
together & enjoyable to look through.
2. Grainger Today, Bean Station. Visitors Guide, Jim Zachary
3. The Millington Star. Progress
2007
4. Mt. Juliet News. Our Home
A Storybook Christmas, Ron Caylor, Kristen Swing, John Kiener, Sarah Winters,
Charlie Mauk, Bea Casey, Heather E.
Seay, Lynn J. Richardson
Group II
1. The Rogersville Review. Old Times
Advertising sales is phenomenal in this
section. Print quality is good. Paper took
a novel subject – old times – & made it
to 4 sections of money. Good historical
articles – like Sultana sinking, etc.
Heart of True Love
3. Monroe County Advocate & Democrat, Sweetwater. Skyway News, Mia
Rhodarmer, Melissa Kinton, Tommy
Millsaps, Michael Thomason, Dan
Baker, Megan Stitz, JeanTallent, Sharon
Livingston, Phylis Bellamy
Community 2007
5. The Courier, Savannah. Hardin
County Visitors Guide, Terry VanEaton
Group III
1. Shelbyville Times-Gazette. Tennessee Walking Horse Celebration,
The Advertising & News Staff of The
Shelbyville Times-Gazette
AWARDS
A beautiful edition paying tribute to
the celebration of the heartbeat of your
community.
2. The Newport Plain Talk. A Place
Called Home
3. Crossville Chronicle. Pride
Remember When
5. The Paris Post-Intelligencer. The
Holidays, Gay Francisco, Leslie Jensing
Group IV
1. Herald-Citizen, Cookeville. Playmakers, Buddy Pearson, Thomas Corhern,
Craig Delk
Good variety of stories and pictures,
advertising, etc.The area covered is very
extensive and must be very appreciated.
I’m impressed with the schedule and
preview. I also thought the “Players to
Watch” and “Games to Watch” added
to the section.
2. Elizabethton Star. A Salute to All
Carter Co. Veterans, Rozella Hardin,
Janie McKinney, Franklin Robinson,
Awards - 19
ENGRAVINGS
Bryan Stevens
Common Threads
Salute to Fort Campbell
5. Citizen Tribune, Morristown. World
Champions
Group V
1. Bristol Herald Courier. Straight &
Narrow on the Crooked Road
This is obviously a major investment
of time & resources for the paper. Excellent use of color, great ad support.
Section is “earmarked” & divided well
for the reader. A collector’s edition. I
wanted to keep reading, but had to
move on. The only part I would criticize
is the cover – which is a little too “busy”
& confusing for my taste.
Stax ‘n Soul
Chattanooga Now
MainStreet Media, LLC, the parent company of The Wilson Post, has
been selected one of the Future 50
businesses in the Nashville region by
the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. The award is presented annually
to 50 fastest-growing privately-owned
companies headquartered in Middle
Tennessee.
“This year’s competition was made
especially difficult,” said Charles
Sueing, chairman of the Chamber’s
small business council, because of the
number of nominees. “It goes to show
the strength of these companies, despite
the challenges of a less-than-perfect
economy,” he said
MainStreet Media owns and publishes community newspapers in
Middle Tennessee and also publishes
senior lifestyle periodicals in Middle
Tennessee and Florida. The company
also operates a web press publishing
division in Lebanon, where it prints
its own Tennessee publications as
well as several other nearby publications. The publishing division prints
advertising inserts for newspapers,
company newsletters, tourism maps,
school newspapers and provides other
commercial printing products for customers outside the company.
In Tennessee, MainStreet Media’s
newspaper holdings, besides The Wilson Post in Lebanon, include community newspapers in Franklin, Smithville,
Lafayette and Gallatin. It also publishes
Mature Lifestyles, a monthly magazine
distributed in five Middle Tennessee
counties. Other senior lifestyle titles
are in Sarasota, Fort Myers, Tampa,
St. Petersburg and Ocala, Fla.
The Future 50 awards are sponsored by
the Bank of America, The Tennessean,
Nashville, KraftCPAs and Frost Brown
Todd. Recipients are to be honored at a
banquet Sept. 18.
(From The Wilson Post, Lebanon,
Aug. 6, 2008)
SEE AWARDS, PAGE 20
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
10 - Awards
First place award
Best single ad
Dailies
(Aug. 10, 2007)
Andy Barnes
First place award
Best single ad
Non-dailies
Overton County News,
Livingston
(Dec. 19, 2007)
Darren Oliver
Tiny, pampered poodle is Mom’s favorite child
BY SANDY BRITT
Like a lot of mothers, mine is a bit
crazy, and what she’s
most crazy about is
her little dog, Bennie.
Bennie, a tiny poodle mix, is Mom’s entire focus. She loves
Britt
him more than my
sister or me. That’s a GOOD thing—it
keeps her mind on him and off my
sister, me and all the things we should
or shouldn’t be doing.
Mom loves to sit on the porch with
Bennie on her lap. When she noticed he
liked to rest his head on the chair’s arm,
she thought the metal was too hard for
his little chin, so she wrapped and taped
a towel around it for padding, much
to the amusement of the neighbors.
But that was the least of her Bennie
worries.
One time, during winter, Sis left the
house and forgot to let Bennie back in
from their fenced-in yard. Mom lost her
mind, and my phone burned with the
First place award
Best personal humor column
Group IV
news of my sister’s unforgivable sin.
Mom became obsessed with the notion
that they’d forget to let him in ALL of
the time, and poor Bennie would freeze
into a Popsicle just like Lot’s wife turned
into a pillar of salt.
She insisted on buying a little dog
house to keep on the back porch, so
Bennie could find comfort during the
horrible hour or so he might have to
spend outside if forgotten.
But then a new worry: Mom fretted
Bennie would be too stupid to go into
the dog house. She’d call me and say,
“What if he won’t go inside? What if
they forget he’s outside again?”
I told her dogs aren’t people, they
have fur, and that even the dumbest dog
knows how to go into a shelter.
But it was a lost cause. Mom isn’t content unless she’s worrying herself—or
one of her daughters—to death.
Mom got the dog house despite her
fears, and guess what? Bennie LOVES
it. He wants to be in it ALL of the time!
Is Mom happy? Yes, because he won’t
freeze to death and no, because now he’s
“OUT THERE all the time.”
She’ll ask me over the phone, “Guess
where Bennie is?” I think she’s miffed
he’d rather be in the dog house than
in with her.
Is everyone OK now? Nope. One day,
Mom saw Bennie sitting in the yard,
“and it was so windy his little ears were
just blowing back.” I’m surprised she
didn’t put a ski mask on him.
This brought my next bright idea: I
mailed Bennie a little coat, more for
her than for him, because I think he’s
smothered enough. The snazzy little
coat was rain-resistant, because I know
how Mom’s mind works.
When it arrived in the mail, she called.
Did she tell me how cute it was? Say
thank you? NO. She said it was “too
small” and that the material would
“keep the cold in against his skin.”
I realize now that worrying is what
makes Mom happy, and with Bennie
around, she’ll be deliriously so for a
long, long time.
(March 7, 2007)
CMYK
Dickensian park sure to draw large crowds
BY JAN HEARNE
Johnson City Press
Pardon the pun,
but England has
great expectations
for its soon-to-open
Dickens World, a
theme park based
on the novels and
times of Charles
Dickens.
Hearne
My friend Sammy
in Louisville, Ky. brought this bit of good
news to my attention, knowing I would
appreciate the humor.
Promotional materials say the park
“will take visitors on a fascinating
journey through Dickens’ lifetime as
they step back into Dickensian England and are immersed in the urban
streets, sounds and smells of the 19th
century.”
Eeew.
According to one Dickens biographer,
Peter Ackroyd, “If a late 20th-century
person were suddenly to find himself
in a tavern or house of the period. he
would be literally sick—sick with the
smells, sick with the food, sick with the
atmosphere around him.”
What, pray tell, are these people
First place award
Group V
Johnson City Press
thinking?
Still, the creators of Dickens World
say “great attention has been paid to
the authenticity of the time, characters and story lines” in order to create
“a host of captivating attractions,”
including—drum roll—Victorian
school room.
Excuse me while I catch my breath.
Can you imagine telling an average
American child he is going to visit a
Victorian school room for vacation?
“Will they have bras there?” he
might ask, making a connection, however wrong, between Victorian and
Victoria’s Secret ads.
Your response will only add to the
letdown. Imagine slumped shoulders
and the reply, “I think I’d rather stay
home and watch TV.”
It is unlikely Americans will ever
have a theme park built around one
of our great authors. We can barely
keep their old homeplaces intact. (I
would, of course, pay good money to
visit Hunter S. Thompson World, but
I’m not sure such an attraction would
be able to keep visitors safe.)
England, however, is sparing no
expense to honor its great Dickens.
Dickens World in Chatham Maritime
Kent will cost £62 million, which in
American dollars is, well, a whole lot
of money.
Based on the illustration at the
Dickens World Web site, this money
is being spent to re-create a 19th century slum along with a shopping mall,
rides, themed restaurants, bars and a
multiplex cinema, just as you would
find them in “Oliver Twist.” Maybe I
missed the part where Fagin spends
the day’s take on towels and scented
soap from a bath boutique.
Dickens World sounds like a 21st-century romanticized version of England
in the 1800s. It’s hard to tell whether
they are leaning toward realism or
whimsy when they promise “a host of
costumed characters.”
If I remember correctly, some of
Dickens’ novels were peopled with
pickpockets, beggars, thieves and ladies
of the evening. Should you visit this
Dickens World, I suggest you keep tabs
on your wallet.
(April 22, 2007)
Milligan gone; Nichols takes communications post
Margie Nichols, formerly chief of
staff to University of Tennessee President John W. Petersen, has been named
interim vice chancellor for communications for the Knoxville campus.
Nichols succeeds Tom Milligan, who
became executive vice chancellor for
university relations at the University
of Massachusetts Amherst on Sept.
1. Nichols joined UT in November
2007 as a member of the president’s
senior staff.
Milligan has represented UT at
Tennessee Press Association awards
events in recent years. He joined UT in
February 2005 after working in public
relations at Colorado State for about 13
years. Prior to his public relations work,
he worked in newspaper and radio.
SEPTEMBER 2008
FROM PAGE 17
AWARDS
Faces of the homeless, Kathleen
Greeson
RX: don’t smoke, Mark Weber
5. Johnson City Press. Don’t fry
BEST SPORTS PHOTOGRAPH
Group I
1. The Milan Mirror-Exchange. Off to
the races, Victor Parkins
Love the composition & intensity
2. The Erwin Record. Slam dunk,
Lesley Hughes
3. The News Leader, Parsons. Best of
the West, Christian Anglin
4. The Portland Leader. This hurdle’s
a breeze
5. The Humboldt Chronicle. Cardinal
slugger, Barry DeLoach
Group II
1. LaFollette Press. On the ball, Dwane
Wilder
Wow! What an expression!
2. The Courier, Savannah. T-ball at its
finest, Amy Reid
3. Carthage Courier. Head-knocker,
Eddie West
Eye on backhand
5. The Courier, Savannah. Cardinal
senior, Brian Reid
Group III
1. Union City Daily Messenger. Splitting the difference, David Fuzzell
This one has it all – good exposure,
nice crop, eye-catching color reproduction, no background distractions and
perfect timing.
Definitely ‘got the shot.’
2. Shelbyville Times-Gazette. Tough
start, Jimmy Jones
3. The Lebanon Democrat. One win
short, Dallus Whitfield
4.The Wilson Post, Lebanon. Acrobatic
set, Tommy Bryan
5. Shelbyville Times-Gazette. Whew!
Statebound champs, Danny Parker
Group IV
1.The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville. Face
mask? Robert Smith
Great action shot! Football is a brutal
game and the photographer captures
the moment!
2. Herald-Citizen, Cookeville. Comeback kids, Ben Winters
3. The Daily Times, Maryville. Coach
celebrates, Daryll Sullivan
4. Herald-Citizen, Cookeville. Breaking
backboard, Tony Marable
5. The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro. Rico Foster & Abby Graham
Group V
1. The Tennessean, Nashville. Titans
receiver, George Walker
Great shot
2. The Tennessean, Nashville. Nashville Superspeedway, Billy Kingsley
3. News Sentinel, Knoxville. Skaters
4. Johnson City Press. Teenagers
rule
5. Kingsport Times-News. The Bloomingdale Shooters
PUBLIC SERVICE
Group I
1. The Humboldt Chronicle. College
quest, April Jackson, Danny Wade
no comment
2. Chester County Independent,
Henderson.Tech center, Ed Farrell, Julie
Pickard, Holly Roeder
Laurie Everett
district, Jim Zachary, Sarah McCarty
5. The Milan Mirror-Exchange. Child
abuse
Group II
3 great subjects done very well
2. Monroe County Advocate &
Democrat, Sweetwater. Melissa Kinton,
Tommy Millsaps
Lloyd, Josh Nelson, Julie Brackenbury,
Gary Grace
4. Hickman CountyTimes, Centerville.
Bradley A. Martin
5. insufficient entries
Group III
1. The Newport Plain Talk. Relay for
Life, Duay O’Neil
Wow! Your coverage of this event
seems to make even more events
appear and the phenomenal success
can’t be argued!
200th/spelling bee/forum
3. Shelbyville Times-Gazette. Somali/
horse industry/SSA, René Capley, John
I. Carney, Brian Mosely
4. The Lebanon Democrat. Brooks
House, Jason Cox, Hayli Morrison,
Dallus Whitfield, Bill Cook, Evan McMorris-Santoro, J.R. Lind, Sara McCarty,
Laurie Everett, Amelia Morrison Hipps,
Kimberly Jordan, Marie Corhern
5.The Wilson Post, Lebanon. Weather,
Jennifer Horton, Zack Owensby,Tommy
Bryan, Megan E. Bryan, Sam Hatcher,
John Bryan
Group IV
Suicide; gangs; teen drinking
The topics were very timely, of extreme importance to the community.
The series (all there presented) were
well thought out and planned, with
both positive & negative sides explored,
and solutions or avenues to solutions
investigated & presented. An editorial stance was also presented in each
instance, which is important, I feel, in
public service. Covering a story is our
job. Exploring all facets of a problem &
offering solutions is public service.
2. The Daily Herald, Columbia. ImmiSEE AWARDS, PAGE 19
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
FROM PAGE 10
Clear, logically structured, fun to
read
2. News-Herald, Lenoir City. Get priorities straight, Linda Brewer
Board’s ouster
4. Manchester Times. Don’t blame
city
5. LaFollette Press. Pressing issues,
Awards - 11
AWARDS
Linn Hudson
Group III
1. The Wilson Post, Lebanon. No longer will The Post publish the squabble,
Sam Hatcher
Well-put! Even while admitting your
paper’s role. Often editorials are arrogant and ego-centric; this one is
definitely not.
2. The Lebanon Democrat. School
boards should have taxing authority,
Amelia Morrison Hipps
Time for Pinnacle Pointe developers
to repay, Terri Likens
SEE AWARDS, PAGE 12
Auctions gone, but lessons linger
BY BOB HURLEY
The Greeneville Sun
Tobacco auctions
once fed me, and
now that they are
gone, I’m hopeful
that you will allow
me the courtesy to
say goodbye.
I owe them that.
There is no way to
Hurley
prove this, but when
I tell you that I am the last columnist in
history to be taught in a tobacco field,
you can believe it.
That revelation came to me this
week when I heard that there would
be no tobacco auctions in Greeneville
this fall.
The auction system that fed me and
taught me as a child is gone from Greeneville, never to return.
I know. I know. You probably don’t
give a hoot that this part of our past is
finally over with and done.
But some of us do care.
It would be too much of a stretch for
me to say that all I ever needed to know
to write this column was learned while
working in tobacco, so I won’t say that.
But I can safely say that you wouldn’t
be reading this if I hadn’t first learned
my lesson so well in the tobacco fields
of western Greene County.
I didn’t come today to toot tobacco’s
horn. That’s not my job. Besides, the
big tobacco companies are still paying
big bucks to the well-dressed crowd on
Madison Avenue to do that.
Frankly, I wouldn’t have the job anyway. It is way over my head.
Marilda says she thinks we will live
to see the day when cigarette smoking
is outlawed in this country. As for me, I
don’t know. Like I said, hot-button issues
like this one are way over my head.
But it is clear that we are moving in the
direction that Marilda favors. If cigarettes were invented today, they would
be illegal, she keeps reminding me.
All that from a country girl who grew
up on a tobacco farm? She can tell you
more than you want to know about
tobacco hornworms and sweating in the
August sun, but if you choose to smoke
around her, may the Lord have mercy on
your cigarette-smelling head.
Cigarettes have always been made in
cities with names such as Winston-Salem, Durham and Richmond, but it was
in Greeneville and scores of other much
First place award
Group IV
The Greeneville Sun
smaller towns like it where farmers and
tobacco companies came face to face at
tobacco auctions.
The auctions that have been held the
past two years have been little more than
reminders that an era is now gone. But
the real decline started earlier when the
tobacco companies jointly agreed to pay
billions of dollars to settle a lawsuit
by farmers in North Carolina who had
charged the companies had been fixing
prices for years.
For as long as I can remember, there
have been questions about the auction
system, but, hey, it was all we had in
1957 when I was 13 and hungry as a
stray dog all the time.
And my mama always had questions
about smoking. She begged me not to
smoke. But I had to be cool like Bogart,
and like John Wayne, “The Duke,” as we
called him. Even big-league baseball
players told me it was cool to smoke in
those slick magazine ads.
My mama knew we had to have the
money from tobacco just like she knew
cigarettes were bad news for me after I
began smoking them in my foolish high
school days.
Merle Travis knew it in the late 1940s
when he penned a country hit for Tex
Williams called “Smoke, Smoke, Smoke
That Cigarette.”
Sing along if you have the breath:
“Smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette.
Puff, puff, puff until you smoke yourself
to death. Tell Saint Peter at the Golden
Gate that you hate to make him wait,
but you’ve just got to have another
cigarette.”
Williams, a chain smoker, died of lung
cancer. So did The Duke. So did some
of those big-league baseball players
who looked so cool in Look and Life
magazines.
Nobody made me smoke. Quite the
opposite: I broke my mama’s heart every
time I would light up. It was so easy to be
stupid when I was 13 years old, 10 feet tall
and bulletproof. Henry Emerson Hurley,
my oldest grandson, will be two years
old this fall. I’ve already begun telling
him that he is far too smart to repeat the
sins of his poor old granddaddy.
I have also begun telling Henry the
story of how tobacco not only fed me
when I was a lad, but how it also taught
me to work and live in a world that was
only slightly competitive in the 1950s
compared to the world he is facing.
It would not be right, it seems to me,
to let the old auction system fade away
into history without at least some acknowledgement that it not only bought
groceries and shoes on the dusty roads
at Mohawk, but that it also built schools
and churches and even hospitals.
I will be the whipping boy. It raised me
and provided me the only educational
credentials I have ever received. Remember, there are no college degrees on
my wall. There is only a fading diploma
from a high school on the backroads of
Mohawk, dated 1962.
The tobacco culture that once so completely dominated my life has now all
but disappeared from Mohawk. There
might be a tobacco farmer or two left
with a Mohawk address, but you’d need
a full tank of gas to find them.
But just before the last door is closed
on the last burley barn at dear old
Mohawk, could I just say a word or two
of thanks and farewell to the people
who spent their lives teaching me to
write this column by growing a crop
that much of the world would one day
come to loathe?
They are the same people who taught
me that hard work is not only a requirement to get along in this life, but that it
can be very rewarding as well.
I didn’t know it at the time, but I loved
those people in the 1950s. I love them
even more today. I feel compelled to
tell their story. I wish there were some
way to tell every story of every tobacco
farmer who touched my life with a
lesson I use every time you read one
of my columns.
The passing of 50 years has only made
me appreciate those people more. They
didn’t know it at the time, but they were
filling my life with the kinds of gentle
lessons and memories that every kid
needs and deserves.
“Who was the best teacher you ever
had?” Marilda asked a few nights ago
during one of our front porch sessions
with the lightning bugs.
“Tobacco,” I said without giving it a
second’s thought.
Later that night, after Marilda had
drifted off to sleep beside me, I wondered where I’d be and what I’d be doing
if I hadn’t had tobacco for a teacher.
(July 21, 2007)
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
18 - Awards
VICTOR PARKINS | THE MILAN MIRROR-EXCHANGE
Milan sophomore Dominique Hoyle ran wind sprints during the Bulldogs’ first workout of the 2007 season. The
Dogs will continue workout sessions until their season
opener. (July 10, 2007)
Parkins
First place award
Best sports photo
Group I
Jones gets ETSU Excellence Award
The East Tennessee State University
Foundation and ETSU recognized Tim
P. Jones with the Margin of Excellence Award during the Distinguished
President’s Trust annual dinner for
the university’s top contributors held
recently in Kingsport.
The Margin of Excellence Award
was established in 2002 to acknowledge
individuals who “go above and beyond
the call of duty” in supporting the
mission of ETSU and the Foundation.
Each honoree receives a medallion and
crystal bowl.
Jones, who was vice president and
general manager of Carl Jones Newspapers until the sale of that media group
by his family, has been a leading force in
the Johnson City community through
volunteerism and support of civic is-
sues, ETSU said. He and his family were
instrumental in making the Johnson
City Public Library a reality and have
advocated other initiatives beneficial
for the city’s downtown area.
Jones has also exhibited outstanding
commitment and devotion to ETSU,
serving as Foundation chairman from
2003-07. During his tenure, alumni and
friends of the university gave more than
$69 million to the Foundation, almost
$28 million of which was designated
for scholarships and other endowments.
In 1997, the ETSU Alumni Association
named him an honorary alumnus.
He and his wife, Valda, are members
of the President’s Trust Platinum Society and the ETSU Legacy Circle for
their generous support for the ETSU
Foundation.
SEPTEMBER 2008
AWARDS
FROM PAGE 11
FROM PAGE 16
4. Shelbyville Times-Gazette. The
media as a weapon, David Melson
5. Crossville Chronicle. Something
has to give with the DA, Mike Moser
Group IV
1. The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro. Sheriff should give speech, Sam
Stockard
It’s great to see a newspaper take a
stand like this. The public does have
a right to know. Without your efforts,
they would not have a chance. Keep
the heat on.
2. Citizen Tribune, Morristown. City
needs leaders
3. The Daily Herald, Columbia. New
dog needed, Chris Fletcher
4.The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville. Don’t
shut people out, Alane S. Megna
Alcohol haze, Stan Voit
Group V
1. Kingsport Times-News. Lack of
honesty
I enjoyed your choice of words & sound
thinking. Top notch editorial.
2. Bristol Herald Courier. Bring back
ETSU football, J. Todd Foster
Lee’s apology, Blake Fontenay
4. News Sentinel, Knoxville. 2008 can’t
DAVID FUZZELL | UNION CITY DAILY MESSENGER
DWANE WILDER | LAFOLLETTE PRESS
CMYK
South Fulton’s Molly Ledbetter is safe at third base after
sliding through the legs of Obion Central’s Audrey Gilliam
during softball action at Troy. (March 27, 2007)
Eleven-year-old Brian Holt shows great determination
while trying his hand at bunting at the free baseball/
softball camp hosted last week by Campbell County
High School. (July 19, 2007)
First place award
Best sports photo
Group II
LaFollette Press
Fuzzell
First place award
Best sports photo
Group III
Union City Daily Messenger
Getting to know you, Memphis
BY CHRIS PECK
Editor
Tomorrow marks
five years for me as
editor of The Commercial Appeal.
I ’ ve l ive d i n
Memphis more
years than it took
to graduate from
college. While here,
Peck
my father died. My
mustache turned gray. My children left
the house to strike out on their own.
I know it’s only been five years. I know
I came from the outside, from way out
West. My observations about Memphis
pale in comparison to narratives that
stretch back before Dr. (Martin Luther)
King’s assassination, before Elvis got
famous, before the yellow fever. In
Memphis, five years is barely the flash
of a firefly in terms of understanding
the layers, nuances, relationships. But
know this:
I have tried to listen to Memphis—to
the sounds of its summer nights, the
blues that fill the air, the voices black
and white, rich and poor, that so vividly
tell the tale of this city.
I have tried to learn from Memphis—
from the relics at the Pink Palace to the
AWARDS
Calkins
Numbers mislead, Wendi C. Thomas
Wilder
SEE AWARDS, PAGE 16
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
First place award
Group V - Dailies
The Commercial Appeal,
Memphis
artwork on the walls of the Cotton Museum. I have soaked in the history and
the context that have shaped Memphis
from the days when Front Street was
the center of things and Nashville and
Atlanta weren’t what they are.
I have tried to like Memphis—by
searching for Aretha Franklin’s house,
attending the COGIC convention in
the fall, visiting The Grove for Ole
Miss football in autumn and Cotton
Carnival galas in spring. I’ve embraced
what is here.
This is what Memphis asks of those
who have any hope of being let in on
her secrets. Because I’ve worked as
editor in a town where the newspaper
has been a force for 167 years, I have
been let in just a little. I’m not local
enough yet to have gone to a wedding
reception at the Memphis Country
Club, or to have been invited to a black
person’s home for family dinner. But I
have glimpsed behind the curtain of
civility and hospitality these last five
years. Three images have burned into
my soul so far:
•A long and slow surrender. When she
visits the Center for Southern Folklore
in Downtown, singer Kate Campbell
often sings her Southern anthem
“Look Away.”
It’s a play on “Dixie” and one stanza
sticks in my mind:
It’s a long and slow surrender, retreating from the past;
It’s important to remember, to fly the
flag at half mast.
That song has helped me know what
Memphians mean when they say in this
once Union-occupied city that the Civil
War is not over.
No, it’s not over. Not by a long shot.
Memories of a proud Southern heritage, tinged with confusion over what
was noble in the past and what was
immoral, persist.
A thought: Perhaps Memphis should
focus on the next war now. In the next
100 years the city must battle not for
its Southern heritage, but for its share
of the wealth and privilege that comes
from nurturing bright young minds,
embracing creative ideas and building
a culturally rich, accepting community.
Let’s go there.
•The conundrum of Beale Street and
Bellevue Baptist. A strange tension
pulls at Memphis. By day, the city’s
more unscrupulous citizens hatch
inventive white-collar schemes and
outrageous frauds for cheating the
system in one of the nation’s most corrupt civic environments. By night, just
blocks away from Beale Street, there’s a
whole lot of sinning going on: drinking,
whoring, murdering, burglaries, bribes
and drive-bys.
Come Sunday, everyone’s praying. TV
preachers, Bellevue Baptists, all the
Protestant faiths plus Muslims, Jews
and, lately, Latino Catholics are asking
for guidance, forgiveness and blessings.
What’s up with that? Other places in
America have both less sinning and
less praying than Memphis.
talk more about helping people do the
right thing first, and spend less effort
punishing and saving those who mess
up. One idea: Focus on cutting teen
pregnancies by educating young men
and offering birth control for young
women.
•Stuck on race. Memphis can’t give
it up about race. Even though most
everybody eats grits and barbecue and
shares an appreciation for azaleas, the
city divides most everything else down
to black vs. white. In local politics, real
estate, even on the radio dial, the color
of your skin takes precedence over
your heart, brain or guts. Sometimes,
you get the sense that Memphians find
it easier to fall back on the stereotypes,
assumptions and past practices than to
try something new to break the mold of
history and perception.
A thought: Focus on a new civil rights
movement, a personal campaign where
a black family and a white family
volunteer to do something together for
Memphis.
I am humble about these ideas. It’s
not easy, nor simple, to sort through
the challenges of this vital and real
place. I know more about Memphis,
but I don’t know enough. What I do say
is that today, when I hear people from
out West or, God forbid, the North, spout
fuzzy ideas about the South, I say, come
to Memphis. When friends, family and
colleagues from elsewhere begin to utter
seemingly profound statements about
race, poverty and evangelical politics in
America, I politely say it again—come
to Memphis if you want to learn.
I came. I’ve learned. Memphis has
afforded me an education far beyond
the bounds of any classroom: Pimento
cheese. Al Green’s church. Rum Boogie
Cafe. Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel.
Graceland on Aug. 16. Fixin’ to ... Loving
on .... So precious.
Thanks, Memphis, for five unforgettable years.
(Dec. 16, 2007)
HEADLINE WRITING
Group I
I’m sure it helps to have written the
story and be able to write a headline you know what the story is all about. I
really liked the tennis headline “II-Love.”
I may copy your idea and use it myself
this spring sports season!
Henderson. Ed Farrell
Ron Caylor
5. The Erwin Record. Keith Whitson
Group II
Denmark
- Very clever headlines
-The “Tricks,Treats” headline is clever,
but it’s always risky to put a funny headline on a news story. I think it works,
however, in this case.
Brewer
3. The Gallatin Newspaper. Julie
Brackenbury
4. Memphis Business Journal. Bill
Wellborn
Group III
Not 2 hurt 2 text, Seth Wright
Wonderful combo of text & font
2. The Oak Ridger. Pottty trained
golfers
3. The Lebanon Democrat. Trooper
fired, Nick Fowler
4.The Paris Post-Intelligencer. It shook
hard, then it blew, Ken Walker
5. Shelbyville Times-Gazette. Half of
our water is gone, David Melson
Group IV
1. Citizen Tribune, Morristown. Dying
to leave
Fantastic! All others in this category
should study your headlines. I hope
your “Dying to Leave” made an impact.
Great job!
Sandy Britt, Brian Dunn
3. The Daily Herald, Columbia. Hot
button, Chris Fletcher
Ode to Koi
5. Elizabethton Star. Wes Holtsclaw
Group V
I like, “Once mined, now yours” for
feature story, and I like how you can also
write news headlines, too.
3. The Tennessean, Nashville. Mark
Smith
5. Bristol Herald Courier. Jerry Shell
BEST NEWS PHOTOGRAPH
Group I
Tears for freedom, Charlie Mauk
All of the photos in this grouping were
excellent. You really captured the emotion of the moment. Great job!
2.The Erwin Record. Atrocious, Lesley
Hughes
3. The Milan Mirror-Exchange. Near
tragedy, Scarlet Elliott
4.The News Leader, Parsons. Robbery
suspects, Christian Anglin
5. The Portland Leader. Goodbye
Group II
Democrat, Sweetwater. Car overturns,
Melissa Kinton
Great shot – woman’s expression at
just the right time!
Rollin’, Bradley A. Martin
3. Carthage Courier.Tractor overturns,
Eddie West
4. Independent Appeal, Selmer. Cars
for kids
5. The News Examiner, Gallatin.
Fringe areas
Group III
Fatal accident
I almost cried when I saw this photo
– you could tell how difficult it was for
this police officer to walk through the
duties of the day. You knew the lead
before you even looked at the first
paragraph.
2. Crossville Chronicle. Lightning
strikes, Mike Moser
3. ShelbyvilleTimes-Gazette. Farewell
for a hero, Kay Rose
4. The Tullahoma News. A kiss goodbye for dad, Justin Hornkohl
5. The Oak Ridger. Tragedy strikes
Group IV
1. The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro. Receiving a flag, Aaron Thompson
A very touching photo!
2.The Greeneville Sun. Chased down,
Jim Feltman
3. The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro. Carl Brandon, Turner Hutchens
4.The Mountain Press, Sevierville. On
the scene, Curt Habraken
Disbelief, Greg Williamson
Group V
Farewell to the fallen, Dan Henry
The emotional impact of this photo is
beyond words.
2. News Sentinel, Knoxville. I hope
you rot in jail
Breach of security, Mike Brown
4. The Tennessean, Nashville. Statue
honors firefighter, Larry McCormack
5. Bristol Herald Courier. End of the
road, Andre Teague
Awards - 17
‘Fore’-warned is forearmed
BY RICHARD B. ESPOSITO
Publisher
First place award
Group III
Getting someone’s
attention is easy if
you know the right
word.
Loggers commonly yell “Timber!” when felling
trees. Photographers often will
say “Cheese!” to
Esposito
get their subject’s
attention. And in the world of golf, if
you here (sic) the word “Fore!” it’s best
to duck for cover, because in golf jargon
“Fore!” means the golfer playing behind
you took an errant swing and the golf
ball is heading your way.
Oak Ridge recently got national attention when a local resident decided
to submit videos to a Knoxville TV
station of several disrespectful golfers
brandishing more than their golf equipment in her backyard just off the 18th
Hole of the Centennial golf course.
This homeowner had been saying
“Cheese!” with her video camera as golfers routinely used a tree as a urinal.
Not one, not two, not three, but several incidences of golfers urinating in
plain view have been captured on film
for everyone, including national TV
viewers, to see. Not exactly the kind of
image our fair city wants. Word has it
she has accumulated 18 hours of video
to back up her claims of indecent public
urination.
Urinating golfers isn’t something
unique. It does happen elsewhere.
But why, guys (we’re assuming the
film doesn’t include any squatting
women), must you relieve yourself
on the 18th Hole? Surely, despite your
weak bladders, you could have putted
out and taken the extra 80 steps to the
Club House.
Suggestions of limiting alcohol
intake to the “back nine” (holes 10
through 18 for you non-golfers) doesn’t
make much sense. Unless you’re playing pro, beer is the beverage of choice
for golfers. And for us rookie golfers,
our greatest enjoyment is driving the
golf cart, looking for lost balls, and
drinking beer.
This frustrated homeowner decided
to take action. And since exposing the
matter to the press, she now has an
orange port-a-potty visible from her
kitchen window.
We can’t expect Centennial to place
portable restrooms on every hole.
This wouldn’t be practical. So what’s a
homeowner to do?
She and her family could move. Obviously the glamour of living on a golf
course has been “tainted” with the
activities of urinating golfers. If she
ever considers this course of action
perhaps the following advertisement
might be helpful to her Realtor:
“Gorgeous two-story brick home
located on prestigious golf course. Four
bedrooms, three full baths, and one
partial bath with oak tree decor. Enjoy
outside living on the deck. Great for
entertaining and ‘bird watching.’”
But why move? With so many photographs of wayward golfers, she
might consider a different approach.
Do what the Washington, D.C. madam
is threatening to do by exposing her
clients to public ridicule. Why not
enlarge the photos of the culprits so we
can print them in The Oak Ridger? We
could feature them like missing kids on
milk cartons with a caption that reads
“Have you seen this man?” This might
curtail future urination visits and offer a whole new definition of “yellow”
BEST FEATURE PHOTOGRAPH
Group I
Henderson. Rare summer splash,
Julie Pickard
Great composition and crop. Kids
and water are wonderful subjects and
the unusual location makes this pic a
keeper.
And now, the Good Life
3. The Portland Leader. A kiss of
thanks, Sonya Thompson
Huntingdon. Telling secrets, Shirley
Nanney
5. The Erwin Record, As he rode out
of sight, Brenda Sparks
Group II
1. LaFollette Press. LaFollette splash
park, Natasha LaFayette
This has all the elements of good photography – patience, framing, innovation
and skilled use of equipment.
2. The Daily News, Memphis. American Paper Optics, Brad Johnson
Doing the Turkey Tango, Steve Marion
4. LaFollette Press. Learning to fish,
Dwane Wilder
Cruisin’, Dewain E. Peek
Group III
1. The Oak Ridger. Holocaust survivor
Great idea of putting the survivor in the
forefront with a picture from her youth.
The photographer put some thought
into creating an image which grabs the
reader. The best of the class by far!
2. Union City Daily Messenger. Big
swing, David Fuzzell
3.TheTullahoma News. Gone country,
Greg Altum
Exhibition farm
journalism.
Another option to deter this bad
behavior might include the presence of
a family pet. I recommend a 90-pound
German shepherd trained in the proper
rules of engagement. Teaching him to
stay out of bounds of the course might
be challenging, but no harder than training an adult male to stop peeing against
the tree in your yard, I suppose.
With golf season now in full swing
more attention needs to be placed on
golf etiquette. The recent United Way
golf tournament was a good start. The
Golf Committee did its best to retain civility on the Country Club course. They
strategically positioned this volunteer
at the Third Hole. This Par 3 offered a
cash prize to anyone making a hole-inone. Needless to day, I had one eye on
the green and the other on the stand of
pine trees along the fairway.
And like typical golf tournaments,
this one offered “goody-bags” to participating golfers. During the pre-game
speech, I explored the contents of one
expecting to find the usual trinkets. Sure
enough, it included a golf towel—ideal
for cleaning your club, golf ball, or
hands if necessary. I also found several
colorful tees and a small bag of plastic
ball markers (perfect for marking the
spot)—and not one but two 12-ounce
plastic stadium cups. I assume one could
be used for your beverage and the other
... well let’s leave that up to your imagination. My parents always brought along
an empty coffee can during long road
trips when I was a kid.
One thing’s for sure. Now that the lid’s
been blown off this peeing situation,
it will be harder for golfers to relieve
themselves on the golf course. And by
the looks of the brown trees along the
course I’m now beginning to wonder if
it was due to the recent hard freeze or
if we don’t have a more serious situation on our hands—or should I say in
our hands?
(May 8, 2007)
5. The Paris Post-Intelligencer. Jail
garden, Glenn Tanner
Group IV
Just hanging around, Jeff Farrell
no comment
2. Herald-Citizen, Cookeville. A few
pointon
3. The Daily Herald, Columbia. Line of
defense, Thomas Johns
4. Cleveland Daily Banner. River relaxation, David Davis
5. Cleveland Daily Banner. I’m a winner, Donna Kaylor
Group V
1. The Tennessean, Nashville. Landmark to get new letters, John Partipilo
Fantastic picture! Will you take picture
when new letters are in place?
2. Kingsport Times-News. Fun fest
pet dog
SEE AWARDS, PAGE 18
CMYK
12 - Awards
AWARDS
Worlds apart: Ice, ice, baby
FROM PAGE 12
CMYK
come soon enough
5. The Tennessean, Nashville. Real
solution for U, Mike Morrow
BEST PERSONAL COLUMN
Group I
1. Grainger Today, Bean Station. The
way it seems, Jim Zachary
The writer uses clever word play to
send the message to his readers – the
importance of conducting the public’s
business in public. The best entry in a
tough class!
2.The Westmoreland Observer. Under
my skin
3. The Erwin Record. It’s a rocky road,
Mark A. Stevens
4. The Hartsville Vidette. Letting go of
the old home place, Liz Ferrell
5. The Millington Star. With love to
our champion
Group II
1. Robertson County Times, Springfield. Wedding planning craziness,
Eric Miller
A unique personal experience well recounted! Very readable, good analogy
to Iraq War. Nice variety of sentence
structure and good pacing.
2. Memphis Business Journal. Never
be convinced, Bill Wellborn
3. The News Examiner, Gallatin. The
woman behind
North County Lines, Robert Forsman
5. News-Herald, Lenoir City. Greenback tour, Mary E. Hinds
Group III
1. The Paris Post-Intelligencer. What
a beautiful Christmas, C. Ernest Williams
The object of a personal column is
to allow the reader to see the subject
through the writer’s eyes. A touching
story told in the most heart-felt way.
Kill your husband, James Clark
3. Crossville Chronicle. The judge...
common man, Mike Moser
4. Union City Daily Messenger. Anchoring dreams, Glenda Caudle
Ducker’s sentence too long, Duane
Sherrill
Group IV
1. The Greeneville Sun. Tobacco auctions gone, Bob Hurley
Wow – a great personal story that
also tells a lot of history, a lot about the
region. I love the inner conflict you set
up – loving the farmers and the life, and
growing up to see what the product did
to your heroes. Lovely prose, powerful
memories. I love the sentence, “I will be
the whipping boy.” It came at the right
moment. Altogether delightful.
2. Herald-Citizen, Cookeville. Alzheimer’s breaks hearts, Buddy Pearson
3. Herald-Citizen, Cookeville. List
making not always a sign, Margaret
Shuster
SEPTEMBER 2008
4. Citizen Tribune, Morristown. What
have you done?
5. The Daily Times, Maryville. Making sense of the senseless, Steve
Wildsmith
Group V
Getting to know you Memphis, Chris
Peck
Appreciated your assessment on your
“new” town. We were told once that
it takes 30 years to really be a part of
a community.
2. The Tennessean, Nashville. Rosh
Hashana, Gail Kerr
3.The Jackson Sun. Filing a complaint,
Tom Bohs
4. News Sentinel, Knoxville. Veterans,
Sam Venable
5. Johnson City Press. Experience
proves
BEST
PERSONAL HUMOR COLUMN
Group I
Henderson. Aunt Madge’s bra caused
power outage, Steve Oden
Great stories about kids and boredom
are all too rarely told well. Great job!
2. The Milan Mirror-Exchange. Milan’s
resident psychic, Steve Short
3. The Bartlett Express. This just in
from North Pole, Rick Jacobs
4.The Milan Mirror-Exchange.Tomcat
spared the knife, Bob Parkins
5. The News Leader, Parsons. TWRA
officers resolve hostage situations
Group II
Ice, ice baby, Donna S. Wallace
This is something that, I think, everyone can relate to. This column had
me smiling the entire time, partially
because we’re from Nebraska and had
lived in Little Rock, Ark. for several
years (we remember when the snow
“storms” would be reported on!) Wonderful, humorous column – I’d look for
it the next time I had the newspaper
in my hands.
2. The Herald-News, Dayton. The
joys & trials of being a self-employed
couple
4. Memphis Business Journal. Dream
of traveling horizontal, Bill Wellborn
5. News-Herald, Lenoir City. Playing
possum, Linda Brewer
Group III
1. The Oak Ridger. Forewarned is
forearmed
The writer took an obvious black eye
to his community and was able to poke
fun at the subject, while also making
a point that people need to knock off
what they were doing. Very nice tongue
in cheek humor.
Getting a taste of candy bar sales
BY DONNA S. WALLACE
Hickman County Times, Centerville
The Yankee and I
have decided that if
we passed a law that
stated that the networks could only report real news with
real facts and only
things that really
mattered, there’d
Wallace
be a lot more time
to air quality programs like Desperate Housewives and
WWF Wrestling.
Here’s your homework for the week:
Sit down and watch the news. I mean
really watch it. Pay attention to what
is being said. There’s a whole lotta
blarney and not much substance.
Recently, I was watching The Today
Show, and they were interviewing
some kind of financial expert and she
was all hot and bothered about the possibility of identity theft. I agree that
we should all be aware of this.
The thing this woman was warning
everyone about was those newfangled
little credit cards that are about the
size of your thumb. You don’t have
to sign a slip, you just pass it in front
of the speedy reader and go on your
way. Apparently, these things are very
popular at fast food restaurants in the
big cities.
The woman was very theatrical in
warning just how easy it would be for
someone to get your information from
this card if he had a portable scanner
that was made just for the purpose of
stealing your identity. They wouldn’t
even have to see the card, just touch
their hand held scanner to the outside
of your purse.
The interviewer was aghast—positively aghast—at how easy it would
be for someone to steal your identity
this way.
Then as an afterthought they casually mentioned that such a machine
does not actually exist yet, but if
someone was clever enough to build
one, then we would all be in danger of
losing our identity! Also, most of these
little credit cards have a security chip
built in that would prevent just such
an event from occurring.
I looked at the Yankee and said,
“Maybe I’m just a little bit slow on
the uptake, but did they just spend the
Bike riding more fun with brakes,
Duane Sherrill
4. Union City Daily Messenger. Slumber party, Chris Menees
5. Shelbyville Times-Gazette. I can
cook, John I. Carney
Group IV
1.The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville.Tiny,
pampered poodle, Sandy Britt
Hilarious. I can completely identify.
There is just something to be said with
those afflicted with puppy love.
First place award
Group II
Hickman County Times,
Centerville
last 20 minutes warning us all that we
have to take drastic measures to protect
ourselves from something that doesn’t
even exist?”
“Yuh-huh,” he sighed.
Well, let me jot that down on my
list of things to fear, right after the
boogey-man, but before the monster
under my bed.
The next night, we were watching the
10 o’clock news. You know you live in
Middle Tennessee when you stay up ‘til
10 p.m. just so you can see what Darian
Trotter is wearing. That man has got
some fashion sense, wooo-eeee! But he
doesn’t have any eyelids. You watch the
news tonight and see if that ain’t so.
The big news was all about the “great
snowfall.” All one-half inch of it.
Now, I know that northerners make
fun of us for closing our schools and
rushing to the grocery store and buying up all the toilet paper and bread
when we hear the word snow. And I
know they think we don’t know how to
drive in snow. I would argue two things
in our defense:
1. Our snow tends to be wetter than
theirs and is mostly ice, or melts a little
and then refreezes as ice. No one can
drive well on ice.
2. They have nice little six-inch
ditches running parallel to their flat
roads. Our roads tend to be a little
steeper than their and our ditches
range from 4 to 40 feet deep and are to
be avoided at all cost.
Still, I was embarrassed for u all when
the reporter went down on one knee and
scraped up a pathetic little handful of
snow and acted like our blizzard was
every bit as bothersome as the one that
just buried New York.
I was still chuckling about it on Saturday afternoon when Sean and I headed
out to El Monte for our usual weekly
pigfest. The ride up Toy Hill Road was
a little dicey, and I became somewhat
alarmed, but once at the top I never gave
it another thought. Going down the hill
has never been a problem.
Until Saturday.
2. Elizabethton Star. Bed pans, urinals,
Frank Robinson
3. The Daily Times, Maryville. The
rise & fall of the Spoon brothers, Steve
Wildsmith
iPhone’s call too strong, Maria Rice
McClure
Words of wisdom
Group V
1. Johnson City Press. Dickensian
What a horrible idea for a theme
We came home all full of tacos and
burritos and rice and nachos. We
started down the hill very slowly, taking all the safety precautions that my
father, the Mayor, taught me years ago.
Halfway down my tire hit a piece of
sand sticking up out of the ice and we
began to spin around.
It sounded like a Pentecostal prayer
meeting, what with the both of us
calling loudly on the name of the Lord.
There was a four-foot ditch on the one
side of us and a 40-foot drop off on the
other and there we sat crossways of the
road on the side of a steep hill in a 1995
Nissan Thimble.
Sean being Sean, he immediately
started yelling at me. “What have
you done? I thought you were a good
driver!”
“You’re the one who just had to have
a taco, El Nino!”
So, we talked to the Lord some more
and He got us back to the top of the hill.
We tried Greer Road, and that didn’t
work out too well either.
Side note to the person who owns the
last house on the right just before you
drop off the hill: It was not a drunk out
there doing donuts in your driveway
Saturday night, just a panicky blond
in a stick shift. I hope your flowers
grow back.
At this point, we started trying to
think of the names of people whom
I hadn’t offended too badly and who
might be willing to put us up for the
night.
There was no one.
Finally, we made our way back to
Brown Hollow Road and came home
the long way, taking that little tin can
that the Yankee calls a car through
several creeks and over a few fallen
logs. I think it might have survived
if I hadn’t already drug the front end
out from under it in the ditch line on
Greer Road.
So when the Yankee came home and
asked why his car was sitting in the
driveway with all four wheels fallen off
and big chunks of the frame littering
the yard, I looked him square in the
eye and said, “I don’t know. It could be
that gang of thugs that’s going around
perpetrating hate crimes against little
foreign cars. It was on the news.”
And don’t y’all tell him any different.
(Feb. 26, 2007)
park. I have read a lot of Dickens, and
I cannot imagine ever wanting to visit
the orphanage from Oliver Twist or the
mansion from Great Expectations.
Good column on a funny subject.
2. News Sentinel, Knoxville. Time for
more state changes, Sam Venable
3. The Tennessean, Nashville. Soda
cans set scene for romance, Gail Kerr
Dogs have place in football, Geoff
SEE AWARDS, PAGE 17
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
Awards - 13
How Madge’s bra caused a power outage
BY STEVE ODEN
“ M i s t e r, w h y
can a bird sit on a
power line and not
get fried?” asked a
fifth-grader during
my electrical safety
demonstration at a
local school.
I smiled. “Because
Oden
the bird’s body becomes part of the circuit through which
current flows. The electricity cannot get
to ground through the bird. It simply
flows through. But, if the bird had a
longer tail, and it touched the neutral
line underneath, while it sat on the
live feed...”
“ZAAAPPP!” the class cried in
unison.
Nodding, I added that it wouldn’t be
good for the bird or electric consumers.
“Sometimes, power outages are caused
by odd instances of animals contacting
conductors. I’ve seen power outages
involving snakes, hawks, owls, possums,
raccoons, bats, lizards, big grasshoppers, even a tree frog.”
One student pointed out that kites
could trigger power outages. “Possible,”
I agreed. “It’s very dangerous to fly
kites around high-voltage lines. Power
interruptions can also be caused by
helium balloons, trees, storms, lightning, construction equipment, and auto
accidents.”
Not knowing how the teacher would
react to adult material, I neglected to
mention my Aunt Madge’s brassiere.
It happened like this:
During an early summer’s morning in
Appalachia, two young nephews visiting their aunt and uncle’s farm were
bored with the barn cats, the hound’s
puppies, being chased by the goat, and
poking wasp nests under the eave of the
smokehouse. Uncle had promised to take
them fishing down at the creek, but he
was busy replacing the wheel bearing
on his old truck.
The sky’s blue was crackling; the sun
slanted cheery rays through the dust
raised by scratching yard chickens and
their broods. Ground shadows chased
feathery clouds across the hay field,
where my cousin and I lay on our backs
and played the “I-dare-you game.”
“I dare you to put a toad frog in Uncle
Bunk’s choppers’ glass,” challenged
my cousin, referring to the bedside
container in which Uncle kept his false
teeth at night. The feat lacked novelty; it
had been done before with minnows and
tadpoles by our older siblings.
I shot back, “I dare you to light a fire
cracker and throw it in the outhouse
hole.”
Again, the dare had an expected consequence and no excitement. We knew
our fireworks were too weak and the
only result would be a pop, sizzle, and
puff of smoke.
“I wish we had some dynamite,” said
my cousin, wistfully dreaming of the
outhouse lifting from explosive force
and launching itself into orbit,
First place award
Group I
Henderson
The back porch screen door slammed,
and Aunt Madge appeared, burdened
with a basket of wet laundry, fresh from
the wringer washer. The legs of Uncle
Bunk’s overalls stood out stiffly from
the starch and having been compressed
between the rollers.
Our aunt was a thickset woman, with
thighs the size of molasses barrels and
a bust that the word “substantial” failed
to adequately describe. In fact, when she
performed in the church ladies choir,
Aunt Madge always stood in the front
row. This kept her from toppling the
singer in front when she took a deep
breath and belted out an alto verse.
She spied us in the field and waved
with a dish rag. Bemused, we watched
her hang the washing: towels, socks,
our jeans and tee-shirts, and her
underwear.
“I got an idea,” whispered my cousin,
“something that’s never been done
before in this family.”
I was immediately interested. He
explained the plot, and I became—as
usual—his henchman.
The plan was simple and used the
most basic theories of engineering and
physical dynamics. When Aunt Madge
was safely back in the house, we raided
Uncle Bunk’s garden and snatched a
pair of green watermelons—Rocky
Fords, an heirloom variety known for
making round fruit—about four pounds
each in weight.
I caught Old Taze, the mule our uncle
had retired when he purchased a McCormick Farmall tractor.
We put the mule’s harness around
his neck and attached leather traces to
the wire that Uncle Bunk had stretched
between cedar posts for the clothes line.
All the wet laundry was removed except
for Aunt Madge’s brassiere.
Into the cups we loaded the watermelons. There was room to spare.
My cousin’s Great Idea involved using Old Taze to stretch the clothes line
and the elastic straps of the bra, then
releasing the harness traces to see if
the watermelons would be propelled
across the barnyard. It seemed reasonable to us that we were creating a giant
slingshot.
Neither of us had considered how
to stop Old Taze and trigger the brassiere cannon, so the mule just kept on
walking after I said, “Giddy-up!” The
clothes line twanged with tension, but
we expected the bra straps to break
before Old Taze yanked the cedar posts
out of the ground.
I ran one way; my cousin fled in the
opposite direction. The experiment
seemed doomed.
But wet elastic is an amazing material.
At the point where no more tension
could be applied without disastrous
effects, the bra tore loose and launched
itself into the air...the cup-cushioned
watermelons looping one over the
other.
With the first—and only—launch,
we achieved 40 feet of height and
about twice in distance. Unfortunately,
our field of fire centered the REA
transformer pole at the corner of the
barnyard.
“BOOM!” Lights went out, up and
down the hollow.
When the rural electric cooperative
linemen responded to the outage, they
found a charred and sodden brassiere,
the DDD cups containing steaming
watermelon rind, dangling from the
power line.
They got a laugh out of it. My cousin
and I got a “whupping.”
To my knowledge, it was the sole
power outage ever caused by a piece of
lady’s lingerie, and might still be.
(May 10, 2007)
Boot camp set
for circulators
Anderson, Randles and Associates
will host its 15th Newspaper Circulation
Bootcamp Sept. 17 and 18 in Atlanta.
It is designed for publishers, general
managers, circulation directors, midlevel and future circulation executives,
editors and financial managers.
Led by Don Michel and Phil Hanna,
the program will focus on what newspaper executives should know about
the circulation department and how
to build circulation volume. For more
information and a registration form, go
to www.andersonrandles.com.
ROBERT SMITH | THE LEAF-CHRONICLE, CLARKSVILLE
Tennessee Titans running back LenDale White has his
helmet pulled off by San Diego Chargers Matt Wilhem
during the fourth quarter at LP Field in Nashville. The
Titans lost in overtime 23-17. (Dec. 10, 2007)
Smith
First place award
Best sports photo
Group IV
GEORGE WALKER IV | THE TENNESSEAN, NASHVILLE
Walker
First place award
Best sports photo
Group V
Titans receiver Justin Gage (12) pulls in a touchdown pass
as Jaguars defender Rashean Mathis (27) watches during
the fourth quarter. Gage had his best game as aTitan with
seven receptions for 90 yards. (Nov. 12, 2007)
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
16 - Awards
The Tennessee Press
14 - Awards
SEPTEMBER 2008
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
Awards - 15
THIRD PLACE WINNERS – UT-TPA STATE PRESS CONTESTS
FIRST PLACE WINNERS – UT-TPA STATE PRESS CONTESTS
Carthage Courier; Terri Likens, Roane County News, Kingston; Echo Gaines Denmark, The
Leader, Covington; Holly Roeder, Chester County Independent, Henderson; Duay O’Neil, The
Newport Plain Talk; Glenna Howington, Citizen Tribune, Morristown; Jimmy Hart, The Daily
News Journal, Murfreesboro; Darren Reese, The Standard Banner, Jefferson City
Peek, Overton County News, Livingston; Scott Fraker, Beverly Majors, Darrell Richardson,
Richard Esposito, Donna Smith, The Oak Ridger, Oak Ridge; and Glenna Howington, Citizen
Tribune, Morristown. Back row, Craig Delk and Buddy Pearson, Herald-Citizen, Cookeville;
Lesley Hughes, Donna Rea, Anthony Piercy and Mark Stevens, The Erwin Record; Leon Alligood, The Tennessean, Nashville; Jim Zachary, Grainger Today, Bean Station; Mike Morrow,
The Tennessean, Nashville; Duay O’Neil, The Newport Plain Talk; Terri Likens, Roane County
News, Kingston; Brad Martin, Hickman County Times, Centerville; Bill Wellborn and Andy
Ashby, Memphis Business Journal; Danny Parker, Shelbyville Times-Gazette; Jimmy Hart,
The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro; Ken Walker, The Paris Post-Intelligencer
TRACKS
CMYK
Staff members of newspapers winning first place awards (from left): Front row, Echo Gaines
Denmark,The Leader, Covington; Natasha LaFayette, LaFollette Press; J.Todd Foster, Bristol
Herald Courier; George Walker IV and John Partipilo,TheTennessean, Nashville; SonyaThompson, The Portand Leader; Deborah Fisher and Mark Silverman, The Tennessean, Nashville;
Jim Wozniak, Johnson City Press; Charlie Johnson, Southern Standard, McMinnville; Dana
Bryson,The Wilson Post, Lebanon; Shirley Nanney, Carroll County News-Leader, Huntingdon.
Middle row, Victor Parkins, The Milan Mirror-Exchange; Derek Hodges, The Mountain Press,
Sevierville; Holly Roeder and Julie Pickard, Chester County Independent, Henderson; Lynn
Richardson, Herald and Tribune, Jonesborough; Kevin Lewis, The Erwin Record; Glenda
Caudle, Union City Daily Messenger; Kim Cook,The Standard Banner, Jefferson City; Dewain
(From left) Front row, J.Todd Foster, Bristol Herald Courier; Mark Stevens and Lesley Hughes,
The Erwin Record; Sonya Thompson, The Portland Leader; Shirley Nanney, Carroll County
News-Leader, Huntingdon; Jim Wozniak, Johnson City Press; Scarlet Elliott, The Milan
Mirror-Exchange; Sharon Patrick, Southern Standard, McMinnville. Back row, Eddie West,
MEEMAN WINNERS – UT-TPA STATE PRESS CONTESTS
Staff members of newspapers winning Edward J. Meeman Awards for
editorials or public service, from left, Jack McElroy, News Sentinel,
Knoxville; Jim Zachary, Grainger Today, Bean Station; Duay O’Neil, The
SECOND PLACE WINNERS – UT-TPA STATE PRESS CONTESTS
Staff members of newspapers winning second place awards are (from left): Front row,
Darrell Richardson and Beverly Majors, The Oak Ridger, Oak Ridge; J. Todd Foster, Bristol
Herald Courier; Brad Martin, Hickman County Times, Centerville; Glenda Caudle, Union
City Daily Messenger; Buddy Pearson, Herald-Citizen, Cookeville; Shirley Nanney, Carroll
County News-Leader, Huntingdon; Melanie Day, The Milan Mirror-Exchange; Donna Smith,
The Oak Ridger, Oak Ridge; Sharon Patrick, Southern Standard, McMinnville; Steve Marion,
Newport Plain Talk; Jimmy Hart, The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro;
and Bill Wellborn, Memphis Business Journal.
Rhonda Whaley has been named
general manager of The Daily PostAthenian, Athens, bringing to the
position 20 years of experience. She
has served as accounting manager and
business manager. A native of McMinn
County, Whaley has lived in Etowah
since 1988, the year she took the job as
accounting manager at The DPA. She
also is regional coordinator for Jones
Media in the Tennessee Valley.
|
Lee Ann Krueger has been named
publisher of The Collierville Herald
by American Hometown Publishing
of Franklin. She spent the last six
years with the Shelby Sun Times in
Germantown.
|
J. Stewart Bryan III, chairman
of the board of directors of Media
General Inc., has announced he will
retire, perhaps by the end of September.
Media General owns the Bristol Herald
Courier.
The Standard Banner, Jefferson City. Back row, David Harrison,The Westmoreland Observer;
Lesley Hughes, Anthony D. Piercy and Mark Stevens, The Erwin Record; Scott Winfree,
Carthage Courier; Holly Roeder, Chester County Independent, Henderson; Duay O’Neil, The
Newport Plain Talk; Glenna Howington, Citizen Tribune, Morristown; Toby Sells, Memphis
Business Journal; Jim Zachary, Grainger Today, Bean Station; Jimmy Hart, The Daily News
Stop: Safety vests to be required; NNA has them
The National Newspaper Association
(NNA) is taking orders for the regulation safety vests that all newspaper
employees covering accidents or other
stories along federal highways will be
required to wear.
The proper garment is an ANSI Class
II-2004-107 safety vest. NNA’s vest will
be orange with reflective markings and
a Velcro™ closure. In large letters on
the back will be the word PRESS, and
below that, NNA’s logo. Cost per vest
will be small to XL, $15 each plus ship-
ping cost. Larger sizes will be $17 each
plus shipping. For advance orders, one
should call (573) 882-5800.
These regulations were established by
the U.S. Department of Transportation
and will become effective Nov. 24. All
media representatives who are working
within the rights-of-way of federal-aid
highways will be required to wear highvisibility garments.
“All workers within the right-of-way
of a federal-aid highway who are exposed either to traffic (vehicles using
the highway for purposes of travel) or
to construction equipment within the
work area shall wear high-visibility
safety apparel,” the regulation states.
NNA President Steve Haynes, Oberlin
(Kan.) Herald, is unhappy about the
plans to require the vests and has
written to FHWA to seek clarification
for the application of the new safety
vest rule. News media members were
added after urging by the Advocates for
Highway and Auto Safety.
(From www.nna.org)
Back and front views of the safety vest
Leon Alligood laughs heartily as he and Dr. Roy Moore, his new
boss, chat for the first time. Dr. Moore is the new dean of the Middle
Tennessee State University College of Mass Communications.
Alligood joined the School of Journalism Aug. 1 as an instructor.
Both were at Drive-In Training and the awards luncheon July 18
in Nashville.
Dorris Parkins, left, and daughter Paris attended
the awards luncheon July 18.The family newspaper
is The Milan Mirror-Exchange.
Jimmy Hart, foreground, and Scott Broden listen in one of the
training sessions July 18. Both are with The Daily News Journal,
Murfreesboro. Hart is editor.
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
14 - Awards
SEPTEMBER 2008
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
Awards - 15
THIRD PLACE WINNERS – UT-TPA STATE PRESS CONTESTS
FIRST PLACE WINNERS – UT-TPA STATE PRESS CONTESTS
Carthage Courier; Terri Likens, Roane County News, Kingston; Echo Gaines Denmark, The
Leader, Covington; Holly Roeder, Chester County Independent, Henderson; Duay O’Neil, The
Newport Plain Talk; Glenna Howington, Citizen Tribune, Morristown; Jimmy Hart, The Daily
News Journal, Murfreesboro; Darren Reese, The Standard Banner, Jefferson City
Peek, Overton County News, Livingston; Scott Fraker, Beverly Majors, Darrell Richardson,
Richard Esposito, Donna Smith, The Oak Ridger, Oak Ridge; and Glenna Howington, Citizen
Tribune, Morristown. Back row, Craig Delk and Buddy Pearson, Herald-Citizen, Cookeville;
Lesley Hughes, Donna Rea, Anthony Piercy and Mark Stevens, The Erwin Record; Leon Alligood, The Tennessean, Nashville; Jim Zachary, Grainger Today, Bean Station; Mike Morrow,
The Tennessean, Nashville; Duay O’Neil, The Newport Plain Talk; Terri Likens, Roane County
News, Kingston; Brad Martin, Hickman County Times, Centerville; Bill Wellborn and Andy
Ashby, Memphis Business Journal; Danny Parker, Shelbyville Times-Gazette; Jimmy Hart,
The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro; Ken Walker, The Paris Post-Intelligencer
TRACKS
CMYK
Staff members of newspapers winning first place awards (from left): Front row, Echo Gaines
Denmark,The Leader, Covington; Natasha LaFayette, LaFollette Press; J.Todd Foster, Bristol
Herald Courier; George Walker IV and John Partipilo,TheTennessean, Nashville; SonyaThompson, The Portand Leader; Deborah Fisher and Mark Silverman, The Tennessean, Nashville;
Jim Wozniak, Johnson City Press; Charlie Johnson, Southern Standard, McMinnville; Dana
Bryson,The Wilson Post, Lebanon; Shirley Nanney, Carroll County News-Leader, Huntingdon.
Middle row, Victor Parkins, The Milan Mirror-Exchange; Derek Hodges, The Mountain Press,
Sevierville; Holly Roeder and Julie Pickard, Chester County Independent, Henderson; Lynn
Richardson, Herald and Tribune, Jonesborough; Kevin Lewis, The Erwin Record; Glenda
Caudle, Union City Daily Messenger; Kim Cook,The Standard Banner, Jefferson City; Dewain
(From left) Front row, J.Todd Foster, Bristol Herald Courier; Mark Stevens and Lesley Hughes,
The Erwin Record; Sonya Thompson, The Portland Leader; Shirley Nanney, Carroll County
News-Leader, Huntingdon; Jim Wozniak, Johnson City Press; Scarlet Elliott, The Milan
Mirror-Exchange; Sharon Patrick, Southern Standard, McMinnville. Back row, Eddie West,
MEEMAN WINNERS – UT-TPA STATE PRESS CONTESTS
Staff members of newspapers winning Edward J. Meeman Awards for
editorials or public service, from left, Jack McElroy, News Sentinel,
Knoxville; Jim Zachary, Grainger Today, Bean Station; Duay O’Neil, The
SECOND PLACE WINNERS – UT-TPA STATE PRESS CONTESTS
Staff members of newspapers winning second place awards are (from left): Front row,
Darrell Richardson and Beverly Majors, The Oak Ridger, Oak Ridge; J. Todd Foster, Bristol
Herald Courier; Brad Martin, Hickman County Times, Centerville; Glenda Caudle, Union
City Daily Messenger; Buddy Pearson, Herald-Citizen, Cookeville; Shirley Nanney, Carroll
County News-Leader, Huntingdon; Melanie Day, The Milan Mirror-Exchange; Donna Smith,
The Oak Ridger, Oak Ridge; Sharon Patrick, Southern Standard, McMinnville; Steve Marion,
Newport Plain Talk; Jimmy Hart, The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro;
and Bill Wellborn, Memphis Business Journal.
Rhonda Whaley has been named
general manager of The Daily PostAthenian, Athens, bringing to the
position 20 years of experience. She
has served as accounting manager and
business manager. A native of McMinn
County, Whaley has lived in Etowah
since 1988, the year she took the job as
accounting manager at The DPA. She
also is regional coordinator for Jones
Media in the Tennessee Valley.
|
Lee Ann Krueger has been named
publisher of The Collierville Herald
by American Hometown Publishing
of Franklin. She spent the last six
years with the Shelby Sun Times in
Germantown.
|
J. Stewart Bryan III, chairman
of the board of directors of Media
General Inc., has announced he will
retire, perhaps by the end of September.
Media General owns the Bristol Herald
Courier.
The Standard Banner, Jefferson City. Back row, David Harrison,The Westmoreland Observer;
Lesley Hughes, Anthony D. Piercy and Mark Stevens, The Erwin Record; Scott Winfree,
Carthage Courier; Holly Roeder, Chester County Independent, Henderson; Duay O’Neil, The
Newport Plain Talk; Glenna Howington, Citizen Tribune, Morristown; Toby Sells, Memphis
Business Journal; Jim Zachary, Grainger Today, Bean Station; Jimmy Hart, The Daily News
Stop: Safety vests to be required; NNA has them
The National Newspaper Association
(NNA) is taking orders for the regulation safety vests that all newspaper
employees covering accidents or other
stories along federal highways will be
required to wear.
The proper garment is an ANSI Class
II-2004-107 safety vest. NNA’s vest will
be orange with reflective markings and
a Velcro™ closure. In large letters on
the back will be the word PRESS, and
below that, NNA’s logo. Cost per vest
will be small to XL, $15 each plus ship-
ping cost. Larger sizes will be $17 each
plus shipping. For advance orders, one
should call (573) 882-5800.
These regulations were established by
the U.S. Department of Transportation
and will become effective Nov. 24. All
media representatives who are working
within the rights-of-way of federal-aid
highways will be required to wear highvisibility garments.
“All workers within the right-of-way
of a federal-aid highway who are exposed either to traffic (vehicles using
the highway for purposes of travel) or
to construction equipment within the
work area shall wear high-visibility
safety apparel,” the regulation states.
NNA President Steve Haynes, Oberlin
(Kan.) Herald, is unhappy about the
plans to require the vests and has
written to FHWA to seek clarification
for the application of the new safety
vest rule. News media members were
added after urging by the Advocates for
Highway and Auto Safety.
(From www.nna.org)
Back and front views of the safety vest
Leon Alligood laughs heartily as he and Dr. Roy Moore, his new
boss, chat for the first time. Dr. Moore is the new dean of the Middle
Tennessee State University College of Mass Communications.
Alligood joined the School of Journalism Aug. 1 as an instructor.
Both were at Drive-In Training and the awards luncheon July 18
in Nashville.
Dorris Parkins, left, and daughter Paris attended
the awards luncheon July 18.The family newspaper
is The Milan Mirror-Exchange.
Jimmy Hart, foreground, and Scott Broden listen in one of the
training sessions July 18. Both are with The Daily News Journal,
Murfreesboro. Hart is editor.
CMYK
AWARDS
Worlds apart: Ice, ice, baby
FROM PAGE 12
CMYK
come soon enough
5. The Tennessean, Nashville. Real
solution for U, Mike Morrow
BEST PERSONAL COLUMN
Group I
1. Grainger Today, Bean Station. The
way it seems, Jim Zachary
The writer uses clever word play to
send the message to his readers – the
importance of conducting the public’s
business in public. The best entry in a
tough class!
2.The Westmoreland Observer. Under
my skin
3. The Erwin Record. It’s a rocky road,
Mark A. Stevens
4. The Hartsville Vidette. Letting go of
the old home place, Liz Ferrell
5. The Millington Star. With love to
our champion
Group II
1. Robertson County Times, Springfield. Wedding planning craziness,
Eric Miller
A unique personal experience well recounted! Very readable, good analogy
to Iraq War. Nice variety of sentence
structure and good pacing.
2. Memphis Business Journal. Never
be convinced, Bill Wellborn
3. The News Examiner, Gallatin. The
woman behind
5. News-Herald, Lenoir City. Greenback tour, Mary E. Hinds
Group III
1. The Paris Post-Intelligencer. What
a beautiful Christmas, C. Ernest Williams
The object of a personal column is
to allow the reader to see the subject
through the writer’s eyes. A touching
story told in the most heart-felt way.
Kill your husband, James Clark
3. Crossville Chronicle. The judge...
common man, Mike Moser
4. Union City Daily Messenger. Anchoring dreams, Glenda Caudle
Ducker’s sentence too long, Duane
Sherrill
Group IV
1. The Greeneville Sun. Tobacco auctions gone, Bob Hurley
Wow – a great personal story that
also tells a lot of history, a lot about the
region. I love the inner conflict you set
up – loving the farmers and the life, and
growing up to see what the product did
to your heroes. Lovely prose, powerful
memories. I love the sentence, “I will be
the whipping boy.” It came at the right
moment. Altogether delightful.
2. Herald-Citizen, Cookeville. Alzheimer’s breaks hearts, Buddy Pearson
3. Herald-Citizen, Cookeville. List
making not always a sign, Margaret
Shuster
SEPTEMBER 2008
4. Citizen Tribune, Morristown. What
have you done?
5. The Daily Times, Maryville. Making sense of the senseless, Steve
Wildsmith
Group V
Getting to know you Memphis, Chris
Peck
Appreciated your assessment on your
“new” town. We were told once that
it takes 30 years to really be a part of
a community.
2. The Tennessean, Nashville. Rosh
Hashana, Gail Kerr
3.The Jackson Sun. Filing a complaint,
Tom Bohs
4. News Sentinel, Knoxville. Veterans,
Sam Venable
5. Johnson City Press. Experience
proves
BEST
PERSONAL HUMOR COLUMN
Group I
Henderson. Aunt Madge’s bra caused
power outage, Steve Oden
Great stories about kids and boredom
are all too rarely told well. Great job!
2. The Milan Mirror-Exchange. Milan’s
resident psychic, Steve Short
3. The Bartlett Express. This just in
from North Pole, Rick Jacobs
4.The Milan Mirror-Exchange.Tomcat
spared the knife, Bob Parkins
5. The News Leader, Parsons. TWRA
officers resolve hostage situations
Group II
Ice, ice baby, Donna S. Wallace
This is something that, I think, everyone can relate to. This column had
me smiling the entire time, partially
because we’re from Nebraska and had
lived in Little Rock, Ark. for several
years (we remember when the snow
“storms” would be reported on!) Wonderful, humorous column – I’d look for
it the next time I had the newspaper
in my hands.
2. The Herald-News, Dayton. The
joys & trials of being a self-employed
couple
4. Memphis Business Journal. Dream
of traveling horizontal, Bill Wellborn
5. News-Herald, Lenoir City. Playing
possum, Linda Brewer
Group III
1. The Oak Ridger. Forewarned is
forearmed
The writer took an obvious black eye
to his community and was able to poke
fun at the subject, while also making
a point that people need to knock off
what they were doing. Very nice tongue
in cheek humor.
Getting a taste of candy bar sales
BY DONNA S. WALLACE
Hickman County Times, Centerville
The Yankee and I
have decided that if
we passed a law that
stated that the networks could only report real news with
real facts and only
things that really
mattered, there’d
Wallace
be a lot more time
to air quality programs like Desperate Housewives and
WWF Wrestling.
Here’s your homework for the week:
Sit down and watch the news. I mean
really watch it. Pay attention to what
is being said. There’s a whole lotta
blarney and not much substance.
Recently, I was watching The Today
Show, and they were interviewing
some kind of financial expert and she
was all hot and bothered about the possibility of identity theft. I agree that
we should all be aware of this.
The thing this woman was warning
everyone about was those newfangled
little credit cards that are about the
size of your thumb. You don’t have
to sign a slip, you just pass it in front
of the speedy reader and go on your
way. Apparently, these things are very
popular at fast food restaurants in the
big cities.
The woman was very theatrical in
warning just how easy it would be for
someone to get your information from
this card if he had a portable scanner
that was made just for the purpose of
stealing your identity. They wouldn’t
even have to see the card, just touch
their hand held scanner to the outside
of your purse.
The interviewer was aghast—positively aghast—at how easy it would
be for someone to steal your identity
this way.
Then as an afterthought they casually mentioned that such a machine
does not actually exist yet, but if
someone was clever enough to build
one, then we would all be in danger of
losing our identity! Also, most of these
little credit cards have a security chip
built in that would prevent just such
an event from occurring.
I looked at the Yankee and said,
“Maybe I’m just a little bit slow on
the uptake, but did they just spend the
Bike riding more fun with brakes,
Duane Sherrill
4. Union City Daily Messenger. Slumber party, Chris Menees
5. Shelbyville Times-Gazette. I can
cook, John I. Carney
Group IV
1.The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville.Tiny,
pampered poodle, Sandy Britt
Hilarious. I can completely identify.
There is just something to be said with
those afflicted with puppy love.
First place award
Group II
Hickman County Times,
Centerville
last 20 minutes warning us all that we
have to take drastic measures to protect
ourselves from something that doesn’t
even exist?”
“Yuh-huh,” he sighed.
Well, let me jot that down on my
list of things to fear, right after the
boogey-man, but before the monster
under my bed.
The next night, we were watching the
10 o’clock news. You know you live in
Middle Tennessee when you stay up ‘til
10 p.m. just so you can see what Darian
Trotter is wearing. That man has got
some fashion sense, wooo-eeee! But he
doesn’t have any eyelids. You watch the
news tonight and see if that ain’t so.
The big news was all about the “great
snowfall.” All one-half inch of it.
Now, I know that northerners make
fun of us for closing our schools and
rushing to the grocery store and buying up all the toilet paper and bread
when we hear the word snow. And I
know they think we don’t know how to
drive in snow. I would argue two things
in our defense:
1. Our snow tends to be wetter than
theirs and is mostly ice, or melts a little
and then refreezes as ice. No one can
drive well on ice.
2. They have nice little six-inch
ditches running parallel to their flat
roads. Our roads tend to be a little
steeper than their and our ditches
range from 4 to 40 feet deep and are to
be avoided at all cost.
Still, I was embarrassed for u all when
the reporter went down on one knee and
scraped up a pathetic little handful of
snow and acted like our blizzard was
every bit as bothersome as the one that
just buried New York.
I was still chuckling about it on Saturday afternoon when Sean and I headed
out to El Monte for our usual weekly
pigfest. The ride up Toy Hill Road was
a little dicey, and I became somewhat
alarmed, but once at the top I never gave
it another thought. Going down the hill
has never been a problem.
Until Saturday.
2. Elizabethton Star. Bed pans, urinals,
Frank Robinson
3. The Daily Times, Maryville. The
rise & fall of the Spoon brothers, Steve
Wildsmith
iPhone’s call too strong, Maria Rice
McClure
Words of wisdom
Group V
1. Johnson City Press. Dickensian
What a horrible idea for a theme
We came home all full of tacos and
burritos and rice and nachos. We
started down the hill very slowly, taking all the safety precautions that my
father, the Mayor, taught me years ago.
Halfway down my tire hit a piece of
sand sticking up out of the ice and we
began to spin around.
It sounded like a Pentecostal prayer
meeting, what with the both of us
calling loudly on the name of the Lord.
There was a four-foot ditch on the one
side of us and a 40-foot drop off on the
other and there we sat crossways of the
road on the side of a steep hill in a 1995
Nissan Thimble.
Sean being Sean, he immediately
started yelling at me. “What have
you done? I thought you were a good
driver!”
“You’re the one who just had to have
a taco, El Nino!”
So, we talked to the Lord some more
and He got us back to the top of the hill.
We tried Greer Road, and that didn’t
work out too well either.
Side note to the person who owns the
last house on the right just before you
drop off the hill: It was not a drunk out
there doing donuts in your driveway
Saturday night, just a panicky blond
in a stick shift. I hope your flowers
grow back.
At this point, we started trying to
think of the names of people whom
I hadn’t offended too badly and who
might be willing to put us up for the
night.
There was no one.
Finally, we made our way back to
Brown Hollow Road and came home
the long way, taking that little tin can
that the Yankee calls a car through
several creeks and over a few fallen
logs. I think it might have survived
if I hadn’t already drug the front end
out from under it in the ditch line on
Greer Road.
So when the Yankee came home and
asked why his car was sitting in the
driveway with all four wheels fallen off
and big chunks of the frame littering
the yard, I looked him square in the
eye and said, “I don’t know. It could be
that gang of thugs that’s going around
perpetrating hate crimes against little
foreign cars. It was on the news.”
And don’t y’all tell him any different.
(Feb. 26, 2007)
park. I have read a lot of Dickens, and
I cannot imagine ever wanting to visit
the orphanage from Oliver Twist or the
mansion from Great Expectations.
Good column on a funny subject.
2. News Sentinel, Knoxville. Time for
more state changes, Sam Venable
3. The Tennessean, Nashville. Soda
cans set scene for romance, Gail Kerr
Dogs have place in football, Geoff
SEE AWARDS, PAGE 17
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
Awards - 13
How Madge’s bra caused a power outage
BY STEVE ODEN
“ M i s t e r, w h y
can a bird sit on a
power line and not
get fried?” asked a
fifth-grader during
my electrical safety
demonstration at a
local school.
I smiled. “Because
Oden
the bird’s body becomes part of the circuit through which
current flows. The electricity cannot get
to ground through the bird. It simply
flows through. But, if the bird had a
longer tail, and it touched the neutral
line underneath, while it sat on the
live feed...”
“ZAAAPPP!” the class cried in
unison.
Nodding, I added that it wouldn’t be
good for the bird or electric consumers.
“Sometimes, power outages are caused
by odd instances of animals contacting
conductors. I’ve seen power outages
involving snakes, hawks, owls, possums,
raccoons, bats, lizards, big grasshoppers, even a tree frog.”
One student pointed out that kites
could trigger power outages. “Possible,”
I agreed. “It’s very dangerous to fly
kites around high-voltage lines. Power
interruptions can also be caused by
helium balloons, trees, storms, lightning, construction equipment, and auto
accidents.”
Not knowing how the teacher would
react to adult material, I neglected to
mention my Aunt Madge’s brassiere.
It happened like this:
During an early summer’s morning in
Appalachia, two young nephews visiting their aunt and uncle’s farm were
bored with the barn cats, the hound’s
puppies, being chased by the goat, and
poking wasp nests under the eave of the
smokehouse. Uncle had promised to take
them fishing down at the creek, but he
was busy replacing the wheel bearing
on his old truck.
The sky’s blue was crackling; the sun
slanted cheery rays through the dust
raised by scratching yard chickens and
their broods. Ground shadows chased
feathery clouds across the hay field,
where my cousin and I lay on our backs
and played the “I-dare-you game.”
“I dare you to put a toad frog in Uncle
Bunk’s choppers’ glass,” challenged
my cousin, referring to the bedside
container in which Uncle kept his false
teeth at night. The feat lacked novelty; it
had been done before with minnows and
tadpoles by our older siblings.
I shot back, “I dare you to light a fire
cracker and throw it in the outhouse
hole.”
Again, the dare had an expected consequence and no excitement. We knew
our fireworks were too weak and the
only result would be a pop, sizzle, and
puff of smoke.
“I wish we had some dynamite,” said
my cousin, wistfully dreaming of the
outhouse lifting from explosive force
and launching itself into orbit,
First place award
Group I
Henderson
The back porch screen door slammed,
and Aunt Madge appeared, burdened
with a basket of wet laundry, fresh from
the wringer washer. The legs of Uncle
Bunk’s overalls stood out stiffly from
the starch and having been compressed
between the rollers.
Our aunt was a thickset woman, with
thighs the size of molasses barrels and
a bust that the word “substantial” failed
to adequately describe. In fact, when she
performed in the church ladies choir,
Aunt Madge always stood in the front
row. This kept her from toppling the
singer in front when she took a deep
breath and belted out an alto verse.
She spied us in the field and waved
with a dish rag. Bemused, we watched
her hang the washing: towels, socks,
our jeans and tee-shirts, and her
underwear.
“I got an idea,” whispered my cousin,
“something that’s never been done
before in this family.”
I was immediately interested. He
explained the plot, and I became—as
usual—his henchman.
The plan was simple and used the
most basic theories of engineering and
physical dynamics. When Aunt Madge
was safely back in the house, we raided
Uncle Bunk’s garden and snatched a
pair of green watermelons—Rocky
Fords, an heirloom variety known for
making round fruit—about four pounds
each in weight.
I caught Old Taze, the mule our uncle
had retired when he purchased a McCormick Farmall tractor.
We put the mule’s harness around
his neck and attached leather traces to
the wire that Uncle Bunk had stretched
between cedar posts for the clothes line.
All the wet laundry was removed except
for Aunt Madge’s brassiere.
Into the cups we loaded the watermelons. There was room to spare.
My cousin’s Great Idea involved using Old Taze to stretch the clothes line
and the elastic straps of the bra, then
releasing the harness traces to see if
the watermelons would be propelled
across the barnyard. It seemed reasonable to us that we were creating a giant
slingshot.
Neither of us had considered how
to stop Old Taze and trigger the brassiere cannon, so the mule just kept on
walking after I said, “Giddy-up!” The
clothes line twanged with tension, but
we expected the bra straps to break
before Old Taze yanked the cedar posts
out of the ground.
I ran one way; my cousin fled in the
opposite direction. The experiment
seemed doomed.
But wet elastic is an amazing material.
At the point where no more tension
could be applied without disastrous
effects, the bra tore loose and launched
itself into the air...the cup-cushioned
watermelons looping one over the
other.
With the first—and only—launch,
we achieved 40 feet of height and
about twice in distance. Unfortunately,
our field of fire centered the REA
transformer pole at the corner of the
barnyard.
“BOOM!” Lights went out, up and
down the hollow.
When the rural electric cooperative
linemen responded to the outage, they
found a charred and sodden brassiere,
the DDD cups containing steaming
watermelon rind, dangling from the
power line.
They got a laugh out of it. My cousin
and I got a “whupping.”
To my knowledge, it was the sole
power outage ever caused by a piece of
lady’s lingerie, and might still be.
(May 10, 2007)
Boot camp set
for circulators
Anderson, Randles and Associates
will host its 15th Newspaper Circulation
Bootcamp Sept. 17 and 18 in Atlanta.
It is designed for publishers, general
managers, circulation directors, midlevel and future circulation executives,
editors and financial managers.
Led by Don Michel and Phil Hanna,
the program will focus on what newspaper executives should know about
the circulation department and how
to build circulation volume. For more
information and a registration form, go
to www.andersonrandles.com.
ROBERT SMITH | THE LEAF-CHRONICLE, CLARKSVILLE
Tennessee Titans running back LenDale White has his
helmet pulled off by San Diego Chargers Matt Wilhem
during the fourth quarter at LP Field in Nashville. The
Titans lost in overtime 23-17. (Dec. 10, 2007)
Smith
First place award
Best sports photo
Group IV
GEORGE WALKER IV | THE TENNESSEAN, NASHVILLE
Walker
First place award
Best sports photo
Group V
Titans receiver Justin Gage (12) pulls in a touchdown pass
as Jaguars defender Rashean Mathis (27) watches during
the fourth quarter. Gage had his best game as aTitan with
seven receptions for 90 yards. (Nov. 12, 2007)
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
16 - Awards
SEPTEMBER 2008
AWARDS
FROM PAGE 11
FROM PAGE 16
4. Shelbyville Times-Gazette. The
media as a weapon, David Melson
5. Crossville Chronicle. Something
has to give with the DA, Mike Moser
Group IV
1. The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro. Sheriff should give speech, Sam
Stockard
It’s great to see a newspaper take a
stand like this. The public does have
a right to know. Without your efforts,
they would not have a chance. Keep
the heat on.
2. Citizen Tribune, Morristown. City
needs leaders
3. The Daily Herald, Columbia. New
dog needed, Chris Fletcher
4.The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville. Don’t
shut people out, Alane S. Megna
Alcohol haze, Stan Voit
Group V
1. Kingsport Times-News. Lack of
honesty
I enjoyed your choice of words & sound
thinking. Top notch editorial.
2. Bristol Herald Courier. Bring back
ETSU football, J. Todd Foster
Lee’s apology, Blake Fontenay
4. News Sentinel, Knoxville. 2008 can’t
DAVID FUZZELL | UNION CITY DAILY MESSENGER
DWANE WILDER | LAFOLLETTE PRESS
CMYK
South Fulton’s Molly Ledbetter is safe at third base after
sliding through the legs of Obion Central’s Audrey Gilliam
during softball action at Troy. (March 27, 2007)
Eleven-year-old Brian Holt shows great determination
while trying his hand at bunting at the free baseball/
softball camp hosted last week by Campbell County
High School. (July 19, 2007)
First place award
Best sports photo
Group II
LaFollette Press
Fuzzell
First place award
Best sports photo
Group III
Union City Daily Messenger
Getting to know you, Memphis
BY CHRIS PECK
Editor
Tomorrow marks
five years for me as
editor of The Commercial Appeal.
I ’ ve l ive d i n
Memphis more
years than it took
to graduate from
college. While here,
Peck
my father died. My
mustache turned gray. My children left
the house to strike out on their own.
I know it’s only been five years. I know
I came from the outside, from way out
West. My observations about Memphis
pale in comparison to narratives that
stretch back before Dr. (Martin Luther)
King’s assassination, before Elvis got
famous, before the yellow fever. In
Memphis, five years is barely the flash
of a firefly in terms of understanding
the layers, nuances, relationships. But
know this:
I have tried to listen to Memphis—to
the sounds of its summer nights, the
blues that fill the air, the voices black
and white, rich and poor, that so vividly
tell the tale of this city.
I have tried to learn from Memphis—
from the relics at the Pink Palace to the
AWARDS
Calkins
Numbers mislead, Wendi C. Thomas
Wilder
SEE AWARDS, PAGE 16
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
First place award
Group V - Dailies
The Commercial Appeal,
Memphis
artwork on the walls of the Cotton Museum. I have soaked in the history and
the context that have shaped Memphis
from the days when Front Street was
the center of things and Nashville and
Atlanta weren’t what they are.
I have tried to like Memphis—by
searching for Aretha Franklin’s house,
attending the COGIC convention in
the fall, visiting The Grove for Ole
Miss football in autumn and Cotton
Carnival galas in spring. I’ve embraced
what is here.
This is what Memphis asks of those
who have any hope of being let in on
her secrets. Because I’ve worked as
editor in a town where the newspaper
has been a force for 167 years, I have
been let in just a little. I’m not local
enough yet to have gone to a wedding
reception at the Memphis Country
Club, or to have been invited to a black
person’s home for family dinner. But I
have glimpsed behind the curtain of
civility and hospitality these last five
years. Three images have burned into
my soul so far:
•A long and slow surrender. When she
visits the Center for Southern Folklore
in Downtown, singer Kate Campbell
often sings her Southern anthem
“Look Away.”
It’s a play on “Dixie” and one stanza
sticks in my mind:
It’s a long and slow surrender, retreating from the past;
It’s important to remember, to fly the
flag at half mast.
That song has helped me know what
Memphians mean when they say in this
once Union-occupied city that the Civil
War is not over.
No, it’s not over. Not by a long shot.
Memories of a proud Southern heritage, tinged with confusion over what
was noble in the past and what was
immoral, persist.
focus on the next war now. In the next
100 years the city must battle not for
its Southern heritage, but for its share
of the wealth and privilege that comes
from nurturing bright young minds,
embracing creative ideas and building
a culturally rich, accepting community.
Let’s go there.
•The conundrum of Beale Street and
Bellevue Baptist. A strange tension
pulls at Memphis. By day, the city’s
more unscrupulous citizens hatch
inventive white-collar schemes and
outrageous frauds for cheating the
system in one of the nation’s most corrupt civic environments. By night, just
blocks away from Beale Street, there’s a
whole lot of sinning going on: drinking,
whoring, murdering, burglaries, bribes
and drive-bys.
Come Sunday, everyone’s praying. TV
preachers, Bellevue Baptists, all the
Protestant faiths plus Muslims, Jews
and, lately, Latino Catholics are asking
for guidance, forgiveness and blessings.
What’s up with that? Other places in
America have both less sinning and
less praying than Memphis.
talk more about helping people do the
right thing first, and spend less effort
punishing and saving those who mess
up. One idea: Focus on cutting teen
pregnancies by educating young men
and offering birth control for young
women.
•Stuck on race. Memphis can’t give
it up about race. Even though most
everybody eats grits and barbecue and
shares an appreciation for azaleas, the
city divides most everything else down
to black vs. white. In local politics, real
estate, even on the radio dial, the color
of your skin takes precedence over
your heart, brain or guts. Sometimes,
you get the sense that Memphians find
it easier to fall back on the stereotypes,
assumptions and past practices than to
try something new to break the mold of
history and perception.
A thought: Focus on a new civil rights
movement, a personal campaign where
a black family and a white family
volunteer to do something together for
Memphis.
I am humble about these ideas. It’s
not easy, nor simple, to sort through
the challenges of this vital and real
place. I know more about Memphis,
but I don’t know enough. What I do say
is that today, when I hear people from
out West or, God forbid, the North, spout
fuzzy ideas about the South, I say, come
to Memphis. When friends, family and
colleagues from elsewhere begin to utter
seemingly profound statements about
race, poverty and evangelical politics in
America, I politely say it again—come
to Memphis if you want to learn.
I came. I’ve learned. Memphis has
afforded me an education far beyond
the bounds of any classroom: Pimento
cheese. Al Green’s church. Rum Boogie
Cafe. Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel.
Graceland on Aug. 16. Fixin’ to ... Loving
on .... So precious.
Thanks, Memphis, for five unforgettable years.
(Dec. 16, 2007)
HEADLINE WRITING
Group I
I’m sure it helps to have written the
story and be able to write a headline you know what the story is all about. I
really liked the tennis headline “II-Love.”
I may copy your idea and use it myself
this spring sports season!
Henderson. Ed Farrell
Ron Caylor
5. The Erwin Record. Keith Whitson
Group II
Denmark
- Very clever headlines
-The “Tricks,Treats” headline is clever,
but it’s always risky to put a funny headline on a news story. I think it works,
however, in this case.
Brewer
3. The Gallatin Newspaper. Julie
Brackenbury
4. Memphis Business Journal. Bill
Wellborn
Group III
Not 2 hurt 2 text, Seth Wright
Wonderful combo of text & font
2. The Oak Ridger. Pottty trained
golfers
3. The Lebanon Democrat. Trooper
fired, Nick Fowler
4.The Paris Post-Intelligencer. It shook
hard, then it blew, Ken Walker
5. Shelbyville Times-Gazette. Half of
our water is gone, David Melson
Group IV
1. Citizen Tribune, Morristown. Dying
to leave
Fantastic! All others in this category
should study your headlines. I hope
your “Dying to Leave” made an impact.
Great job!
Sandy Britt, Brian Dunn
3. The Daily Herald, Columbia. Hot
button, Chris Fletcher
Ode to Koi
5. Elizabethton Star. Wes Holtsclaw
Group V
I like, “Once mined, now yours” for
feature story, and I like how you can also
write news headlines, too.
3. The Tennessean, Nashville. Mark
Smith
5. Bristol Herald Courier. Jerry Shell
BEST NEWS PHOTOGRAPH
Group I
Tears for freedom, Charlie Mauk
All of the photos in this grouping were
excellent. You really captured the emotion of the moment. Great job!
2.The Erwin Record. Atrocious, Lesley
Hughes
3. The Milan Mirror-Exchange. Near
tragedy, Scarlet Elliott
4.The News Leader, Parsons. Robbery
suspects, Christian Anglin
5. The Portland Leader. Goodbye
Group II
Democrat, Sweetwater. Car overturns,
Melissa Kinton
Great shot – woman’s expression at
just the right time!
Rollin’, Bradley A. Martin
3. Carthage Courier.Tractor overturns,
Eddie West
4. Independent Appeal, Selmer. Cars
for kids
5. The News Examiner, Gallatin.
Fringe areas
Group III
Fatal accident
I almost cried when I saw this photo
– you could tell how difficult it was for
this police officer to walk through the
duties of the day. You knew the lead
before you even looked at the first
paragraph.
2. Crossville Chronicle. Lightning
strikes, Mike Moser
3. ShelbyvilleTimes-Gazette. Farewell
for a hero, Kay Rose
4. The Tullahoma News. A kiss goodbye for dad, Justin Hornkohl
5. The Oak Ridger. Tragedy strikes
Group IV
1. The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro. Receiving a flag, Aaron Thompson
A very touching photo!
2.The Greeneville Sun. Chased down,
Jim Feltman
3. The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro. Carl Brandon, Turner Hutchens
4.The Mountain Press, Sevierville. On
the scene, Curt Habraken
Disbelief, Greg Williamson
Group V
Farewell to the fallen, Dan Henry
The emotional impact of this photo is
beyond words.
2. News Sentinel, Knoxville. I hope
you rot in jail
Breach of security, Mike Brown
4. The Tennessean, Nashville. Statue
honors firefighter, Larry McCormack
5. Bristol Herald Courier. End of the
road, Andre Teague
Awards - 17
‘Fore’-warned is forearmed
BY RICHARD B. ESPOSITO
Publisher
First place award
Group III
Getting someone’s
attention is easy if
you know the right
word.
Loggers commonly yell “Timber!” when felling
trees. Photographers often will
say “Cheese!” to
Esposito
get their subject’s
attention. And in the world of golf, if
you here (sic) the word “Fore!” it’s best
to duck for cover, because in golf jargon
“Fore!” means the golfer playing behind
you took an errant swing and the golf
ball is heading your way.
Oak Ridge recently got national attention when a local resident decided
to submit videos to a Knoxville TV
station of several disrespectful golfers
brandishing more than their golf equipment in her backyard just off the 18th
Hole of the Centennial golf course.
This homeowner had been saying
“Cheese!” with her video camera as golfers routinely used a tree as a urinal.
Not one, not two, not three, but several incidences of golfers urinating in
plain view have been captured on film
for everyone, including national TV
viewers, to see. Not exactly the kind of
image our fair city wants. Word has it
she has accumulated 18 hours of video
to back up her claims of indecent public
urination.
Urinating golfers isn’t something
unique. It does happen elsewhere.
But why, guys (we’re assuming the
film doesn’t include any squatting
women), must you relieve yourself
on the 18th Hole? Surely, despite your
weak bladders, you could have putted
out and taken the extra 80 steps to the
Club House.
Suggestions of limiting alcohol
intake to the “back nine” (holes 10
through 18 for you non-golfers) doesn’t
make much sense. Unless you’re playing pro, beer is the beverage of choice
for golfers. And for us rookie golfers,
our greatest enjoyment is driving the
golf cart, looking for lost balls, and
drinking beer.
This frustrated homeowner decided
to take action. And since exposing the
matter to the press, she now has an
orange port-a-potty visible from her
kitchen window.
We can’t expect Centennial to place
portable restrooms on every hole.
This wouldn’t be practical. So what’s a
homeowner to do?
She and her family could move. Obviously the glamour of living on a golf
course has been “tainted” with the
activities of urinating golfers. If she
ever considers this course of action
perhaps the following advertisement
might be helpful to her Realtor:
“Gorgeous two-story brick home
located on prestigious golf course. Four
bedrooms, three full baths, and one
partial bath with oak tree decor. Enjoy
outside living on the deck. Great for
entertaining and ‘bird watching.’”
But why move? With so many photographs of wayward golfers, she
might consider a different approach.
Do what the Washington, D.C. madam
is threatening to do by exposing her
clients to public ridicule. Why not
enlarge the photos of the culprits so we
can print them in The Oak Ridger? We
could feature them like missing kids on
milk cartons with a caption that reads
“Have you seen this man?” This might
curtail future urination visits and offer a whole new definition of “yellow”
BEST FEATURE PHOTOGRAPH
Group I
Henderson. Rare summer splash,
Julie Pickard
Great composition and crop. Kids
and water are wonderful subjects and
the unusual location makes this pic a
keeper.
And now, the Good Life
3. The Portland Leader. A kiss of
thanks, Sonya Thompson
Huntingdon. Telling secrets, Shirley
Nanney
5. The Erwin Record, As he rode out
of sight, Brenda Sparks
Group II
1. LaFollette Press. LaFollette splash
park, Natasha LaFayette
This has all the elements of good photography – patience, framing, innovation
and skilled use of equipment.
2. The Daily News, Memphis. American Paper Optics, Brad Johnson
Doing the Turkey Tango, Steve Marion
4. LaFollette Press. Learning to fish,
Dwane Wilder
Cruisin’, Dewain E. Peek
Group III
1. The Oak Ridger. Holocaust survivor
Great idea of putting the survivor in the
forefront with a picture from her youth.
The photographer put some thought
into creating an image which grabs the
reader. The best of the class by far!
2. Union City Daily Messenger. Big
swing, David Fuzzell
3.TheTullahoma News. Gone country,
Greg Altum
Exhibition farm
journalism.
Another option to deter this bad
behavior might include the presence of
a family pet. I recommend a 90-pound
German shepherd trained in the proper
rules of engagement. Teaching him to
stay out of bounds of the course might
be challenging, but no harder than training an adult male to stop peeing against
the tree in your yard, I suppose.
With golf season now in full swing
more attention needs to be placed on
golf etiquette. The recent United Way
golf tournament was a good start. The
Golf Committee did its best to retain civility on the Country Club course. They
strategically positioned this volunteer
at the Third Hole. This Par 3 offered a
cash prize to anyone making a hole-inone. Needless to day, I had one eye on
the green and the other on the stand of
pine trees along the fairway.
And like typical golf tournaments,
this one offered “goody-bags” to participating golfers. During the pre-game
speech, I explored the contents of one
expecting to find the usual trinkets. Sure
enough, it included a golf towel—ideal
for cleaning your club, golf ball, or
hands if necessary. I also found several
colorful tees and a small bag of plastic
ball markers (perfect for marking the
spot)—and not one but two 12-ounce
plastic stadium cups. I assume one could
be used for your beverage and the other
... well let’s leave that up to your imagination. My parents always brought along
an empty coffee can during long road
trips when I was a kid.
One thing’s for sure. Now that the lid’s
been blown off this peeing situation,
it will be harder for golfers to relieve
themselves on the golf course. And by
the looks of the brown trees along the
course I’m now beginning to wonder if
it was due to the recent hard freeze or
if we don’t have a more serious situation on our hands—or should I say in
our hands?
(May 8, 2007)
5. The Paris Post-Intelligencer. Jail
garden, Glenn Tanner
Group IV
Just hanging around, Jeff Farrell
no comment
2. Herald-Citizen, Cookeville. A few
pointon
3. The Daily Herald, Columbia. Line of
defense, Thomas Johns
4. Cleveland Daily Banner. River relaxation, David Davis
5. Cleveland Daily Banner. I’m a winner, Donna Kaylor
Group V
1. The Tennessean, Nashville. Landmark to get new letters, John Partipilo
Fantastic picture! Will you take picture
when new letters are in place?
2. Kingsport Times-News. Fun fest
pet dog
SEE AWARDS, PAGE 18
CMYK
12 - Awards
Tiny, pampered poodle is Mom’s favorite child
BY SANDY BRITT
Like a lot of mothers, mine is a bit
crazy, and what she’s
most crazy about is
her little dog, Bennie.
Bennie, a tiny poodle mix, is Mom’s entire focus. She loves
Britt
him more than my
sister or me. That’s a GOOD thing—it
keeps her mind on him and off my
sister, me and all the things we should
or shouldn’t be doing.
Mom loves to sit on the porch with
Bennie on her lap. When she noticed he
liked to rest his head on the chair’s arm,
she thought the metal was too hard for
his little chin, so she wrapped and taped
a towel around it for padding, much
to the amusement of the neighbors.
But that was the least of her Bennie
worries.
One time, during winter, Sis left the
house and forgot to let Bennie back in
from their fenced-in yard. Mom lost her
mind, and my phone burned with the
First place award
Group IV
news of my sister’s unforgivable sin.
Mom became obsessed with the notion
that they’d forget to let him in ALL of
the time, and poor Bennie would freeze
into a Popsicle just like Lot’s wife turned
into a pillar of salt.
She insisted on buying a little dog
house to keep on the back porch, so
Bennie could find comfort during the
horrible hour or so he might have to
spend outside if forgotten.
But then a new worry: Mom fretted
Bennie would be too stupid to go into
the dog house. She’d call me and say,
“What if he won’t go inside? What if
they forget he’s outside again?”
I told her dogs aren’t people, they
have fur, and that even the dumbest dog
knows how to go into a shelter.
But it was a lost cause. Mom isn’t content unless she’s worrying herself—or
one of her daughters—to death.
Mom got the dog house despite her
fears, and guess what? Bennie LOVES
it. He wants to be in it ALL of the time!
Is Mom happy? Yes, because he won’t
freeze to death and no, because now he’s
“OUT THERE all the time.”
She’ll ask me over the phone, “Guess
where Bennie is?” I think she’s miffed
he’d rather be in the dog house than
in with her.
Is everyone OK now? Nope. One day,
Mom saw Bennie sitting in the yard,
“and it was so windy his little ears were
just blowing back.” I’m surprised she
didn’t put a ski mask on him.
This brought my next bright idea: I
mailed Bennie a little coat, more for
her than for him, because I think he’s
smothered enough. The snazzy little
coat was rain-resistant, because I know
how Mom’s mind works.
When it arrived in the mail, she called.
Did she tell me how cute it was? Say
thank you? NO. She said it was “too
small” and that the material would
“keep the cold in against his skin.”
I realize now that worrying is what
makes Mom happy, and with Bennie
around, she’ll be deliriously so for a
long, long time.
(March 7, 2007)
CMYK
Dickensian park sure to draw large crowds
BY JAN HEARNE
Johnson City Press
Pardon the pun,
but England has
great expectations
for its soon-to-open
Dickens World, a
theme park based
on the novels and
times of Charles
Dickens.
Hearne
My friend Sammy
in Louisville, Ky. brought this bit of good
news to my attention, knowing I would
appreciate the humor.
Promotional materials say the park
“will take visitors on a fascinating
journey through Dickens’ lifetime as
they step back into Dickensian England and are immersed in the urban
streets, sounds and smells of the 19th
century.”
Eeew.
According to one Dickens biographer,
Peter Ackroyd, “If a late 20th-century
person were suddenly to find himself
in a tavern or house of the period. he
would be literally sick—sick with the
smells, sick with the food, sick with the
atmosphere around him.”
What, pray tell, are these people
First place award
Group V
Johnson City Press
thinking?
Still, the creators of Dickens World
say “great attention has been paid to
the authenticity of the time, characters and story lines” in order to create
“a host of captivating attractions,”
including—drum roll—Victorian
school room.
Excuse me while I catch my breath.
Can you imagine telling an average
American child he is going to visit a
Victorian school room for vacation?
“Will they have bras there?” he
might ask, making a connection, however wrong, between Victorian and
Victoria’s Secret ads.
Your response will only add to the
letdown. Imagine slumped shoulders
and the reply, “I think I’d rather stay
home and watch TV.”
It is unlikely Americans will ever
have a theme park built around one
of our great authors. We can barely
keep their old homeplaces intact. (I
would, of course, pay good money to
visit Hunter S. Thompson World, but
I’m not sure such an attraction would
be able to keep visitors safe.)
England, however, is sparing no
expense to honor its great Dickens.
Dickens World in Chatham Maritime
Kent will cost £62 million, which in
American dollars is, well, a whole lot
of money.
Based on the illustration at the
Dickens World Web site, this money
is being spent to re-create a 19th century slum along with a shopping mall,
rides, themed restaurants, bars and a
multiplex cinema, just as you would
find them in “Oliver Twist.” Maybe I
missed the part where Fagin spends
the day’s take on towels and scented
soap from a bath boutique.
Dickens World sounds like a 21st-century romanticized version of England
in the 1800s. It’s hard to tell whether
they are leaning toward realism or
whimsy when they promise “a host of
costumed characters.”
If I remember correctly, some of
Dickens’ novels were peopled with
pickpockets, beggars, thieves and ladies
of the evening. Should you visit this
Dickens World, I suggest you keep tabs
on your wallet.
(April 22, 2007)
Milligan gone; Nichols takes communications post
Margie Nichols, formerly chief of
staff to University of Tennessee President John W. Petersen, has been named
interim vice chancellor for communications for the Knoxville campus.
Nichols succeeds Tom Milligan, who
became executive vice chancellor for
university relations at the University
of Massachusetts Amherst on Sept.
1. Nichols joined UT in November
2007 as a member of the president’s
senior staff.
Milligan has represented UT at
Tennessee Press Association awards
events in recent years. He joined UT in
February 2005 after working in public
relations at Colorado State for about 13
years. Prior to his public relations work,
he worked in newspaper and radio.
SEPTEMBER 2008
FROM PAGE 17
AWARDS
Faces of the homeless, Kathleen
Greeson
RX: don’t smoke, Mark Weber
5. Johnson City Press. Don’t fry
BEST SPORTS PHOTOGRAPH
Group I
1. The Milan Mirror-Exchange. Off to
the races, Victor Parkins
Love the composition & intensity
2. The Erwin Record. Slam dunk,
Lesley Hughes
3. The News Leader, Parsons. Best of
the West, Christian Anglin
4. The Portland Leader. This hurdle’s
a breeze
5. The Humboldt Chronicle. Cardinal
slugger, Barry DeLoach
Group II
1. LaFollette Press. On the ball, Dwane
Wilder
Wow! What an expression!
2. The Courier, Savannah. T-ball at its
finest, Amy Reid
3. Carthage Courier. Head-knocker,
Eddie West
Eye on backhand
5. The Courier, Savannah. Cardinal
senior, Brian Reid
Group III
1. Union City Daily Messenger. Splitting the difference, David Fuzzell
This one has it all – good exposure,
nice crop, eye-catching color reproduction, no background distractions and
perfect timing.
Definitely ‘got the shot.’
2. Shelbyville Times-Gazette. Tough
start, Jimmy Jones
3. The Lebanon Democrat. One win
short, Dallus Whitfield
4.The Wilson Post, Lebanon. Acrobatic
set, Tommy Bryan
5. Shelbyville Times-Gazette. Whew!
Statebound champs, Danny Parker
Group IV
1.The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville. Face
mask? Robert Smith
Great action shot! Football is a brutal
game and the photographer captures
the moment!
2. Herald-Citizen, Cookeville. Comeback kids, Ben Winters
3. The Daily Times, Maryville. Coach
celebrates, Daryll Sullivan
4. Herald-Citizen, Cookeville. Breaking
backboard, Tony Marable
5. The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro. Rico Foster & Abby Graham
Group V
1. The Tennessean, Nashville. Titans
receiver, George Walker
Great shot
2. The Tennessean, Nashville. Nashville Superspeedway, Billy Kingsley
3. News Sentinel, Knoxville. Skaters
4. Johnson City Press. Teenagers
rule
5. Kingsport Times-News. The Bloomingdale Shooters
PUBLIC SERVICE
Group I
1. The Humboldt Chronicle. College
quest, April Jackson, Danny Wade
no comment
Henderson.Tech center, Ed Farrell, Julie
Pickard, Holly Roeder
Laurie Everett
district, Jim Zachary, Sarah McCarty
5. The Milan Mirror-Exchange. Child
abuse
Group II
3 great subjects done very well
Democrat, Sweetwater. Melissa Kinton,
Tommy Millsaps
Lloyd, Josh Nelson, Julie Brackenbury,
Gary Grace
Bradley A. Martin
5. insufficient entries
Group III
1. The Newport Plain Talk. Relay for
Life, Duay O’Neil
Wow! Your coverage of this event
seems to make even more events
appear and the phenomenal success
can’t be argued!
200th/spelling bee/forum
3. Shelbyville Times-Gazette. Somali/
horse industry/SSA, René Capley, John
I. Carney, Brian Mosely
4. The Lebanon Democrat. Brooks
House, Jason Cox, Hayli Morrison,
Dallus Whitfield, Bill Cook, Evan McMorris-Santoro, J.R. Lind, Sara McCarty,
Laurie Everett, Amelia Morrison Hipps,
Kimberly Jordan, Marie Corhern
5.The Wilson Post, Lebanon. Weather,
Jennifer Horton, Zack Owensby,Tommy
Bryan, Megan E. Bryan, Sam Hatcher,
John Bryan
Group IV
Suicide; gangs; teen drinking
The topics were very timely, of extreme importance to the community.
The series (all there presented) were
well thought out and planned, with
both positive & negative sides explored,
and solutions or avenues to solutions
investigated & presented. An editorial stance was also presented in each
instance, which is important, I feel, in
public service. Covering a story is our
job. Exploring all facets of a problem &
offering solutions is public service.
2. The Daily Herald, Columbia. ImmiSEE AWARDS, PAGE 19
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
FROM PAGE 10
Clear, logically structured, fun to
read
2. News-Herald, Lenoir City. Get priorities straight, Linda Brewer
Board’s ouster
4. Manchester Times. Don’t blame
city
5. LaFollette Press. Pressing issues,
Awards - 11
AWARDS
Linn Hudson
Group III
1. The Wilson Post, Lebanon. No longer will The Post publish the squabble,
Sam Hatcher
Well-put! Even while admitting your
paper’s role. Often editorials are arrogant and ego-centric; this one is
definitely not.
2. The Lebanon Democrat. School
boards should have taxing authority,
Amelia Morrison Hipps
Time for Pinnacle Pointe developers
to repay, Terri Likens
SEE AWARDS, PAGE 12
Auctions gone, but lessons linger
BY BOB HURLEY
The Greeneville Sun
Tobacco auctions
once fed me, and
now that they are
gone, I’m hopeful
that you will allow
me the courtesy to
say goodbye.
I owe them that.
There is no way to
Hurley
prove this, but when
I tell you that I am the last columnist in
history to be taught in a tobacco field,
you can believe it.
That revelation came to me this
week when I heard that there would
be no tobacco auctions in Greeneville
this fall.
The auction system that fed me and
taught me as a child is gone from Greeneville, never to return.
I know. I know. You probably don’t
give a hoot that this part of our past is
finally over with and done.
But some of us do care.
It would be too much of a stretch for
me to say that all I ever needed to know
to write this column was learned while
working in tobacco, so I won’t say that.
But I can safely say that you wouldn’t
be reading this if I hadn’t first learned
my lesson so well in the tobacco fields
of western Greene County.
I didn’t come today to toot tobacco’s
horn. That’s not my job. Besides, the
big tobacco companies are still paying
big bucks to the well-dressed crowd on
Madison Avenue to do that.
Frankly, I wouldn’t have the job anyway. It is way over my head.
Marilda says she thinks we will live
to see the day when cigarette smoking
is outlawed in this country. As for me, I
don’t know. Like I said, hot-button issues
like this one are way over my head.
But it is clear that we are moving in the
direction that Marilda favors. If cigarettes were invented today, they would
be illegal, she keeps reminding me.
All that from a country girl who grew
up on a tobacco farm? She can tell you
more than you want to know about
tobacco hornworms and sweating in the
August sun, but if you choose to smoke
around her, may the Lord have mercy on
your cigarette-smelling head.
Cigarettes have always been made in
cities with names such as Winston-Salem, Durham and Richmond, but it was
in Greeneville and scores of other much
First place award
Group IV
The Greeneville Sun
smaller towns like it where farmers and
tobacco companies came face to face at
tobacco auctions.
The auctions that have been held the
past two years have been little more than
reminders that an era is now gone. But
the real decline started earlier when the
tobacco companies jointly agreed to pay
billions of dollars to settle a lawsuit
by farmers in North Carolina who had
charged the companies had been fixing
prices for years.
For as long as I can remember, there
have been questions about the auction
system, but, hey, it was all we had in
1957 when I was 13 and hungry as a
stray dog all the time.
And my mama always had questions
about smoking. She begged me not to
smoke. But I had to be cool like Bogart,
and like John Wayne, “The Duke,” as we
called him. Even big-league baseball
players told me it was cool to smoke in
those slick magazine ads.
My mama knew we had to have the
money from tobacco just like she knew
cigarettes were bad news for me after I
began smoking them in my foolish high
school days.
Merle Travis knew it in the late 1940s
when he penned a country hit for Tex
Williams called “Smoke, Smoke, Smoke
That Cigarette.”
Sing along if you have the breath:
“Smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette.
Puff, puff, puff until you smoke yourself
to death. Tell Saint Peter at the Golden
Gate that you hate to make him wait,
but you’ve just got to have another
cigarette.”
Williams, a chain smoker, died of lung
cancer. So did The Duke. So did some
of those big-league baseball players
who looked so cool in Look and Life
magazines.
Nobody made me smoke. Quite the
opposite: I broke my mama’s heart every
time I would light up. It was so easy to be
stupid when I was 13 years old, 10 feet tall
and bulletproof. Henry Emerson Hurley,
my oldest grandson, will be two years
old this fall. I’ve already begun telling
him that he is far too smart to repeat the
sins of his poor old granddaddy.
I have also begun telling Henry the
story of how tobacco not only fed me
when I was a lad, but how it also taught
me to work and live in a world that was
only slightly competitive in the 1950s
compared to the world he is facing.
It would not be right, it seems to me,
to let the old auction system fade away
into history without at least some acknowledgement that it not only bought
groceries and shoes on the dusty roads
at Mohawk, but that it also built schools
and churches and even hospitals.
I will be the whipping boy. It raised me
and provided me the only educational
credentials I have ever received. Remember, there are no college degrees on
my wall. There is only a fading diploma
from a high school on the backroads of
Mohawk, dated 1962.
The tobacco culture that once so completely dominated my life has now all
but disappeared from Mohawk. There
might be a tobacco farmer or two left
with a Mohawk address, but you’d need
a full tank of gas to find them.
But just before the last door is closed
on the last burley barn at dear old
Mohawk, could I just say a word or two
of thanks and farewell to the people
who spent their lives teaching me to
write this column by growing a crop
that much of the world would one day
come to loathe?
They are the same people who taught
me that hard work is not only a requirement to get along in this life, but that it
can be very rewarding as well.
I didn’t know it at the time, but I loved
those people in the 1950s. I love them
even more today. I feel compelled to
tell their story. I wish there were some
way to tell every story of every tobacco
farmer who touched my life with a
lesson I use every time you read one
of my columns.
The passing of 50 years has only made
me appreciate those people more. They
didn’t know it at the time, but they were
filling my life with the kinds of gentle
lessons and memories that every kid
needs and deserves.
“Who was the best teacher you ever
had?” Marilda asked a few nights ago
during one of our front porch sessions
with the lightning bugs.
“Tobacco,” I said without giving it a
second’s thought.
Later that night, after Marilda had
drifted off to sleep beside me, I wondered where I’d be and what I’d be doing
if I hadn’t had tobacco for a teacher.
(July 21, 2007)
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
18 - Awards
VICTOR PARKINS | THE MILAN MIRROR-EXCHANGE
Milan sophomore Dominique Hoyle ran wind sprints during the Bulldogs’ first workout of the 2007 season. The
Dogs will continue workout sessions until their season
opener. (July 10, 2007)
Parkins
First place award
Best sports photo
Group I
Jones gets ETSU Excellence Award
The East Tennessee State University
Foundation and ETSU recognized Tim
P. Jones with the Margin of Excellence Award during the Distinguished
President’s Trust annual dinner for
the university’s top contributors held
recently in Kingsport.
The Margin of Excellence Award
was established in 2002 to acknowledge
individuals who “go above and beyond
the call of duty” in supporting the
mission of ETSU and the Foundation.
Each honoree receives a medallion and
crystal bowl.
Jones, who was vice president and
general manager of Carl Jones Newspapers until the sale of that media group
by his family, has been a leading force in
the Johnson City community through
volunteerism and support of civic is-
sues, ETSU said. He and his family were
instrumental in making the Johnson
City Public Library a reality and have
advocated other initiatives beneficial
for the city’s downtown area.
Jones has also exhibited outstanding
commitment and devotion to ETSU,
serving as Foundation chairman from
2003-07. During his tenure, alumni and
friends of the university gave more than
$69 million to the Foundation, almost
$28 million of which was designated
for scholarships and other endowments.
In 1997, the ETSU Alumni Association
named him an honorary alumnus.
He and his wife, Valda, are members
of the President’s Trust Platinum Society and the ETSU Legacy Circle for
their generous support for the ETSU
Foundation.
SEPTEMBER 2008
What a beautiful Christmas it was for me and my wife!
BY C. ERNEST WILLIAMS
It was a beautiful
Christmas Day in
South Texas, and the
celebration of the
incarnation of the
Son of God became
deeper for me than
it had ever been
before.
Williams
I spent the day
watching my wife die of breast cancer.
It may seem odd to write that it was a
beautiful and intimate experience, but
it was just that.
She had been diagnosed with the
disease 13 years ago and had enjoyed
nine years free of any symptoms. We
traveled the North American continent
together in a recreational vehicle,
served churches together in three states
and enjoyed a wonderful retirement.
Four years ago, her cancer was found
to be active again, and since then there
has been a regular routine of chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
These also were shared and became
CMYK
FROM PAGE 9
First place award
Group III
part of the story of our marriage.
Even as she progressed from a walker
to a wheelchair to a hospital bed and
finally a hospice facility, each step was a
new adventure in which I learned anew
how to love her.
Ginny was a nurse. She had the
temperament and the intellect to be a
superb nurse. She practiced pediatric
nursing in Albany, N.Y. and Trenton,
N.J.
Then after marrying me in 1973,
she spent 14 years with St. Joseph’s
Infant Home in suburban Cincinnati,
Ohio—first as a volunteer, then renewing her license in Ohio and joining the
staff as a nurse, and then becoming
director of nursing.
St. Joseph’s was a special place for
special children who were severely
brain-damaged, multiply-handicapped
and profoundly retarded.
Some had been resuscitated at
AWARDS
2. LaFollette Press. Linn Hudson
Brewer
City
Carpenter
Group III
1. The Lebanon Democrat. Amelia
Hipps
The writer writes decisively and lays
out the facts that lead to her conclusion,
bringing the reader along. Well-written
and very readable. Congratulations!
3. The Paris Post-Intelligencer. Bill
Williams
4. The Oak Ridger
5. The Wilson Post, Lebanon. Sam
Hatcher, John B. Bryan
Group IV
Stan Voit
Engaging writing about important
public issues. Shorter paragraphs – and
shorter editorials – would be even better. But these pieces definitely serve
the public.
Fletcher
Alane S. Megna
4. The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro. Sam Stockard
5. The Daily Times, Maryville. Dean
Stone
Group V
1. The Tennessean, Nashville. Mike
Morrow
I like the challenges these editorials
present to readers: 1) What’s needed to
keep hockey team. 2) A great endorsement for mayor – challenging voters to
make good choice. 3) And, best of all,
seeking support for Fisk University and
keeping artwork in Nashville!
Editorial Board
3. Bristol Herald Courier. Andrea
Hopkins
birth, when death would have been
certain and might have been more
benevolent. Some had been born with
abnormalities.
One had fallen on his head from
a third-floor window. One had been
beaten into insensibility by an adult.
Virginia, as director of nursing,
had to deal with the families of these
children.
One parent might devote such exclusive attention to the care of this child
that the spouse and other children were
left out, and a separation occurred.
Another parent might be so unable to
accept a “defective” child that he or she
would abandon the family.
Ginny showed amazing patience
and compassion in dealing with these
families.
In her position, she was in charge of
planning an expansion of the facility.
The state passed a law which said that
any facility which had more than eight
patients was a hospital and had to have
a doctor on hand 24 hours a day and a
number of other things St. Joseph’s
couldn’t afford.
So it was decided that several eightpatient cottages would be built on the
It takes a reporter
“Federal whistleblower legislation
protects employees who step forward
with accounts of wrongdoing in
government or corporate America....
Yet without a committed reporter on
BEST SINGLE EDITORIAL
Group I
1. The Milan Mirror-Exchange. DCS
dropped the ball, Bob Parkins
Well crafted. Very emotion-packed.
This editorial gets its point across well.
A nice, big screaming headline would
have been more effective, though. Do
not use exclamation points. Let your
words be the exclamation point. This
piece stands head and shoulders above
the rest. Good job.
2. Grainger Today, Bean Station. Tabling county business, Jim Zachary
3. Mt. Juliet News. Questionable
backgrounds, Laurie Everett
4. The Millington Star. Patience
crucial
5. Carroll County News-Leader, Huntingdon. Absurdity, Ron Park
Group II
1. Memphis Business Journal. We
see no reason
SEE AWARDS, PAGE 11
campus. My wife was the one responsible for planning the kind of facilities
that would be needed for nearly doubling
their clientele of 32 children.
She did it excellently, and I was very
proud of her.
Ginny was also a minister’s wife,
and loved it. She loved the Lord Jesus,
loved His church and loved the pastor.
Together, we did things I would not have
been able to do alone.
In several churches, she prepared, and
I led, a Passover celebration in which
the words and acts of Jesus at His last
Passover with His disciples were presented. Congregations learned to eat
borscht, gefilte fish, matzo ball soup,
lox and other Jewish delicacies.
They learned what piece of bread
Jesus broke—the second of a group
of three!—what cup he passed and
what normally happens at the time
when Jesus got down and washed the
disciples’ feet.
She loved being hostess at events in the
manse; she loved teaching children in
the Sunday school and directing youngsters in Christmas and Palm Sunday
presentations; and loved preening me
to make me look as good as possible
Partipilo
If...then
hand to bring the story to the public’s
attention, these individuals would be
whistling in the dark.”
Neal Shapiro
President, NBC News, 2004
First place award
Best feature photo
Group V
FROM PAGE 18
before entering the sanctuary.
I loved walking out after the benediction, taking her by the hand, and leading
her to the doorway to greet the people
with me as they departed—and the
people loved it, too.
Christmas was always special between
us, and never more than this year. She
acknowledged my presence, although
she could no longer speak. She knew
we were together, and was calm and
free of pain.
The image in my mind, strangely,
was that of a pilot preparing to land an
airliner. It doesn’t happen all at once.
There is a sequence of events.
You feel the power cut back to the
engines; you see the lights go on; you
feel it when the wing flaps go down;
you hear the landing gear clunk down
into position; and finally comes the
touch down.
I watched Ginny as if she were going
down a checklist, as one body system
after another shut down until she
finally came in for a perfect, almost
imperceptible landing.
She could not have received a more
beautiful Christmas gift.
(Jan. 15, 2007)
“If journalists cannot be trusted
to guarantee confidentiality, then
journalists cannot function and there
cannot be a free press.” Judith Miller
Reporter, The New York Times, 2004
JOHN PARTIPILO | THE TENNESSEAN, NASHVILLE
Willie Daniels, left, and Rick Harding, in the basket,
take down the S on the BellSouth Building in downtown
Nashville. The building, often called the Batman building, will be renamed the AT&T Building. AT&T bought
BellSouth (in 2006). (April 4, 2007)
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
gration; crime, freedom of information
DUI, Jeff Ferrell, Derek Hodges, Stan
Voit
4. The Greeneville Sun. Director of
schools; rediscover Greeneville
5. The Daily Times, Maryville. Community; fire victims, Anna C. Irwin, Iva
Butler, Jessica Stith, Bonny C. Millard
Group V
1. News Sentinel, Knoxville. Taking
a stand
Thank you from the rest of us for standing up for what is right. This is why we
are in the business – it is our job & duty
to keep government honest.
2. Bristol Herald Courier. Government
salaries
3. The Tennessean, Nashville. Escaping justice
Faces of the homeless
Memphis & the world
BEST SPECIAL ISSUE
OR SECTION
Group I
1. The Humboldt Chronicle. Got
Berries, April Jackson, Danny Wade,
Beverly Ward
I loved the wide array of pictures and
articles that described the event. Sounds
like the community is very involved with
this festival & through this section there
are many color photos/ads to bring it all
together & enjoyable to look through.
2. Grainger Today, Bean Station. Visitors Guide, Jim Zachary
3. The Millington Star. Progress
2007
4. Mt. Juliet News. Our Home
A Storybook Christmas, Ron Caylor, Kristen Swing, John Kiener, Sarah Winters,
Charlie Mauk, Bea Casey, Heather E.
Seay, Lynn J. Richardson
Group II
1. The Rogersville Review. Old Times
Advertising sales is phenomenal in this
section. Print quality is good. Paper took
a novel subject – old times – & made it
to 4 sections of money. Good historical
articles – like Sultana sinking, etc.
Heart of True Love
3. Monroe County Advocate & Democrat, Sweetwater. Skyway News, Mia
Rhodarmer, Melissa Kinton, Tommy
Millsaps, Michael Thomason, Dan
Baker, Megan Stitz, JeanTallent, Sharon
Livingston, Phylis Bellamy
Community 2007
5. The Courier, Savannah. Hardin
County Visitors Guide, Terry VanEaton
Group III
1. Shelbyville Times-Gazette. Tennessee Walking Horse Celebration,
The Advertising & News Staff of The
Shelbyville Times-Gazette
AWARDS
A beautiful edition paying tribute to
the celebration of the heartbeat of your
community.
2. The Newport Plain Talk. A Place
Called Home
3. Crossville Chronicle. Pride
Remember When
5. The Paris Post-Intelligencer. The
Holidays, Gay Francisco, Leslie Jensing
Group IV
1. Herald-Citizen, Cookeville. Playmakers, Buddy Pearson, Thomas Corhern,
Craig Delk
Good variety of stories and pictures,
advertising, etc.The area covered is very
extensive and must be very appreciated.
I’m impressed with the schedule and
preview. I also thought the “Players to
Watch” and “Games to Watch” added
to the section.
2. Elizabethton Star. A Salute to All
Carter Co. Veterans, Rozella Hardin,
Janie McKinney, Franklin Robinson,
Awards - 19
ENGRAVINGS
Bryan Stevens
Common Threads
Salute to Fort Campbell
5. Citizen Tribune, Morristown. World
Champions
Group V
1. Bristol Herald Courier. Straight &
Narrow on the Crooked Road
This is obviously a major investment
of time & resources for the paper. Excellent use of color, great ad support.
Section is “earmarked” & divided well
for the reader. A collector’s edition. I
wanted to keep reading, but had to
move on. The only part I would criticize
is the cover – which is a little too “busy”
& confusing for my taste.
Stax ‘n Soul
Chattanooga Now
MainStreet Media, LLC, the parent company of The Wilson Post, has
been selected one of the Future 50
businesses in the Nashville region by
the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. The award is presented annually
to 50 fastest-growing privately-owned
companies headquartered in Middle
Tennessee.
“This year’s competition was made
especially difficult,” said Charles
Sueing, chairman of the Chamber’s
small business council, because of the
number of nominees. “It goes to show
the strength of these companies, despite
the challenges of a less-than-perfect
economy,” he said
MainStreet Media owns and publishes community newspapers in
Middle Tennessee and also publishes
senior lifestyle periodicals in Middle
Tennessee and Florida. The company
also operates a web press publishing
division in Lebanon, where it prints
its own Tennessee publications as
well as several other nearby publications. The publishing division prints
advertising inserts for newspapers,
company newsletters, tourism maps,
school newspapers and provides other
commercial printing products for customers outside the company.
In Tennessee, MainStreet Media’s
newspaper holdings, besides The Wilson Post in Lebanon, include community newspapers in Franklin, Smithville,
Lafayette and Gallatin. It also publishes
Mature Lifestyles, a monthly magazine
distributed in five Middle Tennessee
counties. Other senior lifestyle titles
are in Sarasota, Fort Myers, Tampa,
St. Petersburg and Ocala, Fla.
The Future 50 awards are sponsored by
the Bank of America, The Tennessean,
Nashville, KraftCPAs and Frost Brown
Todd. Recipients are to be honored at a
banquet Sept. 18.
(From The Wilson Post, Lebanon,
Aug. 6, 2008)
SEE AWARDS, PAGE 20
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
10 - Awards
First place award
Best single ad
Dailies
(Aug. 10, 2007)
Andy Barnes
First place award
Best single ad
Non-dailies
Overton County News,
Livingston
(Dec. 19, 2007)
Darren Oliver
FROM PAGE 19
4. The Tennessean, Nashville. 100
Years in Nashville
5. News Sentinel, Knoxville. Paid
in Full
SUNDAY EDITIONS
Dailies
•Wow! Where do you start? There
aren’t enough good things to say about
this paper. Great in-depth writing, local
issues and local voices. Great color
quality and pages that are easy to read
and easy to use.
Not that I’d suggest such a thing, but
if a newspaper could keep somebody
home from church, this would be it.
3. The Jackson Sun
CMYK
PROMOTION
OF NEWSPAPERS
Dailies
1. The Daily Herald, Columbia. Baby
contest, Thomas Browne
Awesome idea! Followed through with
enough meat to see that it succeeds.
AWARDS
Talent search
3. The Daily News, Memphis. Law
week, Jen Simmons
4. Johnson City Press. Her, Suzanne
Huron
5. Elizabethton Star. Trustworthy
source, Eveleigh Hatfield, Harvey
Prichard, Phyllis Davis
Non-dailies
US campaign
I loved it! Your “turn to us” is a terrific
inventive campaign. Awesome!
2. The Erwin Record. Promotion
series, Mark A. Stevens, Anthony D.
Piercy, Lesley Hughes, Betty Davis,
Brenda Sparks, Keith Whitson, David
Thometz
3. The Gallatin Newspaper. Who
we are
Stuck on Charlie, Ron Caylor, Charlie
Mauk, Lynn J. Richardson
Valentine
BEST SINGLE ADVERTISEMENT
Dailies
1. Kingsport Times-News. Tomato
Fest III
As the last entry in this category I
looked at, the ad really jumped out
at me. The use of color, the easy-toread font & the size used for the font
all helped to make up an attractive &
informative ad. Great composition!
2. Bristol Herald Courier. Farmers
Market
3. The Greeneville Sun. Donate life
4. The Daily Herald, Columbia. Adopt
me, Emily Goad
5.The Paris Post-Intelligencer. All they
want for Christmas, Jacquta Burke
Non-dailies
Santa’s office help, Darren Oliver
Very personal touch. The kids’ costumes and naming them I am sure
caught reader’s eye to see if they knew
any of them. Nice incorporation of the
bank’s slogan with Santa’s Office.
2. Carthage Courier. Red hot buys
World finance
4. The Erwin Record. We play hard,
Anthony D. Piercy, Cathy Huskins, Mark
A. Stevens
5. The News Leader, Parsons. Home
& garden show, Mark Trimmer
It is likely that an Oct. 7 meeting in
Nashville will help many voters across
America decide who they want to be our
next president.
That’s when the third of three presidential debates will be held at Belmont
University. We began brainstorming our
coverage plans last week.
Now, the Belmont “debate” won’t be a
classic political debate — two candidates
standing at podiums fielding questions
from a moderator or a panel. Rather, a
town hall meeting format will have the
candidates answer questions and talk
with a group of undecided voters from
across the country, folks selected by the
commission that stages the debates.
This will be the final debate for the
candidates. Its timing in early October
and its open format suggest the Belmont
session may play a critical role in the
campaign.
But why plan coverage so early, especially when the event will be covered
by national political reporters anyway?
One of our missions is to cast national
issues in a local context. To make the
Belmont debate especially meaningful,
we intend to show the potential impact
on Tennessee of the candidates’ stands
on the issues that by then will have
become central to the campaign.
All Sides, Angles Covered
We’ll look at the issues in advance of
the Belmont meeting — outlining the
stakes, noting previous positions and
pointing out any factual flaws with the
claims or promises.
Afterward, we will assess what
was said — again, from a Tennessee
perspective.
We will interview the people at the
town hall session for their take, and we
will ask for your views as well.
We also will provide coverage of the
thousands of people who will come
to Nashville for the event — national
print, broadcast and online media as
well as political operatives for both
campaigns.
We hope to share with you their
observations of the campaign as well
as their view of Nashville.
Fact is, while this will be an important
moment in the presidential campaign,
it also will be a very big moment for
Belmont University and Nashville. It
will place the university and the city
on the world stage for a reason other
than the music industry, health care
or our other calling cards.
To accomplish our coverage goals,
we’ll likely have four reporters assigned
to the debate — before, during and after.
Two editors will work on the coverage,
plus at least two photographers and one
videographer.
We will provide updates from Belmont
on Tennessean.com throughout the
debate. We’re also toying with another
idea — creating our own town hall meeting for selected local residents.
Perhaps we will ask representatives
of each campaign to participate. Perhaps we will conduct our town hall
online. Perhaps we will invite voters
to discuss the issues at a meeting at
The Tennessean offices or at another
venue.
As we develop our coverage plans,
I’d like to hear from you. Would such
a local town hall meeting approach
be worthwhile? What other coverage
would you like to see?
Please let me know. It’s not too soon
to plan.
(June 29, 2008)
ENGRAVINGS
T he Tennessee Education
Association awarded two statewide
School Bell Awards for excellence in
media coverage of education May 9
in Nashville.
Ann Wallace, The Leaf-Chronicle,
Clarksville, won for outstanding coverage by an an individual reporter, and
Alice Dollar, Newspaper in Education
manager at the News Sentinel, Knoxville, won for outstanding coverage by
a large daily newspaper.
SCMA elects three
The Southern Circulation Managers
Association elected three Tennesseans
to the board of directors at its 79th
annual conference April 20 through 23
in Baton Rouge, La.
Jim Boyd of the News Sentinel,
Knoxville, was named second vice
president. Glen Tabor of the Kingsport
Times-News was elected treasurer, and
Dale Long of The Greeneville Sun was
named director at large.
Wendi C. Thomas,
columnist with The
Commercial Appeal,
Memphis, has been
inducted into the
Scripps Journalism
Hall of Fame after
winning multiple
first place awards in
Thomas
Scripps writing contests for commentary. The newspaper
celebrated with her on July 14
She joins the likes of Geoff Calkins,
Alan Spearman and the now-departed
David Waters of The Commercial Appeal
in the hall of fame.
Thomas attended Memphis schools
and Butler University in Indiana, where
she graduated with a degree in journalism. She has been a reporter or an editor
at The Indianapolis Star, The Tennessean, Nashville, and at the Charlotte
(N.C.) Observer. In August 2003, Wendi
returned to Memphis after a 14-year
absence to be the metro columnist for
her hometown paper. Her column appears on Sundays.
|
John Sale, Jim Weber and Alan
Spearman won the National Press
Photographers Association first quarter
of 2008 Best Use of Photography Clip
Contest. They are with The Commercial
Appeal, Memphis. The clip was the front
page of Feb. 7, lead headline, “Lives Lost
and Tarred,” about a tornado’s effect in
West Tennessee.
|
Marketing at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has won 23 awards from
the Volunteer Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, including two
first place awards for Tennessee Today,
the new faculty/staff communications
program.
In all, UT won 28 awards. In addition
to the 23 won by UT Knoxville’s Office
of Communications and Marketing,
the UT system won two awards and
the Institute of Agriculture won three
awards. The honors were announced
April 10 at the annual awards dinner
sponsored by the local PRSA chapter.
Of the 23 awards garnered by UT’s Office of Communications and Marketing,
seven were Awards of Excellence, nine
were Awards of Quality and seven were
Awards of Merit.
“We have a great staff,” then-Vice
Chancellor for Communications Tom
Milligan said. “It’s important that we
measure our work against the very
best in our city and region. It’s very
gratifying to be supporting University
of Tennessee and have our good work
recognized by our peers.”
Marketing won Awards of Excellence
for Tennessee Today in both the internal
relations and electronic newsletters
categories. The faculty/staff newsletter
is distributed weekly in print, as well as
daily in electronic and Web forms.
Assistant Director of Media Relations
Amy Blakely won two Awards of Excellence for writing, one for press releases
detailing how renowned UT forensic
anthropologist Bill Bass was enlisted
to examine the exhumed remains of
the Big Bopper and one for a Tennessee
Alumnus feature about Fr. Bernard
O’Connor, a UT alumnus now working
at the Vatican. UT Knoxville’s Office of
Communication and Marketing won
Awards of Quality for the following:
•Tennessee Governor’s Academy
publicity efforts, in the category of
public service. Those most involved
were Media Relations Coordinator Jay
Mayfield and Angie Dobbs.
•The Donor Leadership Appreciation
Event invitation designed by Baker.
•“Homegrown Music,” a Tennessee
Alumnus feature written by Blakely.
•eTorch, a monthly electronic newsletter delivered to alumni. Those most
involved were Editor Diane Ballard and
Web Designer Leigh Shoemaker.
•The Ready for the World Web site
designed by Darren Hughes.
•The UT National Alumni Association Tour Program direct mail materials designed by Lee Hume.
•The safety program, which included
Fort Sanders Safety Day, posters, booklets and other crisis communications
materials. Those involved included the
Media + Internal relations team, Powell
and Designer Jill Sanders.
•“Where in the World is Smokey?”
a community relations project aimed
at focusing attention on the Ready for
the World initiative. The program is
coordinated by Blakely.
•“Alexander and Gordon at Forefront
of Scientific Leadership,” a column
written by Mayfield.
The office won Awards of Merit for:
•“AUTumn in Knoxville” faculty/
staff appreciation event publicity
materials designed by Dobbs.
•The “Taking PrecaUTions” safety
poster series written and edited by
Powell and designed by Sanders.
•“Harry Potter,” a press release written by Blakely about a law professor
who is a Potter aficionado.
•Reaching Out, a magazine about
UT’s community service and outreach
efforts edited by Powell and designed
by Sanders.
•utk.edu, the university’s main Web
site designed by Hughes.
•Cultural Attraction Series direct
mail materials edited by Mary Marshburn and designed by Dobbs.
•“All That Glitters Is Orange,” a
brochure describing services provided
by the Office of Communications and
Marketing, written and edited by Powell and designed by Sanders.
The UT system office received two
Awards of Excellence, one for President
John Petersen’s 2007 tour of campuses
and one for “A Statewide Campus,” the
2007-2008 TV commercial. The Institute
of Agriculture received Awards of
Quality for a TV news story on UT
Extension’s Tai Chi program, written
and produced by Chuck Denney and
Doug Edlund, and its Third Thursday
newsletter, written by Margot Emery
and designed by Donna Hundley. The
Institute won an Award of Merit for
“Do You Want to Help the World?”, an
undergraduate recruitment catalog
written by Mary Albrecht and designed
by Rich Maxey.
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
AWARDS
ENGRAVINGS
Belmont debate to spotlight Nashville
BY MARK SILVERMAN
SEPTEMBER 2008
FROM PAGE 8
5. Elizabethton Star. Bryan Stevens,
Janie McKinney, Robin Johnson
Group V
Wonderful, wonderful sections from
pets to hats to a 47-year-old in a marching band.You provided your readers with
touching down-to-earth well-written,
nicely packaged stories.
SPORTS WRITING
Group I
1. The Erwin Record. Kevin Lewis,
Bryan Stevens, Lesley Hughes, Anthony
D. Piercy
Strong writing on unusual sports (by
Bryan Stevens) leads to an excellent
section. Staff covered wide range of
sports including individuals & coaches
and former players.
2. Carroll County News-Leader, Huntingdon. Shirley Nanney, Jim Steele,
Lorna Jablionski, Ron Park, John
Latham, David Hampton
Smithville. Brent Arnold
Heather E. Seay, Steven LeMaster
Group II
1. LaFollette Press. Dwane Wilder
Very nice leads (though they could be
shorter & more crisp)
Wonderful blend of personal side
of sports outside the lines with game
account.
Use of interesting & non-typical treatments of writing a plus.
Tons of quotes – reader gets it straight
from the coach’s/athlete’s mouth first
hand.
Very well done! Congratulations.
2. Carthage Courier. Scott Winfree
Darren Reese
4. Monroe County Advocate & Democrat, Sweetwater. Corbitt Hollingsworth,
John Taylor
5. The Herald-News, Dayton. Cathy
Barnes
Group III
1. Shelbyville Times-Gazette. Danny
Parker, Gary Johnson
•Both writers showed great expertise
in their writing skills. Sentence structure
was excellent, the stories were easy to
read from start to finish.
•Some leads were stronger than the
others in capturing attention, but overall
they were well written.
•I especially enjoyed the features on
Ryan Morton and the one on the QB-
Awards - 9
Wedding planning craziness well worth end results
BY ERIC MILLER
Robertson County Times, Springfield
Planning a wedding is a lot like
the Iraq war—seemingly easy to accomplish goals that end
up causing a lot of
suffering and costing a great2 deal of
time and money. Of
Miller
course, fairy tales
aren’t cheap and for the 50 percent of
marriages that don’t end in more suffering and more money spent, the effort
is all worth it in the end.
Now, I’ve just gotten married so,
statistically speaking, the jury’s still
out, the chips have yet to fall where
they may and other such whatnot. That
said, I believe that my wife and I have
what it takes to die of old age within
feeble reach of one another and I’m
not just saying that to justify the cost
of our fairy tale.
When I first proposed to my wife—in
Spanish because I could pretend I meant
to ask her to pass the butter if her reaction were less than favorable—I believed
planning a wedding would be quick and
easy. Preacher, church, flowers, food and
you’re out. And, of course, being boastfully faux-confident like a man who sees
his fiancee’s ex-boyfriend and says, “I
could take him,” I told my bride-to-be
that planning a wedding could easily
be done in three months.
One case of antacids and three separate but similarly empty bank accounts
Center friendship: Those stories did an
excellent job of drawing in interest.
5. The Newport Plain Talk. Seth Butler,
Paul Meador
Group IV
1. Herald-Citizen, Cookeville. Buddy
Pearson, Craig Delk
•All-around quality writing. Stories all
opened with solid leads that drew me
into the story. Preview stories had me
looking ahead to games with anticipation. Game stories were actual stories
instead of 1st quarter-4th quarter playby-play. Excellent work!
2. The Daily Herald, Columbia. Justin
Lamb, Marion Wilhoite, Ryan Callahan
3.The DailyTimes, Maryville. Leonard
Butts, John Brice
Jason Davis, Cobey Hitchcock, Lionel
Green
Group V
•Mr. Kuharsky does a great job of telling these stories, the ones away from
the bright lights and adoring enablers.
Real stories about real people who happen to be involved with sports.
First place award
Group II
Robertson County Times,
Springfield
later, this shell-shocked groom and his
sparkling bride were at the altar. Despite
three months of epic stress, we managed to get everything together. All of
the groomsmen had their tuxedos and
the bridesmaids were wearing their
matching dresses and all had made it
safely to our sides at the altar. I bit my
tongue as four more junior bridesmaids
that I felt to be entirely unnecessary
lined up behind the bridesmaids, which
I guess was in case any of them wanted
to tag out.
Then, four flower girls with a justhappy-to-be-here-and-ooh-a-shinyobject attitude later, my bride walked
down the aisle. Her startling beauty
stopped my grumbling and reminded
me to enjoy the moment. Hand-in-hand,
we ascended the stairs and entered our
fairy tale.
That is, of course, if fairy tales ended
with a punch-line.
After months of stress and hard
work and managing to pull together a
beautiful ceremony, we were absolutely
blindsided by the preacher.
Dressed in a suit with a red shirt and
red tie that made me think of how the
devil would have been dressed in a bad
‘80s movie and aided by an interpreter
to translate the Spanish ceremony into
English, the preacher turned the altar
into a stage and he chewed the scenery
like he was trying to win an award.
We were treated to nearly an hour
of what was a mixture of wedding
ceremony, premarital counseling and
a sermon full of brimstone.
Random is an accurate way to describe
the preacher’s approach. I believe it
may be the first wedding ceremony to
ever feature the word “fornicate” in two
languages and I will swear on a stack
of Bibles that he asked everyone in the
audience to give their spouses “some
honey” right there in the church, which
I am reasonably sure meant he wanted
everyone to kiss each other. Except for
the bride and I, of course. Instead of
telling us when to kiss, we just waited
until he paused and then waited some
more to make sure that pause wasn’t
some sort of trick before I lifted my
wife’s veil and gave her the wedding
kiss we had been practicing for weeks
for that very moment.
Seeing my wife sleeping peacefully
nearby as I write this and despite the fact
that her family is now waiting for us to
announce that she is pregnant, I know
now that I would go through everything
all over again and wear a chicken suit
at the altar if that’s what I had to do to
marry the love of my life.
Of course, if I could do it all over
again—and this is the part where I
offer advice to those who are starting
to plan their weddings—I wholeheartedly recommend a leisurely courthouse
wedding.
(Sept. 5, 2007)
EDITOR’S NOTE: Eric Miller is
now with the Hendersonville Star
News.
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
20 - Awards
•The stories aren’t the same ol’-same
ol’ and that’s refreshing.
2. The Jackson Sun
Jim Masilak
EDITORIALS
Group I
Zachary
•These are what editorials should be
– hard-hitting, clear, persuasive, full of
righteous indignation and about public
bodies and public policies that matter
to people. This newspaper is fulfilling
its duties as part of the democratic
system. Way to go!
Janice Willis-Barnett, Ralph Hood, Ray
Knapp, Connie Denney, Charles Holt
Group II
1. Memphis Business Journal. Terry
Hollahan, Jane Donahoe
•Good topics and good writing that
keeps things moving and kept me
reading.
SEE AWARDS, PAGE 10
JEFF FARRELL | THE MOUNTAIN PRESS, SEVIERVILLE
Firefighter Lynn Rawlings hangs upside down as he
simulates a construction rescue during a training exercise. (April 4, 2007)
Farrell
First place award
Best feature photo
Group IV
The Mountain Press, Sevierville
The Tennessee Press
Good ole’ boying not good enough
CMYK
BY JIM ZACHARY
Editor, Grainger Today, Bean Station
The words “good
ole’ boy” can mean
a lot of different
things.
A good ole’ boy
can simply be a
hard working, salt
of the earth, simple
living, trustworthy
Zachary
fellow who would
do anything in the world to help family,
friends and neighbors. In that case, give
us more good ole’ boys.
A good ole’ boy can be the kind of a guy
who spends all his time in a bass boat,
in the deer woods, or chasing a coon
dog. A good ole’ boy can be someone
who grew up here, has lived here his
entire life, gone to the same church, held
down the same job, knows everybody
and everybody knows him.
Those varieties of good ole’ boys you
can live with. In fact, a good ole’ boy can
be the best neighbor you’ll ever have.
However, sometimes, the words “good
ole’ boy” mean something far more
unseemly, unsavory and unwanted.
Does anyone deny there is a good ole’
boy network, where it is not a matter of
what you know, but who you know?
I am not too crazy about Wikipedia,
the free Internet encyclopedia. Principally, I don’t care much for Wikipedia
because anyone can contribute to it, regardless of their level of expertise, the
accuracy of their definitions, strength
of their credentials or validity of their
observations.
However, a Wikipedia entry hits the
nail right square on the head with this
offering:
“The good ole’ boy network describes a
system of social networking and perceptions alleged to exist prevalently among
certain communities and social strata
in the United States. Although the term
originated in the South, these networks
can be found throughout the U.S. and the
rest of the Western world. It is typically
taken to refer to informal legal, judicial,
social, religious, business, and political
associations among white males (“good
ol’ boys”); however, in modern times can
be composed of either or both sexes. In
some areas, the good ole’ boy network is
said to still exert considerable influence
over many aspects of local government,
business, and law enforcement. Usage
of the term can often imply a wrongful
exclusion of others from the network;
however, often the emphasis is on inclusion of a member, as in, “doing a good
ole’ boy a favor” (Wikipedia).
When elected officials do dirty deals,
hire relatives, do favors for payola, look
the other way when their friends and
family mess up, try to sneak, hide and
slip some piece of public business or
legislation through without taking
ownership, violate open meetings
legislation, and generally behave in
an underhanded way, sometimes we
say, “they good ole’ boy-ed it.”
Last week I sat in a public meeting
First place award
Group I
Grainger Today, Bean Station
up in Rogersville that lasted all of
four seconds (yes that is a bit of an
exaggeration, but not much, replace
seconds with minutes and you’d be
pretty doggone close) where a new
director of schools was hired. There
were no discussions, no deliberations,
no public considerations, just a couple
of brief rehearsed statements, a motion,
a second, and a quick vote. Yep, they
good ole’ boy-ed it, all right, and wait,
it gets better, or worse, I should say.
Now the state of Tennessee says, “all
decisions,” and all DELIBERATIONS,
“toward a decision” must be done in
public (T.C.A. 8-44-102). That means no
private meetings, no telephone calling
for strategizing, no emailing among
officials regarding their vote, and no
private retreats where they discuss the
public’s business. These things are all
good ole’ boy-ing, and all violate the law.
The law further says, “Any action taken
at a meeting in violation of this part
shall be void and of no effect.” Now, I
say all of this to commend the Grainger
County Board of Education. While they
did, at one point, discuss “closing” their
deliberations, when hiring a new director, they checked with their lawyer and
opted to keep the meetings open and
then they thoroughly discussed their
choices between the final two candidates
in open meetings. They voted, by voice
vote, and re-voted and voted again.
They continued to deliberate in open
meetings, each member working to
convince fellow members. They could
have chosen to go the good ole’ boy
route, but they did not. Granted, it took
them a while to reach a decision and
the “stalemate” and even a suggestion
the top two candidates meet and decide
among themselves who should be the
director of schools was a bit comical,
at best, but the BOE kept it all open and
above board, shall we say.
As I left the Rogersville meeting I was
a little ashamed of my hometown and
of Hawkins County. I was, at the same
time, a bit proud of Grainger County.
Then, when I saw the local newspaper
coverage up there and the way the
controversy was not so much as alluded
to, it made me appreciate working for
a publication such as Grainger Today
that prides itself in strong community
journalism and in providing an open
and free public forum.
Oh, and I said it gets better—when
the whirlwind vote was taken by the
Rogersville City School Board, the
person hired happened to be the wife of
a member of the board itself (though,
he did not vote). Regardless of how
qualified or unqualified, even Wikipedia
would have that classified as the “good
ole’ boy network,” hard at work. At least,
that’s the way it seems to me.
(June 6, 2007)
SEPTEMBER 2008
AWARDS
Awards - 21
GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARDS - FRONT PAGES
FROM PAGE 7
Layout, esp. using white space, also
attracted me to the stories. Keep up
the good work.
BEST SINGLE FEATURE
Group I
Huntingdon. Special D-Day, Shirley
Nanney
Watch AP Style. Good, emotional
story that held my interest.
Hurschel knows
3. The Erwin Record. Addressed to a
friend, David Thometz
4. The Erwin Record. Wanted: Ad in
Record, Jerry Hilliard
5. Chester County Independent, Henderson. WWII Vet, James A. Webb
Group II
1. LaFollette Press. Act of vigilantism,
Susan Sharp
Fantastic! This story made me angry
and sad all at the same time. Your
presentation of the facts in this case
was wonderful!
2.The News Examiner, Gallatin. Game
changed Gallatin
3. The Knoxville Journal. The quiet
side of the game
City. Blue’s backpacks, Steve Marion
5. Carthage Courier.The gift of inspiration, Scott Winfree
Group III
1. The Oak Ridger. Momma they got
me a heart, Beverly Majors
•A wonderful, horrible story magically
told. Quotes from both families are
amazing. Very compelling human interest story. A masterfully job by Majors.
Give her a raise immediately!
2. The Wilson Post, Lebanon. Her life
once stolen, Sam Hatcher
Will to walk, James Clark
4. The Oak Ridger. Soldier dies in
Iraq
Couple celebrates 70 years
Group IV
1. The Daily Times, Maryville. Cop &
addict, Mark Boxley
“Alcoa Office” - strong - impressive
story makes you wonder what Boxley
will write about next.
2. The Greeneville Sun. 10 years ago
today, Bill Jones, Tom Yancey, Bryan
Gillespie
3. Cleveland Daily Banner. Passport,
cane
4. Citizen Tribune, Morristown. Duty
5. The Greeneville Sun. Fragile start,
Lisa Warren
Group V
1. News Sentinel, Knoxville. Faithful
to the end
The subject matter was compelling
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
THE ERWIN RECORD
Group I
Group II
SCOTT FRAKER | THE OAK RIDGER, OAK RIDGE
Mira Ryczke Kimmelman of Oak Ridge spent five and a
half years in ghettos and labor and concentration camps
in Germany and Poland during World War II. She told her
chilling yet inspirational life story to attendees of a local
Women’s History Month program. (April 13, 2007)
Fraker
First place award
Best feature photo
Group III
– very well written & illustrated. Most
readers can relate – a primer on attitudes
about death and dying. It takes the
reader through – compassionately – the
final stages of life.
2. The Jackson Sun. Searching for
home, Tracie Simer
3.TheTennessean, Nashville. Lessons
from losing, Leon Alligood
Menace unabashed, Cindy Wolff
5. Bristol Herald Courier. It’s Conway,
Joe Tennis
COMMUNITY LIFESTYLES
Group I
1. The Erwin Record. David Thometz,
Jerry Hilliard, Anthony D. Piercy, Mark
A. Stevens, Brenda Sparks, Bryan
Stevens
Pictures were great. Articles well written. Interesting variety of topics.
2. Carroll County News-Leader, Huntingdon. Ron Park, Shirley Nanney
Heather E. Seay, Kristen Swing, Charlie
Mauk, Ron Caylor, Sarah Winters, Bea
Casey, Lynn J. Richardson
Group II
1. Macon County Chronicle, Lafayette
Nice consistency in articles. Good
color pictures. Nice articles – easy reads.
By far the best in this group!!
Lloyd, Gary Grace
3. The Rogersville Review. Ellen
Myatt
4. Monroe County Advocate & Democrat, Sweetwater. Phylis Bellamy, Mia
Rhodarmer
5. The Herald-News, Dayton
Group III
1. The Wilson Post, Lebanon. Dana
Bryson
no comment
3. Crossville Chronicle. Laura Gwinn
5. The Tullahoma News. Tamara
Belinc
Group IV
Enjoyable reading featuring array of national & local lifestyle news. Entertaining
info from celebrity news & local.
SEE AWARDS, PAGE 9
SOUTHERN STANDARD
McMinnville
Group III
THE LEAF-CHRONICLE
Clarksville
Group IV
THE TENNESSEAN
Nashville
Group V
CMYK
8 - Awards
MAKE-UP AND APPEARANCE AWARDS - FRONT PAGES
THE HUMBOLDT CHRONICLE
Group I
Group II
THE OAK RIDGER
Oak RIdge
Group III
THE LEAF-CHRONICLE
Clarksville
Group IV
CHATTANOOGA TIMES FREE PRESS
Group V
SEPTEMBER 2008
CMYK
TAPME awards presented July 19 in Nashville
The Commercial Appeal, Memphis,
was the big newspaper winner July 19
in the annual journalism competition
sponsored by the Tennessee Associated
Press Managing Editors.
For newspapers with more than 40,000
daily circulation, The Commercial
Appeal won seven first place awards:
features reporting, sports/outdoors
reporting, business news, feature
photography, sports photography, photojournalism and individual achievement/body of work in photography.
Additionally, the paper’s Marc Perrusquia won the Malcolm Law Investigative
Reporting Award for a story, “Culture
of Corruption.”
The award was established to honor
Malcolm Law, associate editor of The
Jackson Sun, who died in December
1972. The award pays tribute to the
dedication of Law to the concept of
the Associated Press as a news cooperative.
The Tennessean, Nashville, was
awarded first place for Web site and
sports photography.
Rounding out the divisional first-place
winners, the News Sentinel, Knoxville,
won for daily deadline reporting, and the
Chattanooga Times Free Press won for
spot news photography.
For newspapers with daily circulation between 10,000 and 40,000, The
Jackson Sun won five first-place awards:
deadline reporting, feature reporting,
sports/outdoors reporting, best Web
site and photojournalism.
Additionally, Tonya Smith-King of the
Sun won the Malcolm Law Investigative
Reporting Award for a story on Mary
Winkler.
In the same division, The Daily News
Journal, Murfreesboro, won for spot
news photography and feature photography. The Daily News Journal’s Aaron
Thompson won for individual achievement/body of work in photography.
Other first-place winners in the
division were The Daily Herald, Columbia, for business news, and The
Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville, for sports
photography.
For newspapers with less than 10,000
circulation daily, The Mountain Press,
Sevierville, won four first place honors: feature reporting, business news,
feature photography and individual
achievement/body of work in photography (Curt Habraken).
The Shelbyville Times-Gazette won
first place for spot news photography
and photojournalism. The Union City
Daily Messenger won for sports/outdoors reporting and sports photography.
The Lebanon Democrat won for daily
deadline reporting.
Brian Mosely of the Shelbyville
Times-Gazette won the Malcolm Law
Investigative Reporting Award for his
work on Somalis in Shelbyville.
Best of Show Awards were chosen
from among those who placed first in
selected categories.
The print award went to Marc Perrusquia of The Commercial Appeal for his
series titled “Culture of Corruption,”
and the photography award went to
Aaron Thompson of The Daily News
Journal for his series of photographs
titled “Fallen Hero.” Both received
$100.
The complete awards list follows.
DIVISION I
WRITING
1. Staff, News Sentinel, Knoxville, McClung Warehouse Fire
2. Ashley Rowland, Chattanooga Times
Free Press, Firefighter Funeral
3. Marc Perrusquia, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Herenton Sex Plot
Features reporting
1. Daniel Connolly, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Immigration’s Impact
2. Melvin Claxton and Sheila Burke, The
Tennessean, Nashville, DNA
3. Mary Powers,The Commercial Appeal,
Memphis, Brain Surgery
1. Ron Higgins, The Commercial Appeal,
Memphis, Larry Finch Battles Back
2. Scott Cacciola, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Rampage Jackson
3. Mark Wiedmer, Chattanooga Times
Free Press, Art of Fatherhood
Business news
1. Tom Charlier and Jane Roberts, The
Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Boll
Weevil
2. Chas Sisk and Jennifer Brooks, The
Tennessean, Nashville, A New Middle
Tennessee
3. Naomi Snyder, The Tennessean, Nashville, McLean Stories
Web site
1. Staff,TheTennessean, Nashville, www.
tennessean.com
Malcolm Law Investigative Reporting Award: Marc Perrusquia, The
Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Culture
of Corruption
PHOTOGRAPHY
Press, Soldier Funeral
2. Gillian Bolsover, Chattanooga Times
Free Press, Remembering Our Veterans
3. Angela Lewis, ChattanoogaTimes Free
Press, Welcome Home
Honorable mention, J. Miles Carym
News Sentinel, Knoxville, Remember
My Brother
Feature photography
Memphis, Smoke
Memphis, Memorial Day
3. Shelley Mays, The Tennessean, Nashville, Hand of Thanks
Sports photography
Appeal, Memphis, Dodge Ball
1. (TIE) Bill Kingsley, The Tennessean,
Nashville, Fiery Crash
Memphis, Tongue Tied
Press, Brake Adjustment
Photojournalism
Appeal, Memphis, Pit Bulls
1. (TIE) Karen Pulfer Focht, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Brain Surgery
2. Clay Owen, News Sentinel, Knoxville,
Faithful to the End
3. (TIE) Andy McFee, Chattanooga Times
Free Press, Leukemia Twins
Appeal, Memphis, Convocation
1. Karen Pulfer Focht, The Commercial
Appeal, Memphis
Memphis
3. (TIE) Larry McCormack, The Tennessean, Nashville
Appeal, Memphis
Sports photography
Photojournalism
Homeless in Jackson
Maryville
Murfreesboro
DIVISION III
WRITING
Journal, Murfreesboro House Fire
Have Each Other
Feature photography
SEE TAPME, PAGE 23
DIVISION II
WRITING
1. Tonya Smith-King and Pete Wickham,
The Jackson Sun, Winkler Verdict
2. Wendy Isom and Ned Hunter, The
Jackson Sun, Selmer in Mourning
3. Jessica Stith, The Daily Times, He’s
Going to Kill Me
Features reporting
1. Tracie Simer, The Jackson Sun, Homeless in Jackson
2. Mark Boxley, The Daily Times,
Maryville, The Cop and the Addict
1. Joshua Parrott, The Jackson Sun,
Dream Come True
3. Roger Garfield, The Daily News
Journal, Murfreesboro, A Cardinal Honor
for Jordan
Business news
1. Greg Menza, The Daily Herald, Columbia, GM Plant
2. Ned Hunter, The Jackson Sun, Waiting to Fly
3. Tim Adkins, The Daily News Journal,
Murfreesboro, Formula for Success
Web site
1. Staff, The Jackson Sun, www.jacksonsun.com
Malcolm Law Investigative Reporting Award: Tonya Smith-King, The
Jackson Sun, The Winkler Story
PHOTOGRAPHY
Journal, Murfreesboro, House Fire
Have Each Other
Feature photography
Catchin’ a Ride
AP BEST OF SHOW
Story by Marc Perrusquia, photos by Jim Weber
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
FROM PAGE 6
Awards - 7
AWARDS
beyond that of your peers.
Great use of multiple sources and
presented in an easy to read, easy to
understand format. An outstanding job
of reporting on an issue that has great
impact on the school & community.
4. Johnson City Press. Sam Watson,
Ben Ingram, Jim Wozniak
5. Bristol Herald Courier. Debra McCown, Khristopher J. Brooks
LOCAL FEATURES
Group I
Lesley Hughes, Jerry Hilliard, Anthony D.
Piercy, David Thometz, Brenda Sparks
•Tremendous graphics for super
power. Well written. “Little Joe” is fun.
Need extracted quote on jump for “Super Power.” Please. Hilliard gives great
photo of inmate. It makes the page.
•Pastor retires is well done. When you
look at “In Good Hands” and Minister
Killed pieces, it’s clear this newspaper
stands out in its class, probably ANY
class. Legends of the Fall is icing on
the cake. The experience of judging
your fine newspaper has me wishing
for the next issue.
3. Carroll County News-Leader, Huntingdon. Shirley Nanney
4. Herald and Tribune, Jonesborough
Group II
•Every lead pulled me immediately
into the story.
•Nice variety of feature content, from
profiles to public interest.
•Great job in educating readers about
things they may otherwise take for
granted.
2. Memphis Business Journal
City
4. The Courier, Savannah. Terry VanEaton, Linda Folkerts
Lloyd, Tim Nixon
Group III
1. The Oak Ridger
Wonderful page design, placement
and visual appeal!
•Had a job to do. . .Very nice! This
wonderful man tells the story in his
words, not the writer’s.
•Shoulder feature - Lots of useful info
with a unique graphic to draw you in.
All in all - very well done. . .substance,
local flavor and eye appeal!
James Clark
3. The Newport Plain Talk. Kathy
Barnes-Hemsworth, Duay O’Neil, Jim
Hekel
4. Shelbyville Times-Gazette
5. The Paris Post-Intelligencer. Ken
Walker, Steve McCadams, GlennTanner,
Leslie Sensing
Group IV
Good use of color
Loved the story on the sophomore
basketball players
Home & Garden story was very current & insightful
Weekly column, out of context, is a bit
jaw dropping, but very entertaining
Story on Hookah bar was surprising
– would be neat to try one out
Superb story in Living Section faith
& grief
Fletcher, Skyler Swisher, Greg Menza
4. The Greeneville Sun. Bob Hurley,
Wayne Phillips, Lisa Warren, Jim Feltman, Todd DeHaven
Group V
•Story subjects were interesting. Photos complimented the subject matter.
SEE AWARDS, PAGE 8
NATASHA LAFAYETTE | LAFOLLETTE PRESS
LaFayette
First place award
Best feature photo
Group II
LaFollette Press
Julianna Sidener enjoys the cool streams of water at the
grand opening of LaFollette’s Splash Park on Sept. 21.
(Sept. 27, 2007)
Lack of honesty, not money, is real problem
BY STAN WHITLOCK
At a recent Kingsport roundtable
discussion on the
need for K-12 education reform, Tennessee Gov. Phil
Bredesen encouraged local business
leaders to hold “the
Whitlock
political structure”
accountable for education decisions.
The governor, a Democrat, then proceeded to take a shot at several Northeast Tennessee Republican lawmakers
who, as Bredesen put it, “happily voted”
for education funding reform in the
General Assembly session recently
ended but not for the 42-cent per pack
increase in cigarette taxes to fund it.
“You can’t let people get away with
that,” the governor said.
But Bredesen’s attempt to paint
targets on the backs of his political
opposites on an issue as critical as
education is disingenuous, especially in
a year when the state’s extra revenues
could have easily funded this latest
K-12 initiative.
As the governor also well knows, the
principal problem in Tennessee’s public
schools isn’t a matter of money, but
mendacity. The Tennessee Department
of Education is not being forthright
about the academic abilities of the
majority of its students. The department recently claimed, for example,
that 87 percent of Tennessee students
First place award
Group V
are proficient in eighth grade math. A
national test, however, shows that only
21 percent actually exhibit that skill
level—a difference of 66 points on a
100-point scale.
Gov. Bredesen’s answer to that has
been to complain to the Times-News
editorial board about the No Child Left
Behind law and to promise a tougher
high school curriculum and greater
accountability—albeit when his term
of office has effectively ended—in
exchange for an extra half-billion in
new funding for schools beginning
right away.
Like President (George W.) Bush,
who argues that border security isn’t
possible apart from a larger comprehensive reform of immigration policies,
Gov. Bredesen claims that Tennessee
schools can’t adopt more stringent
academic standards without first receiving hundreds of millions of dollars
in new annual funding. Each of these
assertions is false on its face.
It’s obvious that securing our border
with Mexico has absolutely nothing
to do with what happens to the estimated 12 million illegals now in this
country.
Similarly, an accurate assessment of
Tennessee students’ academic abilities
isn’t dependent on extra K-12 funding. It
doesn’t cost any more to record an “F”
on a student’s report card than it does
an “A”—although it likely keeps the
Department of Education in Nashville
from being burned to the ground by
angry parents.
State Rep. Nathan Vaughn, a Kingsport
Democrat who was also in attendance
at the governor’s roundtable, praised
Bredesen, noting that on the subject
of education reform, the governor had
“looked at what was the right thing to
do as compared to what was the politically expedient thing to do and made
the tough decisions.”
But what’s difficult about Gov. Bredesen or Rep. Vaughn offering one of their
major constituencies—the education
lobby—a vast amount of new money?
If Gov. Bredesen and Rep. Vaughn
really want to demonstrate how tough
and courageous they are, they might
make a small start by ceasing to pat
themselves on the back for pouring
even more hundreds of millions in tax
dollars into a state education system
that has spectacularly failed to prepare
a majority of this state’s children for
productive lives.
There isn’t anything faintly difficult
or courageous or right about rewarding
the Department of Education in this
state for a job poorly done.
Earlier this year in an editorial
board meeting, Times-News editors
discussed Tennessee’s lack of honesty
in accurately assessing the abilities
of public school students with local
lawmakers.
To his credit, Rep. Vaughn readily
admitted the problem but then observed,
“Most parents don’t want to hear that
stuff about their kids.”
Perhaps Rep. Vaughn is right—but
then again, who can say? The choice to
know, or not to know, the true academic
abilities of their children has cynically and systematically been denied
to Tennessee’s parents year after year
by state educators.
The result is that even if parents
suspect the truth about their child’s
abilities, the state provides false and
ultimately disastrous assurance that
all is well.
Well, that is, until the child tries to
tackle college and can’t get past his
required freshmen courses or applies
for a job and can’t land it because he
never mastered fractions in middle
school.
If Gov. Bredesen is sincere about
himself and others in the “political
structure” being held accountable for
public education in this state, here’s
our challenge: start raising proficiency
standards across the board, say 10
percent a year, until they match the
proficiency standards embodied in
the U.S. Department of Education’s
National Assessment of Educational
Progress tests.
Commit to doing that and report
the results each year, so that parents,
students and others can see for themselves whether Tennessee schools are
succeeding or failing. That would be
tough. That would be courageous. And
it would be the right thing to do.
(June 28, 2007)
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
22 - Awards
AWARDS
FROM PAGE 5
CMYK
SEPTEMBER 2008
4. Shelbyville Times-Gazette. Brian
Mosely
5. Roane County News, Kingston
Group IV
Gangs in Clarksville, Eric Snyder
The gang problem stories not only
document the current reality, but offer solutions. They are complete and
professional.
2. The Daily Times, Maryville. Immigrant: Judge told me to go home,
Rick Laney
3. The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville. Water without fluoride, Nate Karlin
4. The Daily Herald, Columbia. City
loses 500K, Samantha Ballard
5. The Greeneville Sun. Businessman alleges unfair treatment, Nelson
Morais
Group V
On the take, Marc Perrusquia
Political corruption exposed through
excellent reporting. The investigation
was thorough, the writing concise.
2. The Tennessean, Nashville. Poor
oversight, Clay Carey
3. Bristol Herald Courier. It’s your
money, J. Todd Foster, Kathy Still,
David McGee, Mac McLean, Debra
McCown
4.TheTennessean, Nashville.TN Mine
enriched Gore, Bill Theobald
FEMA folly, Trevor Aaronson
BEST EDUCATION REPORTING
Group I
1. Mt. Juliet News. Bullying.
Part 1 - great use of narrative writing
Part 2 - amazing story by principal,
nice reporting
Part 3 - Great interview w/inmate
*Great service to community, powerful writing, an important topic
Also great use of graphic for series
Bus drivers - great feature, Laurie
Everett
3. The Milan Mirror-Exchange
4. The Erwin Record. Lesley Hughes,
Anthony D. Piercy, Mark A. Stevens
Tony Smith, Heather E. Seay, Lynn J.
Richardson, Sarah Winters
Group II
1. Memphis Business Journal. Michael Sheffield
Solid piece of work. Entertaining
as well as informative & important.
Excellent!
City. Steve Marion
Denmark
4. Monroe County Advocate & Democrat, Sweetwater. Melissa Kinton,
Tommy Millsaps
5. The Herald-News, Dayton. Tiffany
Soyster, Max Hackett
Group III
FROM PAGE 22
Scanner oven - great unique feature
on youth; interesting lede gets reader
into story
Removed - nice coverage of a big issue in community; clear writing helps
to follow confusing story; great use of
sources to tell the story
2. Crossville Chronicle. Josh Hayes
4. The Wilson Post, Lebanon. John B.
Bryan, Tommy Bryan, Zack Owensby
Everett, J.R. Lind, Sara McCarty, Andy
Reed
Group IV
Ann Wallace
Great! You hit some very serious topics here and really get into the details.
Good writing. You go into subjects as
varied as school bus a/c, ELL, the state
report card and still go deeper to discuss
the schools that “passed,” “failed,” and
changed status from before in detail.
2. The Daily Herald, Columbia. Skyler
Swisher
3. The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro. Scott Broden
5. Herald-Citizen, Cookeville. Bobbie
Bruton
Group V
Kristina Goetz, Marc Perrusquia, Dakarai
Aarons
A most impressive job of investigative
reporting. I realize you were fortunate
to have the subject matter to report on,
but you took it to a level of excellence
SEE AWARDS, PAGE 7
Pickard
thanks the following:
•The University of Tennessee Office of Public Relations
and members of the staff Hank Dye, Amy Blakely,
Charles Primm, Amy Rummel, Karen Collins and Gina
Stafford, the College of Communication and Information and the School of Journalism and Electronic
Media
for the excellent relationship that has existed
for 68 years. During this time UT has participated in
the implementing of the UT-TPA State Press Contests
and has provided plaques and certificates and assisted
in various other
facets of the awards event.
•Victor Parkins, editor
of The Milan Mirror-Exchange,
2007-08 Contests Committee chairman,
•Members
of the 2007-08 TPA Contests Committee
for their contributions, guidance
and support of the contests.
JULIE PICKARD | CHESTER COUNTY INDEPENDENT, HENDERSON
First place award
Best feature photo
Group I
Henderson
Hender sonview
apartment kids enjoy playing in the
drainoff water after
a rain shower. (Aug.
9, 2007)
Sheriff should give statistics on firing five
BY SAM STOCKARD
The Rutherford
County Sheriff ’s
Office is shirking its
responsibility to the
public by refusing to
divulge the reason
for firing five jail
personnel.
After an internal
Stockard
probe, four jail officers and one maintenance man were
released two weeks ago for “improper
conduct with inmates.”
Now that the sheriff ’s office investigation is complete and the employees have
been fired, it’s time to let the people
know exactly why. “Improper conduct”
isn’t specific enough.
We can only imagine what’s being said
community-wide about the firings, and
it can’t be good, because when information is lacking, people’s imaginations
run wild.
Instead of turning over personnel
files, the sheriff’s office is hiding behind
First place award
Group IV
Murfreesboro
state law that exempts records from
Tennessee’s Open Records Act if they
are part of an ongoing investigation.
The sheriff ’s office makes a good
argument, but only to a point.
Turning the case over to the District
Attorney’s Office to determine whether
any of the five should be charged with
criminal conduct is the right thing to
do. The sheriff ’s office removes itself
from any potential conflict of interest
by allowing another agency to handle
the criminal investigation.
But since the sheriff ’s internal probe
is complete and the five have been fired,
that part of the matter is finished.
Consequently, the employee records and
investigation should be public record.
We trust the DA to conduct an impartial investigation into this matter.
Whether people know why they were
fired won’t impact his case one bit.
The public will know eventually,
anyway, once the DA completes the
investigation. By keeping the specifics
secret, the sheriff’s office is playing hideand-seek with the Open Records Act and
doing a disservice to the public.
The jail is an $11.2 million operation,
and people expect it to be run efficiently,
which we believe it is. After serving
time there, inmates typically say they
don’t want any part of 940 New Salem
Highway again. That’s the way it
should be.
Yet, the public should also know what
is going on inside the walls of the county
jail, and if five employees have to be
fired, the sheriff should tell the people
why. They deserve to know, because even
though those five are on the sheriff ’s
payroll, they work for the taxpayers.
The people’s right to know always
outweighs any desire by the sheriff ’s
office to conceal the information – even
if temporarily – about how the jail and
sheriff ’s office are running.
(June 10, 2007)
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
Long is recipient of SCMA’s Green Award
TAPME
Catchin’ a Ride
3. Dallus Whitfield, The Lebanon Democrat, Cheers!
Sports photography
Sports photography
2. Dallus Whitfield, The Lebanon Democrat, Season End
3. Danny Parker and Jimmy Jones,
Shelbyville Times-Gazette, Foot to Nose
Photojournalism
Homeless in Jackson
Photojournalism
1. Danny Parker, Shelbyville TimesGazette, Reason to Rock
2. Chris Menees, Union City Daily Messenger, Days of Yesteryear
3. Donna Ryder, Union City Daily Messenger, Open County Fair & Nutrition Day
Maryville
Murfreesboro
Sevierville
2. Chris Menees, Union City Daily
Messenger
3. Donna Ryder, Union City Daily Messenger
DIVISION III
WRITING
1. J.R. Lind,The Lebanon Democrat, State
Judiciary Reprimands Local Judge
2. Clint Confehr, Shelbyville Times-Gazette, Holton Executed
3. Angela Williams, The Mountain
Press, Sevierville, New Hope Thrift Store
Destroyed
Bare necessity
Features reporting
1. Gail Crutchfield, The Mountain Press,
Sevierville, Price of Freedom
Queen’s Pigeon Alights in Watertown
Sevierville, Putting the Brakes on DUI
1. Mike Hutchens, Union City Daily Messenger, It’s Official - Wood Resigns
2. Andy Reed, The Lebanon Democrat,
Umpire Retires
3. Cobey Hitchcock, The Mountain Press,
Sevierville, Against All Odds
Business news
1. Angela Williams, The Mountain Press,
Sevierville, It Doesn’t Rate Well
Changing Face of Manufacturing Costs
Jobs
Sevierville, Home or Business?
Malcolm Law Investigative Reporting Award: Brian Mosely, Shelbyville
Times-Gazette, Somalis in Shelbyville
PHOTOGRAPHY
1. Kay Rose, Shelbyville Times-Gazette,
Farewell for a Hero
2. Chris Menees, Union City Daily Messenger, Safe and Sound
3. Chris Menees, Union City Daily Messenger, Topsy-Turvy Test
Feature photography
Sevierville, School’s Out
Awards - 23
“The press was protected so it could
bare the secrets of government and
inform the people.”
Hugo L. Black,
Former U.S. Supreme Court justice,
1971
Dale Long, circulation director of The
Greeneville Sun,
was awarded the
William C. Green
Jr. Award by the
Southern Circulation Managers Association at its 89th
Long
annual conference
in April in Baton Rouge, La.
The Sun is the “flagship” newspaper
of Jones Media, based in Greeneville.
Long also has responsibilities for
overseeing production operations of
the Sun, including prepress, printing
and post-printing, as well as other Jones
has been a member of the Tennessee
Press Association Circulation Committee since 1995 and has served as its
chairman.
Long has played many roles in SCMA
and has held various positions leading
up to his becoming president in 2006.
When presenting the award, current
SCMA President Dean Blanchard said
of Long, “Even though he is from Tennessee, his heart is as big as the state
of Texas.”
Long and his wife of 29 years, Linda
Kay, have a daughter, Autumn Malone.
She and her husband, Cody, have a
daughter, Kylie.
News Sentinel wins ETSPJ Best of Show
More than 80 journalists and guests
attended the annual Golden Press Card
Awards of the East Tennessee Society of
Professional Journalists (ETSPJ) May
10 at The Foundry to congratulate winners of this year’s competition.
Mia Rhodarmer, editor of the Monroe County Advocate and Democrat,
Sweetwater, ETSPJ vice president/
Golden Press Card, was in charge of
the contest and banquet. She was assisted by Dr. Dorothy Bowles, professor
at the University of Tennessee School
of Journalism and Electronic Media,
Knoxville.
Clint Brewer, president of national
SPJ, spoke. He is editor of The City
Paper, Nashville, and former editor of
The Lebanon Democrat.
WORTH REPEATING
Sometimes if you don’t toot your
own horn, that horn goes untooted. Or
something like that. Pardon this break
from the usual critique of the issues of
the day to let us engage in a mild form
of self-congratulation.
The Mountain Press, the newspaper
we thank you for reading, did quite
well in two state contests, the results of
which were announced last week.
The paper won 15 awards, including
three for first place, in the Tennessee
Press Association contest. We competed
against a number of Tennessee newspapers in that category, with a weekly
circulation of as much as three times
what ours is. Then the next day the
Associated Press Managing Editors
group announced winners of the state
AP contest, and we won four first place
awards–more than any other small daily
in the state. In addition to those awards
we won three third-place citations.
Newspaper people don’t work for glory
or prizes, but they are nice when they
do come. Each year we gather up our
best work in the different categories
and send them in, hoping to do well but
never knowing. Entries are judged very
subjectively, usually by a single journalist in another state. Sometimes we don’t
win when we think we should have,
and win when we doubted we would.
The trick is not to get too exhilarated
when you win or too down when you
Media publications.
He is active in the community as well,
being a member of the Kiwanis Club,
Greene County Partnership, Greene
County United Way and Brown Springs
Baptist Church. He is president of the
USS Greenville Inc., a Greenevillebased support group for the crew of
the nuclear submarine named after the
East Tennessee city. He is a member of
the local Moose Lodge.
Long is a graduate of West Greene
High School and attended Walters State
Community College. In his professional
field, he has attended the Inland Press
Foundation Circulation Academy and
don’t. But when you do well, it’s nice
to share it with our readers.
Our newsroom works hard to produce
quality stories and photos each day. We
never miss a day of publication, and
every day is different, with new content,
new ads, new photos and new things
to enjoy. Small-town journalism as we
practice it is the most fun, because you
are closer to the people, and what you
do seems to mean more and have more
impact than big-city papers. We produce
a lot of refrigerator journalism – stories
that families cut out and attach to the
door of the refrigerator. It’s fun when
we go to someone’s house and see clippings displayed in that way. But we also
enjoy the more serious stories, when we
point out wrongdoing or enlighten a
community to something going on they
need to know. We do a lot of that.
The recognition of our work by judges
in the two contests is cake icing, a pat
on the back to make summer seem
more bearable. But mostly it means
we are doing some good things that,
hopefully, are appreciated by our readers. Thanks for spending time with The
Mountain Press.
(The Mountain Press, Sevierville,
July 24, 2008)
Read
The Tennessee Press,
then pass it on
The top two awards overall are the
Horace V. Wells, Jr. Community Service Award and the Golden Press Card
Award given to the top entrant among
all the Award of Excellence winners in
all categories.
Wells was the founder and longtime
editor and publisher of the Clinton
Courier-News.
The Wells Award went to Scott Barker,
Rebecca Ferrar, Ansley Haman and
Hayes Hickman of the News Sentinel,
Knoxville, for “Knox County Turmoil,”
and the WBIR-TV News Team won
for “Knox County Files.” The judges
said, “This is an ultimate public service
with continuing commitment to follow
through.”
The Golden Press Club Award was
shared by the two news media on the
same subject. For this award, the News
Sentinel’s entry was “Knox County
Chaos” by Rebecca Ferrar and Ansley
Haman.
For the first time, ETSPJ held a high
school essay contest in which the chapter winner will go on to the national SPJ
level to compete with contemporaries
from across the country for scholarships
worth up to $1,000. The ETSPJ winner
was Christopher Bernard of Knoxville,
who was presented a certificate and a
check for $50 during the GPC banquet.
Larry Van Guilder, editor of the Halls
Shopper-News, was contest chairman.
One can see the complete list of winners, including many newspapers, at
www.etspj.org.
TPA
Winter
Convention
Feb. 4-6
2009 Press Institute & Winter Convention
DoubleTree Hotel • Downtown Nashville
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
6 - Awards
SEPTEMBER 2008
Drive-In Tr
Training
FROM PAGE 4
September 2008
Special section
FAC director Policinski talks about
the people and the First Amendment
CMYK
Managing editor
Gene Policinski laid it on the line
for people attending the TPA Drive-In
Training. “Newspapers fundamentally
will save the republic,” he said. “Fair,
accurate, complete, truthful, biased or
unbiased—newspapers are essential to
the way the country functions.”
Policinski, executive director of
the First Amendment Center (FAC),
revealed that he began his journalism
career in 1969 at a 1,600-circulation
newspaper in Greenfield, Ind. He has
worked for other news media, notably
USA Today, and since 2004 has been
executive director of the FAC at Vanderbilt University in Nashville and in
Washington, D.C. and vice president
since 2007.
Policinski was the keynote speaker at
the annual training event, which was
held July 18 at the Millennium Maxwell
House Hotel in Nashville.
He said that newspapers don’t point
out enough the role they play in our
society. “On the street, that’s real life
democracy—that’s what you do,” he said
to the 60 people in attendance.
Policinski talked about the 2007
State of the First Amendment Survey
(SOFAS) commissioned annually by the
FAC. A new one will be out around Sept.
16, Constitution Day, he said.
Sixty-four percent of people know that
free speech is part of the First Amendment, the speaker pointed out, but only
19 percent know that religion is part
of it. Sixteen percent know the amendments sets out a free press; 16 percent,
right to assembly; and 3 percent, the
right to petition the government.
Three out of 10 Americans can’t
name any of the five freedoms, Policinski said. And when asked in 2002
if the First Amendment goes too far
in guaranteeing rights, 41 percent
strongly agreed. But, changes in the
people’s opinions about freedoms is
changing, Policinski noted. In 2007, in
answer to the same question, only 14
percent strongly agreed. And, 55 percent
strongly disagreed.
The change, the speaker suggested,
has been the result of 9/11 and fear of
the loss of freedoms in the climate since.
“The public has reset itself, clearly,”
he said.
Referring again to the 2007 SOFAS,
Policinski noted that in 2000, when
people were asked if the press had too
much freedom, 51 percent said yes. But
in 2007, 34 percent said the press had
too much, with 13 percent saying it had
too little freedom and 50 percent saying
it was about right.
“These are great numbers, good
news,” he commented.
It isn’t all good news, he said, noting
that when asked if the news media try
to report the news without bias, in 2005,
only 13 percent said yes, and in 2007,
only 16 percent.
An interesting factor, Policinski said,
is that Americans are beginning to
become accustomed to having a publication identify its stand on certain
issues. This might not be a bad thing,
he asserted, as if a news medium clearly
knows what is going on, why not express
an opinion about it?
Another question on the survey
is whether falsifying or making up
stories is a widespread problem. This
is important, Policinski said, because
it has to do with trust.
In 2005, 40 percent strongly agreed
there was a widespread problem, with
25 percent mildly agreeing, 20 percent
mildly disagreeing and 11 percent
strongly disagreeing. But in 2007, the
numbers improved, with 36 percent
saying they strongly agreed, 26 percent
mildly agreeing, 22 percent mildly
disagreeing and 12 percent strongly
disagreeing.
“Who told you about Enron and Jason
Blair?” the speaker asked. There is
more research, more attempts to correct
errors than in any other institution, Policinski said. It will pay off, he said.
Newspapers need to talk to people
about veracity, have a way to fix errors and have correction columns.
Americans are looking for things they
can trust and are beginning to wake
up to talk about ways to acknowledge
errors.
In another area, people were asked
if the government should be able to
require news media to offer an equal
amount of time to conservatives and liberals. On TV, 38 percent strongly agreed;
on radio, 35 percent; and in newspapers,
36 percent. Those who mildly agreed
were 26 percent, TV; 26 percent, radio;
and newspapers, 26 percent.
If there is not vigorous objection,
there may be some congressmen who
want to regulate newspapers as well as
other media. It is frightening that some
want to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine,
Policinski said.
When in 2007 asked if they thought
that running a certain amount of “positive news” in return for being granted
a license was appropriate, 21 percent
agreed, the speaker said.
“We do not teach our youth to worry
about the heavy hand of government,”
Policinski said. “Editors don’t either,”
he added.
Newspapers must not give up their
ground of providing the information
the people need as well as what they
want, the speaker said.
Another question on the survey was
whether journalists should be allowed
to keep their sources confidential. In the
1997 survey, 58 percent strongly agreed
and 27 percent mildly agreed. In 2007, 27
mildly agreed.
Despite a 10-year attack on the concept
of using confidential sources, the public
still thinks it is OK. And 50 percent of
newsrooms say they have rules about
confidential sources, Policinski said.
“If we use them sparingly, it will be
OK,” he opined.
When asked if newspapers should
be allowed to freely criticize the U.S.
military about its strategy and performance, in 2004, 32 percent strongly
agreed and 24 percent mildly agreed,
while in 2007, 39 percent strongly agreed
and 21 percent mildly agreed.
Policinski then turned his remarks to
the state of the student press.
Asked if public school students
should be allowed to report on controversial issues in a student newspaper
without the approval of school officials,
in 2005, 20 percent agreed and in 2007,
25 percent.
In a similar question about college
students, who are adults, in 2001, 33
mildly agreed, and in 2007, 34 percent
agreed.
But a Knight Foundation survey
of high school students showed they
thought it was all right for the government to read a story to say it was OK.
However, when it came to music, 75
percent said they should have free
speech in music.
Policinski
Policinski said as a society we don’t
To a question on using anonymous
teach students about the First Amend- sources, the speaker said we should be
ment or about defending it, but the as transparent as possible. In letters to
student press is a great opportunity the editor, ask people to use their names,
for young people to learn, especially which is “very American.” Use reasonif they have support from the local able editorial judgment with letters to
news unit.
the editor, just as one does with news,
In comments during questions, Po- he suggested. “A writer can’t just rant;
licinski suggested that in addition to he has to have something to say.”
running a story based on investigative
“People are looking to us to tell
reporting, a newspaper also tell what it them what we stand for,” Policinski
took to do the story.
said. “We are in the information and
“Local is trustworthy,” he said. “The opinion business,” but we should not
closer you are to your source, the more allow “blather.”
credibility you have.” He noted, “Of
“People are looking for someone they
course, you can fritter it away, but if can trust, a friend, someone in their
you have credibility, you have gold.” county they can rely on,” Policinski
He added that newspapers need to hold said.
the government accountable, tell people
He provided printed information on
about cookies and taxes, say “good job” the First Amendment Center, where
and tell them a good time to buy a car. one can for free use columns on First
“The more we touch people and let them Amendment topics. The Web site is
touch us, the better we are.”
www.fac.org.
Andrew Oppmann, left, and Kent Flanagan; Robyn Gentile in background
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
Awards - 5
AWARDS
Stories on Jerry Cooper’s plight, James
Clark
Group IV
1. Herald-Citizen, Cookeville. Elementary school fire, Mary Jo Denton
School coverage is first-rate.
2. The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville. Bo
Wood suicide, Eric Snyder, Jason Austin,
Ann Wallace
3. Elizabethton Star. When do we start
digging? Steve Burwick
School funding, Derek Hodges, Stan
Voit
Drought relief, Jimmy Settle, Nate
Karlin
Group V
1. News Sentinel, Knoxville. A dozen
done
There are few things more gratifying
than seeing the newspaper come out
as the hero. Many reporters go through
the diligent work of government coverage, and the News Sentinel is leading
the way.
MLGW favoritism, Trevor Aaronson,
Michael Erskine
3.The Jackson Sun.The Winkler story,
Tonya Smith-King
4. The Tennessean, Nashville. DNA
tests expose inconsistency, Melvin
Claxton, Sheila Burke
5. Johnson City Press. Downed
plane
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
Group I
Laurie Everett
Fantastic! This series was an interest-
ing and riveting read from beginning
to end. It provided everything – factual
info, personal stories and helpful tips.
Great job!
2. The Erwin Record. Zero tolerance,
Lesley Hughes, Anthony D. Piercy
3. The Milan Mirror-Exchange. Head
Start abuse, Steve Short
4. Smithville Review. Prescription
drug abuse
Capable & personable
Group II
1. Memphis Business Journal. Will
Sears Crosstown rise again? John
Scruggs, Andy Ashby
What a great story! This was quite
an effort and was very well written.
Both writers drew me into the various
aspects of the story. The research done
on projects at other Sears buildings was
tremendous. I find absolutely nothing negative to say about this work.
Excellent!
2. Memphis Business Journal. Doctor
shortage, Toby Sells
3. Monroe County Advocate & Democrat, Sweetwater. Director of schools
selection, Melissa Kinton
4.The Daily News, Memphis. Prostitution plagues Memphis, Rosalind Guy
5. LaFollette Press. Jellico’s financial
woes, Natasha LaFayette
Group III
1. The Wilson Post, Lebanon. Zack
Owensby, Mandy Maxwell
Good - the variety of story topics. It
was both news and investigative.
2. The Oak Ridger
Everett
First place award
Best news photo
Group IV
Murfreesboro
AARON THOMPSON | THE DAILY NEWS JOURNAL, MURFREESBORO
Christian Golczynski, 8, receives the flag from his father’s
casket from Lt. Col. RicThompson during the graveside at
Wheeler Cemetery in Bedford County. Golczynski’s father,
Marcus, was killed the week before. (April 5, 2007)
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
Thompson
SEE AWARDS, PAGE 6
No longer publish squabble
BY SAM HATCHER,
JOHN B. BRYAN
AND JENNIFER HORTON
We’re tired and we’ve heard from a
number of our readers who are equally
as tired of reading about the ongoing “he
said, she said” saga between Lebanon
City Councilor William Farmer and
Mayor Don Fox.
Please let this serve as notice to both
that we’re not publishing more of the
same. If they choose to continue their
feud, we urge them to use another
newspaper or another source but do
not rely on The Wilson Post.
Simply stated, our newspaper is not
about this.
And furthermore, we do not believe
this represents good government.
The majority in our community, we
believe, are sick of this entire mess.
And, as for our newspaper, we apolo-
First place award
Group III
gize to our readers for inflicting the
pain of this ongoing city hall squabble
on you and promise in the days ahead
we will focus on matters of much
greater importance including profiles
of distinguished citizens, local sports,
schools and education, and business
growth and development.
Our community is on the threshold
of a prosperous future, but in the
meantime it seems some of our elected
officials have their heads in places
where the sun doesn’t shine and are
apparently blind to what’s happening
around them.
(Sept. 28, 2007)
First place award
Best news photo
Group V
Henry
DAN HENRY | CHATTANOOGA TIMES FREE PRESS
Kathy and Darrell Chambers sob after receiving the flag
that covered the casket of their son Lance Cpl. William
Craig Chambers July 8 at Anderson Memorial Gardens in
Ringgold, Ga. (July 9, 2007)
FROM PAGE 3
BEST NEWS REPORTING
Group I
1. The Erwin Record. NFS secrecy
Excellent news coverage. Solid reporting. Very smooth, easy to read style. A
superb effort.The reporter’s digging was
impressive. Great leads and excellent
word choice.
district, Jim Zachary, Sarah McCarty,
Barbara Womack
3. The Millington Star. Woods road
to recovery
4. The Millington Star. Carruthers’
death
MRSA, Heather E. Seay
Group II
1. Memphis Business Journal. Housing crisis
Many excellent entries in this class,
but this one topped the field on the basis
of the quality & volume of information &
analysis of a very complex topic.
City. Strategic plan
3. The Herald-News, Dayton. County
sales tax, Max Hackett
4. The Courier, Savannah. Teen attempts suicide/school security, Ron
Schaming
5. The News Examiner, Gallatin. You
better back up
Group III
Mary Winkler stories, Duane Sherrill
Wow – excellent story, obviously of
huge local interest. You do a great job
summarizing the long hearings & not
bogging them down in detail, while also
giving the readers some color – describing the scene, the people, etc. I would
have liked to see more community
reaction – maybe a story on the church
or on community at large.
2. The Oak Ridger. No more waiting;
Vietnam War family, Beverly Majors
3. The Paris Post-Intelligencer. Judge
orders closing of local strip club, Ken
Walker
4. The Lebanon Democrat. Third general sessions judge issue, J.R. Lind
Managing editor
BNP
B
NP G
Gp.
p. IIII
MELISSA KINTON | MONROE COUNTY ADVOCATE AND DEMOCRAT, SWEETWATER
Reba Campbell, 84, drove her car into Sweetwater Creek on Oct. 12. Sweetwater police officers were nearby and arrived within seconds, jumped in and pulled her from the cold water.
(Oct. 12, 2007)
Kinton
First place award
Best news photo
Group II
Monroe County Advocate
and Democrat, Sweetwater
Mayor Willie Herenton’s reasons for
wanting to build a new football stadium
to replace the Liberty Bowl boil down to
two arguments: Renovating the existing
stadium would be a waste of money, and
“the opportunity is before us” to build
something new.
Those are weak arguments for a
proposal that could cost in the neighborhood of $200 million.
We’ve faced this question before.
Visionaries phrase it this way: Why fix
up the old building when we can build
a new building? Pragmatists ask this
question: Why build a new building
when we can fix up the old one?
Sometimes the facts come down on the
side of the visionary, and sometimes
they support the pragmatist’s view.
We’ve talked to the mayor, we’ve examined both scenarios, and this time we
stand behind the pragmatists when we
say no to the mayor’s proposal.
We strongly disagree that renovating
Exploring the world of earmarks,
those special funds members of
Congress secure every year, was
explained July 18 by Bill Allison,
a senior fellow with the Sunlight
Foundation in Washington, D.C.
Earmarks are funds tacked onto larger
funding bills. Traditionally, they’ve had
little control or attention.
Allison pointed out that in fiscal
year 2008 there were 12,000 earmarks
amounting to $18.3 million and that
not every earmark is crooked, bad or
a waste.
Other basic information about the
earmarks Allison provided is that every
year there are some 34,000 requests, an
average of 78 per member of Congress.
He added that more fund-raisers are held
at the time earmarks are requested,
in March and April, than at any other
time.
To check on earmarks in one’s state,
a reporter can go to www.taxpayers.net
and find, in a blue box on the left, a report
on FY 2008’s earmarks. Clicking on that
will bring up an extensive spreadsheet,
Allison noted.
Allison led those attending the session
through the discovery process with a
PowerPoint presentation and references
to various Web sites.
To request an earmark, a member
of the House must file a letter. These
provide good information. The letters
are available in a downloadable Excel
format.
Allison said that a good resource on
earmarks is Steve Ellis, who can be
contacted at (202) 5468500, extension 126. Allison said Ellis “knows
everything and is a
good guy.”
Allison noted that information about fiscal
year 2009 earmarks may
not be available until
after the federal election
in November.
The earmarks request
procedure is different
for the Senate, as a letter must be filed, but it
states merely that the
senator has no financial
interest in the request,
but it does not specify
the beneficiary.
Allison pointed out
some earmarks that
appeared to be favors
for lobbyists and others
that were “interesting
though not corrupt.”
He suggested that earmarks are indicative of
a systemic problem, that sometimes a
contribution to the congressman or
congresswoman’s funds is the only way
to get one’s attention.
Only a fraction of the earmarks are
ever investigated or evaluated by the
press, other watchdogs or by voters.
Allison provided a list of Web sites
that can help someone trying to look
into them:
www.capitolwords.org
www.congresspedia.org
www.earmarkwatch.org
www.fedspending.org
Allison
www.followthemoney.org
www.fortune535.org
www.governmentdocs.org
www.louisdb.org
www.maplight.org
www.metavid.org
www.opencongress.org
www.opensecrets.org
www.publicmarkup.org
www.speechology.org
www.theopenhouseproject.org
The site for the Sunlight Foundation
is www.sunlightfoundation.com.
SEE AWARDS, PAGE 5
We see no reason to raze Liberty Bowl
BY EDITORIAL STAFF
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
Allison walks through check on earmarks
AWARDS
•Great writing throughout.
2. The Daily Times, Maryville. He’s
going to kill me, Jessica Stith
3. The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro. Feds raid local homes, Brandon
Puttbrese
Life without parole, Jeff Farrell
5. The Daily Herald, Columbia. Man
dies after being struck with ax, D.
Frank Smith
Group V
1. The Tennessean, Nashville. Gore
wins Nobel Prize, Leon Alligood
Well crafted. Incredible background
and in-depth research. Great editorial
decision to cover every angle. It’s obvious this was a huge, well thought-out
team effort.
2. Bristol Herald Courier. Shock,
despair
3. News Sentinel, Knoxville. Warehouse fire
Tornado, Ryan Harris
Plane crash, Lauren Gregory
CMYK
SEPTEMBER 2008
First place award
Group II
the stadium is a waste of money. The
Liberty Bowl is structurally sound
and functional. It’s an architecturally
appealing structure. It has not outlived
its usefulness.
If you haven’t done so lately, take a
drive by the Liberty Bowl. Go ahead and
tour the perimeter of the entire site that
is home to the stadium, the Children’s
Museum and the Mid-South Coliseum,
and was once home to Libertyland and
Tim McCarver Stadium.
Take a few moments to contemplate
the potential for redeveloping the site.
And then ask yourself why a new
football stadium must be a factor in
this vision.
The site is currently anchored by
two viable tenants: the Liberty Bowl
and The Children’s Museum. The rest
of the 170 acres is essentially a blank
slate. Tear down the Coliseum, bulldoze
the detritus that was once Libertyland,
clear out the fairgrounds and you have
created a developer’s playground.
We urge the mayor to revisit the
facility assessment report conducted
by architecture firm Looney Ricks
Kiss, which priced renovations at
$34.2 million, and the renovation study
submitted by SSR Ellers/HOK, which
proposed spending $95 million to spruce
up the facility. Find a middle ground
between those proposals and spearhead
the effort to create a new and improved
Liberty Bowl.
The University of Memphis, the
teams playing in the AutoZone Liberty
Bowl and Southern Heritage Classic,
and the fans deserve a better facility
than the one we have now.
We hope the mayor doesn’t let his
vision for a better fairgrounds get obscured by his desire for a new stadium.
Let the Liberty Bowl stand.
(Feb. 2-8, 2007)
BNP 3
In the earmarks session, from left, Jennifer Peebles, The Tennessean, Nashville; J. Todd Foster, managing editor,
Bristol Herald Courier; and Brad Schrade, The Tennessean, with Jim Charlet, Brentwood, in the background
Scripps Howard Foundation announces Journalism Awards
DAVID DOONAN | ROANE COUNTY NEWS, KINGSTON
Doonan
Roane County Sheriff’s Deputy Bob Childs sadly looks
over the wreckage from the car accident that killed
Heather Mitchell and her young daughters. (July 20,
2007)
First place award
Best news photo
Group III
Roane County News, Kingston
The Scripps Howard Foundation May
9 announced the winners of its annual
National Journalism Awards, honoring
the best in print, Web and electronic
journalism and journalism education
for 2007.
The awards, open to all U.S. news
organizations and college journalism
educators, recognize excellence in 17
categories such as editorial writing,
human interest writing, environment,
investigative, business/economics,
Washington and public service reporting, commentary, photojournalism,
radio and television reporting, Web
reporting, college cartooning, editorial
cartooning and journalism education.
The awards also honor distinguished
service to the First Amendment.
“These awards celebrate the role of
journalism in a democratic society
and we are proud to recognize the
nation’s best writers, photographers,
cartoonists, editors and teachers,”
said Mike Philipps, the Foundation’s
president and chief executive officer.
“Our country and our communities
are better places because of the work
honored by these awards.”
The Scripps Howard Foundation is
the philanthropic arm of The E. W.
Scripps Co.
The National Journalism Award winners of particular interest to Tennessee
are as follows:
Distinguished service to the First
Amendment—News Sentinel, Knoxville, which received $10,000 and the Edward Willis Scripps award for exposing
an abuse of Tennessee’s Open Meetings
Act and successfully challenging that
violation in the courts.
Journalism teacher of the year—Dr.
Elinor Kelley Grusin, professor, Department of Journalism, University of
Memphis, who received $10,000 and the
Charles E. Scripps award. Her school
also received a $5,000 grant. The award
is given in cooperation with the Association for Education in Journalism and
Mass Communication.
ENGRAVINGS
Bennett wins cartoonists award
C l ay B e n n e t t ,
Chattanooga
Times Free Press,
added the Ink
Bottle Award to
his honors during
the Association of
American Editorial
Cartoonists (AAEC)
Bennett
convention June 28
in San Antonio, Texas.
In April, Bennett was a Pulitzer Prize
finalist for work the previous year at
the Christian Science Monitor. Also
in April, Bennett won the 2007 Thomas
Nast Award for best international
editorial cartoons from the Overseas
Press Club of America.
Bennett has been with the Chattanooga Times Free Press since late 2007,
and he is a member of the Washington
Post Writers Group.
In fact, Bennett has received so many
honors (including the 2002 Pulitzer)
that the AAEC played a video spoofing
his prize prowess and gave him a
trophy for “Outstanding Distinguished
Excellence in Winning Awards” before
presenting him the Ink Bottle plaque
for contributions to the AAEC and
editorial cartooning.
AAEC President Nick Anderson of
the Houston Chronicle and WPWG said
a major reason for the Ink Bottle honor
was Bennett’s work as AAEC president
in 2005-06. During that “tumultuous
and eventful” time, recalled Anderson,
Bennett worked on such things as
finding a new management company
fo r t h e A A E C , u p g r a d i n g t h e
organization’s Web site, diversifying
the AAEC’s membership by attracting
more alternative cartoonists, and
responding to the eliminations of
high-profile cartoonist positions at
the Los Angeles Times and The Sun
of Baltimore.
“That was a dark harbinger” of
more cartoonist cuts to come, said
Anderson. “Clay was very eloquent in
our defense.”
Bennett also responded to the huge
reaction in the Muslim world to the
Muhammad cartoons published in
Denmark. He did this through proxies
such as Anderson because Bennett
didn’t want to further endanger thenkidnapped Christian Science Monitor
colleague Jill Carroll.
And Bennett later aided the AAEC by
helping to coordinate an online auction
of cartoons to raise much-needed funds
for the organization.
NAA recognizes industry’s best
Industry professionals attending the
Newspaper Association of America’s
Marketing Conference recognized the
brightest leaders in their profession.
The conference was in February in
Orlando, Fla.
Awards of interest to Tennesseans
follow.
The Tony Mineart Newspaper Merchandiser of the Year Awards honor
retailers who have demonstrated a
long-term cooperative effort to sell and
market newspapers in their stores and
who model the industry’s cutting edge
approach to single-copy promotions.
•MAPCO Express, nominated by The
Commercial Appeal, Memphis, for the
Elvis Week promotion
Newspaper Carriers of the Year
Awards were created to honor newspaper carriers for outstanding achievement. Entrants competed in local and
regional-level competitions before
moving on to the national level.
•Sharon Miser, senior category, The
Greeneville Sun
The Display Federation Sales and
Marketing Leadership Award is presented to an individual for significant
and sustained excellence in serving the
newspaper industry both inside and
outside his or her organization in the
field of advertising.
•Leslie Giallombardo, vice president
of advertising, Gannett Co., McLean,
Va. She is the former publisher of The
Tennessean, Nashville.
NAAF cites outstanding NIE programs
The News Sentinel, Knoxville, won
two first place awards from the Newspaper Association of America Foundation
(NAAF), which recognized outstanding
Newspaper in Education and youth
content programs for their efforts to
encourage the use of newspapers in the
classroom. The awards were presented
as part of the Young Reader Seminar
May 15-18 in Phoenix, Ariz.
The newspaper was the only one to
win two first place NIE Content Awards.
They were as follows:
For original curriculum, 60,001 to
149,999 circulation—News Sentinel,
Knoxville, Alice W. Dollar, NIE manager
For special projects, 60,001 to 149,999
circulation—News Sentinel, Knoxville,
Alice W. Dollar, NIE manager
“Newspaper in Education programs,
coupled with newspaper content aimed
at young people, do more than provide
teachers a valuable teaching tool; this
early exposure is often the spark that
motivates students to read newspapers
throughout their life,” explained Margaret Vassilikos, senior vice president
and treasurer of NAAF. “This relationship has benefits beyond readership.
Recent Foundation research indicates
that people who use newspapers in the
classroom and read newspaper teen
content are more likely to become civically engaged adults,” she said.
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
4 - Awards
Crowe talks elements of effective site
Managing editor
Four things are important to make
a newspaper Web site effective: good
content, elements the readers will
return for, the possibility of comment
and a sense of community. That was the
message of Adell Crowe’s presentation
during TPA Drive-In Training July 18
in Nashville.
Crowe had the close attention of those
who attended her session. Her sense of
humor was apparent throughout.
One of Crowe’s first points was to
recommend people read a speech Tom
Curley, president of Associated Press
Managing Editors, made and which can
be found at www.ap.org.
Moving into her main topic, Crowe
urged attendees to write as clearly as
possible and not to write leads that are
too long. On the Web, she said, content
must be scannable.
She suggested using little or no
punctuation in each sentence and to
alternating sentence length.
People love “air” when reading, she
said. “This is more true on the Web
than in print.”
Crowe said a site must contain basic
rules for responding to
some comments that
will be “hurtful.” Be
nice. Respond only once,
directly to the person
who commented. Always start a comment
by thanking the writer
for reading the site and
taking time to comment.
She also injected that
such comments can
provide tips that lead to
newspaper stories.
The Web site must
touch the community,
Crowe said. The newspaper can visit organizations such as the PTA
and invite them to participate in the site. One
newspaper includes a
music page on its Web
Crowe
site, gives karma points
information that people will refer to and gives away prizes.
regularly, such as weather and local
USA Today features individual
government contact information.
readers.
Veryimportant, she said, is to make it
Crowe has extensive newspaper expepossible for readers to comment on what rience. She is former head of training
is on the site. And she suggested setting for USA Today.
CMYK
WORTH REPEATING
Fact, opinion and the Crafton mess
BY MARK SILVERMAN
This is the difference between a
reporter, a columnist and an editorial
writer:
A reporter investigates an issue or
chronicles an event, places the news
in context, seeks all sides and avoids
judging who is right or wrong.
A columnist views the news through
the prism of his or her personal
experience and values, and provides
a perspective that sometimes assigns
praise or blame.
An editorial writer goes through the
fact-gathering process of a reporter
and then presents a point of view as
a columnist might. But unlike the
columnist, the point of view is that of
the newspaper’s editorial board rather
than his or her personal opinion.
Confusing? It can be to a reader. Unless
you’re involved in journalism, it can be
difficult to imagine that a reporter can
keep his or her personal views out of
a story. It also can be difficult to believe
that a newspaper’s editorial positions
have no influence on news coverage.
But that’s the case — and that’s the
reason mainstream newspapers and
their Web sites have for so long been
the most credible information sources
in their communities.
Understanding that separation of
duties is especially difficult when it
comes to some issues — such as the
English-only crusade by Metro Councilman Eric Crafton.
Our reporting has shown that claims
made by Crafton are exaggerated and
misleading.
Our columnists have questioned both
the practical reasons for his proposal
and the moral underpinnings of his
campaign.
Our editorial board has called for
the defeat of this year’s ballot petition
— just as it hailed former Mayor Bill
Purcell’s veto of the council proposal
last year. That’s because it believes the
initiative is misguided, impractical,
dangerous to individuals’ health and
well-being, a detriment to the region’s
growth, and racist.
The next news event will probably
come this week, when the council
takes up Councilman Ronnie Steine’s
measure asking fellow members to urge
voters to reject Crafton’s initiative.
Our news coverage will continue to
probe both the motivation of those
behind the measure and its possible
unintended consequences.
We also will try to discover the
identity of those putting up the money
behind the petition drive. The very fact
that the financing sources have been
kept secret raises suspicions that some
backers might have unsavory agendas.
It is possible that there’s nothing nefarious about the funding and, indeed, you
might find yourself in agreement with
the supporters. But don’t you want to
know who is bankrolling Crafton before
you sign on? That’s one reason for our
continued reporting on the issue.
We’ll continue to report the public
safety impact of signs, of telephone
messages and of conversations held in
a language that many lawful residents
find difficult to understand.
And we’ll continue to report on the
barriers faced by many people who
want to learn English but can’t because
of limited access to classes and other
reasons.
We’ll report about the likely impact
of Crafton’s measure on the ability of
our region and our state to attract businesses like Nissan and Volkswagen.
(Would Crafton’s backers have banned
the German translators who facilitated
the negotiations to bring the automaker
to Tennessee?)
What about reporting the other side
of the issue — exploring substantive
reasons that argue for enacting the
measure?
We’ve tried—and we will continue to
try. But once you get past the pat phrases
and look for concrete examples of how
this proposed law might improve life in
Davidson County, it becomes difficult
to find the other side.
Our columnists will continue to
express their views — sometimes tied
to news events and sometimes flowing
from their sense of right and wrong.
And our editorial board will continue
to urge residents and officials to do what
it believes is right. Our position is that
an English-only law is potentially dangerous from public safety and economic
development standpoints; further, we
believe it to be a morally reprehensible measure that appeals to some
well-meaning people on an emotional
basis in the same way that Adolf Hitler
appealed to some Germans’ national
pride after World War I.
The roles of reporters, columnists
and editorial writers will always differ
— even if their work may suggest the
same conclusions on some stories.
(Aug. 3, 2008)
SEPTEMBER 2008
WORTH REPEATING
Grainger Today revisits
why we do what we do
While awards are certainly nice to
receive, last week’s UT-TPA Awards
ceremony was a time for Grainger Today
to reflect why we do what we do.
Newspapers play many roles in a
community.
None of those roles is any more important than providing solid news content
and meaningful commentary.
The role of newspapers in keeping
an eye on government and closely
scrutinizing public policy has been
around as long as journalism itself. In
an open and free society, an open, free
and candid press is crucial.
It is disturbing to see many newspapers shrink back from that role, turning into little more than community
newsletters with editorial pages that are
either full of personal humor columns,
syndicated columns or, in some cases,
no editorial page at all.
An open, free and unfettered press
was closely tied to the American Revolution, and it can be strongly argued
that without it, the colonies would
have never been rallied to the cause
of independence. The framers of the
Constitution and the Bill of Rights
ensured the freedom of the press with
the First Amendment, making the kind
of government oppression and control
from which colonialists sought their
liberty unconstitutional in the new
United States. After the Revolutionary
War and the signing of the Constitution,
the press kept a close eye on the new
government and its newly elected officials. In the mid-1800s the Penny Press
exposed government corruption and
abuses of power, expanding even further
the role of the public watchdog.
During the 19 th century Joseph
Pulitzer forever changed the face of
American journalism, distinguishing
himself as the foe of political corruption. During that time of aggressive,
proactive, open and free press, Mark
Twain coined the phrase, “Never pick
an argument with a man who buys ink
by the barrel.”
As the 20th century began, William
Randolph Hearst continued with the
same kind of media activism, causing
his detractors to label his journalistic
style “yellow journalism,” but building
a media empire hallmarked by exposing
corruption, providing a forum for social
commentary and setting high standards
for editorial candor.
Newspapers are directly tied to our
form of government and way of life
in America.
In many parts of the world the press is
not free and neither are the people.
The trend of newspapers in this country to eliminate or water down editorial
pages is something to worry about. At
Grainger Today we are proud to follow
in the footsteps of great newspapermen
such as Edward J. Meeman, who fought
against political corruption and championed civil rights causes throughout
his illustrious journalism career in the
state of Tennessee.
Page one is the face of a newspaper.
Advertising revenue is its lifeblood. The
editorial page is its heart and soul.
At Grainger Today we are committed
to serving Grainger County in these
ways.
Everyone may not always like the
facts we report.
Readers may not always agree with
editorials.
Letters to the editor will not always
be popular or reflect prevailing public
opinion.
However, stimulating the public dialogue can never be a bad thing.
As proud as we are of being recognized
by our peers for excellence in journalism, our greatest source of pride is
the humbling privilege of serving the
citizens of Grainger County.
(July 23, 2008)
Al Cross talks about covering economic and business coverage by
newspapers. He is director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and
Community Issues at the University of Kentucky, Lexington. The Rural
Blog, www.uky.edu/comminfostudies/IRJCI/blog.htm, carries stories
about journalism and issues and is both a source of stories of interest to
newspapers and a source of story ideas.
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
FROM PAGE 2
AWARDS
MAKE-UP AND APPEARANCE
Group I
1. The Humboldt Chronicle
•Headline/Photo combination was excellent on front page and sports page
•Very pleasing to the eye
•Excellent overall
2. The Erwin Record. Anthony D.
Piercy, Mark A. Stevens, Lesley Hughes,
Keith Whitson, Brenda Sparks
3. Lake County Banner, Tiptonville
Zachary, Ann Cason, Robert Turner
5. The Portland Progressive
Group II
1. Memphis Business Journal. Lee
Swets
•The design is clean and attractive
•Good use of graphics
•Good headline font
2. Nashville Business Journal. Anne
Pringle, Dave Raiford, Garrison Wells,
Scott Takal, Todd Stringer, Carol Smith
Carpenter,Tiffany Soyster, Max Hackett,
Cathy Barnes
Group III
1. The Oak Ridger
Layout is excellent. I especially liked
the dominant art. It is easy to follow
stories & know which photo, headline
goes with which. Liked the use of
graphic on Feb. 15 in economic development story.
Don’t like centered headlines. I prefer
left-justified, except over features. Photo
quality & content was very good. Loved
the Valentine’s Day feature package!
It wouldn’t hurt to air things out
a little & go with 4 stories on front
instead of 5.
Would like to see subheads on all
stories to make it more consistent.
Don’t like subheads italicized.
Overall - the best of the lot. Sports
was excellent.
5. Shelbyville Times-Gazette. David
Melson, Carol Spray, Mary Cook
Group IV
Attractive – good looking newspaper
from an appearance standpoint. This
paper is just a cut above the rest of
the class because of its general appearance, mechanic production, good use of
photos & graphics. Also a good mix of
ads & news on each page and its overall
design was hard to beat.
3. The Daily Herald, Columbia
Group V
Good use of color!
Front page makes you want to read
inside
Index important on front page!
Keep up the good work!
5. The Jackson Sun
BEST SPOT NEWS STORY
Group I
1. The Portland Leader. Smokefree
Tennessee, Sonya Thompson
Definitely a hot-button topic right
now. Loved the lead! This story gave
a great, human-interest perspective to
the issue. I liked it very much.
Smithville. Newborn found in restaurant
trash, Chris Tramel
3. The Portland Progressive. Man
saves firefighter
4. Grainger Today, Bean Station.
Utility stymies records request, Sarah
McCarty
5. The Millington Star. Man dies in
police custody
Group II
1. The Leader, Covington. The great
escape, Greg Little
Love the tongue-in-cheek approach;
even your officials seemed to play along.
Very well written. Interesting topic with
“slice of life appeal.”
2. The Courier, Savannah. Estranged
husband ambushes, wounds wife, Ron
Schaming
Crops are just dried up
4. The News Examiner, Gallatin. Local
businessman accused of $53 million
scam, Katrina Cornwell
5.The Herald-News, Dayton. Possible
tornado rips up Dayton, Max Hackett
Group III
1. Shelbyville Times-Gazette. Holton
execution, Clint Confehr
Haunting. An excellent piece of
journalism. Nothing can beat an eye
witness report.
Voluntary manslaughter, Duane Sherrill
Father & son burn in fire
4. The Oak Ridger. Tragedy strikes;
youth dips
5. Southern Standard, McMinnville. I
figured I was a goner, James Clark
Group IV
1.The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville. Man
kills himself at council meeting, Eric
Snyder, Jason Austin
•Great lede, very dramatic
•Use of BO’s quotes before his death
really tell the story
•evokes emotion, a man with no
where else to turn but to death
•image of his wife throwing herself
on him!
SEE AWARDS, PAGE 4
Awards - 3
Dept. of Children’s Services dropped ball
BY BOB PARKINS
The Milan Mirror-Exchanges
Little Austin Cash, who was a vibrant,
bright, 19-monthold boy, is fighting
for his life in the
Memphis LeBonheur Children’s
Hospital, a victim
of alleged child
abuse.
Today he’s lying
Parkins
in critical condition
with a cracked skull, brain damage,
lifeless and blind. Physicians say his
condition isn’t likely to improve if
he lives.
The sad thing is that the Gibson
County Department of Children’s Services (DCS) had been forewarned that
the child, who was practically raised
by great-grandparents in Milan, was
in danger while in the hands of the
tot’s father and stepmother, who now
live in Martin.
The court had granted the real father
First place award
Group I
partial custody of the child between
him and the child’s mother who lives
in Milan.
The great-grandparents noticed
signs of abuse early on when the child
left Milan to stay with the father in
Martin. When Austin was returned,
they noticed burns and bruises on the
child after visits with the boy’s real
dad. Once, the boy’s lips were parched
from apparent dehydration and lack
of nourishment, the grandparents
noticed. They made several pictures
and urged the DCS to keep the child
away from an environment of obvious
abuse. But they got no relief from DCS
counselors who assured them that they
had visited the Martin home and things
would improve.
It didn’t; instead things got much
worse for the child.
On the night of July 28, Austin was
taken to Volunteer Hospital with lifethreatening head injuries and airlifted
to Memphis LeBonheur. (See story on
page 1).
The child’s father and stepmother
were arrested on charges of aggravated
child abuse and neglect. They are currently in jail unable to make bond and
have been bound over to the Weakley
County Grand Jury in September.
The stepmother had several children
of her own who have been placed in
foster homes.
The tragic truth is that this alleged
abuse could have been prevented had
the ball of justice not been dropped by
someone who wasn’t doing their job.
We pray there’s hope for little Austin.
His relatives are devastated.
He deserves better and so do the
taxpayers of Gibson County.
Someone needs to face the music in
this blatant case of irresponsibility!
(Aug. 14, 2007)
EDITOR’S NOTE: Bob Parkins,
editor and publisher of The Milan
Mirror-Exchange, died April 17.
ENGRAVINGS
The Shelbyville Times-Gazette was
awarded the 2007 Kohl’s Distribution
Excellence Award in recognition of
its commitment to providing errorfree distribution of Kohl’s preprinted
advertising section. “Your newspaper
has shown that planning and teamwork
among departments creates the ideal
distribution process,” Kohl’s officials
wrote in a letter accompanying the
award.
|
Sherry Hasty was employee of the
month of August at The Tullahoma
News. She works in accounting and has
been with the paper 24 years. She has
received the same honor before and also
was named employee of the year.
|
The Jackson Sun was the recipient
of the 2008 Performing Star Award of
Leadership Jackson. Roy W. Heatherly,
president and publisher, accepted the
award.
First place award
Best news photo
Group I
Herald and Tribune,
Jonesborough
CHARLIE MAUK | HERALD AND TRIBUNE, JONESBOROUGH
Sad farewells were said as the 730th Quartermaster company from Gray
and Erwin headed off for training in Mississippi. (July 10, 2007)
Mauk
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
CMYK
(Left) Contests Committee Chairman Victor Parkins welcomes people
to the State Press Contests Awards Luncheon July 18 in Nashville. TPA
President Tom Griscom talks about newspapers’ central role in the U.S.
society.
pete against each other, primarily in
Group III.
The 2008 divisions were as follows: Group I—Combined weekly
circulation of 5,000 or less; Group
II—Combined weekly circulation of
5,001-15,000; Group III—Combined
weekly circulation of 15,001-50,000;
Group IV—Combined weekly circulation of 50,001-200,000; and Group
V—Combined weekly circulation of
200,001 and more.
In earlier years, there were four
circulation categories, two non-daily
and two daily.
The Nebraska Press Association
judged a total of 1,394 contest entries
from 77 association newspapers.
The Leaf-Chronicle earned the most
first place honors, with eight. It won for
make-up and appearance, local features,
best personal humor column, best spot
news story, best education reporting,
investigative reporting, public service
and best sports photograph.
The Tennessean won six first-place
awards, for sports writing, Sunday editions, editorials, best spot news story,
best feature photograph and best sports
Contests! Contests!
Yes, it’s true. Awards were just conferred.
But the 2009 awards period
ends in just four months.
And this year the deadlines
will come earlier than usual,
in January 2009.
So, don’t rest on your laurels.
Get busy and start stashing
away potential entries for the Ad/Circ Ideas
Contest and the UT-TPA State Press Contests.
Awards period: Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2008
Deadlines: January 2009
photograph.
The Memphis Business Journal won
six first place awards, for make-up and
appearance, editorials, best single
editorial, best news reporting, best
education reporting and investigative
reporting.
The Oak Ridger won five first place
awards, for make-up and appearance,
local features, best single feature,
best personal humor column and best
feature photograph.
UT has co-sponsored the annual
contest since 1940.
The university’s Edward J. Meeman
Foundation honored nine newspapers
for their accomplishments in editorial
writing and public service journalism
with $200 awards in the categories of
best single editorial, editorials and
public service. The monetary awards
were increased from $100 for the first
year.
The foundation was established
in 1968 at UT to fund the contests as
well as journalism scholarships and
faculty fellowships. One newspaper,
the Memphis Business Journal, won
two awards for best single editorial
and editorials.
Other newspapers receiving Meeman awards were the News Sentinel,
Knoxville, The Leaf-Chronicle and
The Newport Plain Talk, public service; the Kingsport Times-News, The
Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro,
The Wilson Post, Lebanon, and The
Milan Mirror-Exchange, best single
editorial; and Grainger Today, Bean
Station, editorials.
Winners of four first place awards:
•LaFollette Press, for best single
feature, sports writing, best feature photograph and best sports photograph;
•News Sentinel, for best single feature,
and public service;
•The Commercial Appeal, Memphis,
for local features, best personal column,
best education reporting and investigative reporting; and
•The Erwin Record, for local features,
community lifestyles, sports writing
and best news reporting.
Winners of three first-place awards:
• Chattanooga Times Free Press, for
make-up and appearance, community
lifestyles and best news photograph;
• Herald-Citizen, Cookeville, for sports
writing, best news reporting and best
•Shelbyville Times-Gazette, for sports
writing, best spot news story and best
•Southern Standard, McMinnville, for
and promotion of newspapers;
•The Humboldt Chronicle, for makeup and appearance, public service and
best special issue or section;
•The Mountain Press, Sevierville, for
community lifestyles, editorials and
best feature photograph; and
•The Wilson Post, Lebanon, for community lifestyles, best single editorial
and investigative reporting.
Other first place award winners:
•Chester County Independent, Henderson, best personal humor column
and best feature photograph;
•Grainger Today, Bean Station, editorials and best personal column;
•Kingsport Times-News, best single
editorial and best single advertisement;
The Mt. Juliet News, best education
reporting and investigative reporting;
•The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro, best single editorial and best news
photograph;
•The Leader, Covington, best spot news
story and headline writing;
•The Milan Mirror-Exchange, best
single editorial and best sports photograph;
•The Newport Plain Talk, best education reporting and public service;
•Bristol Herald Courier, best special
issue or section;
•Carroll County News-Leader, Huntingdon, best single feature;
•Citizen Tribune, Morristown, headline writing;
•Herald and Tribune, Jonesborough,
best news photograph;
•Hickman County Times, Centerville,
best personal humor column;
•Johnson City Press, best personal
humor column;
•Macon County Chronicle, Lafayette,
community lifestyles;
•Monroe County Advocate & Democrat, Sweetwater, best news photograph;
•Overton County News, Livingston,
best single advertisement;
•Roane County News, Kingston, best
news photograph;
EDITOR’S NOTE
We are printing in this Awards
Section all the first place winning
entries from five instead of the
former four circulation groups
in the following categories: Best
Single Editorial, Best Personal
Column, Best Personal Humor
Column, Best News Photograph,
Best Feature Photograph, Best
Sports Photograph and Best
Single Ad. Most of the photos
were run very large and in color
on the newspaper pages. We wish
we were able to print the winning
photos in color, as large and in
the same compelling manner
as when they were originally
published. Thanks to all the
newspaper staffers who sent their
photos or in other ways provided
information for this section.
—Elenora E. Edwards
Managing editor
•Robertson County Times, Springfield, best personal column;
•The Daily Herald, Columbia, promotion of newspapers;
•The Daily News, Memphis, local
features;
•The Daily Times, Maryville, best
single feature;
•The Greeneville Sun, best personal
column;
•The Lebanon Democrat, editorials;
•The Millington Star, headline writing;
•The Paris Post-Intelligencer, best
personal column;
•The Portland Leader, best spot news
story;
•The Rogersville Review, best special
issue or section;
•The Standard Banner, Jefferson City,
public service; and
•Union City Daily Messenger, best
sports photograph.
The complete list of winners is
available at www.utk.edu/news/docs/
tpa2008.pdf and is printed in this section, beginning on Page 3.
Winners from 2000 through 2008 are
posted on www.tnpress.com.
A slide show of first place images is
available at www.tnpress.com/statepresscontests.html.
Tom Overton, Monroe County Advocate & Democrat, Sweetwater, will serve
as 2008-09 contests chairman.
Awards luncheon and training factoids
•Total number of attendees: 219,
including staff members and
speakers
•Member newspapers represented: 55, with 200 attendees
•Dailies: 21, with 74 attendees
•Non-dailies: 34, with 126 attendees
•Attended training: 61
Drive-In Training photos
UT, TPA announce State Press Contests winners
Newspapers across Tennessee won
top awards in the University of Tennessee-Tennessee Press Association’s
2008 State Press Contests.
General Excellence winners and their
points were as follows: The Erwin
Record, 55; Memphis Business Journal,
46; Southern Standard, McMinnville,
64; The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville,
66; and The Tennessean, Nashville, 71.
They received the awards July 18 at
the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel
in Nashville.
Seventy-seven newspapers submitted
a total of 1,394 entries that were judged
by the Nebraska Press Association.
The 2008 contests mark the sixth consecutive General Excellence Award for
The Erwin Record. Both the Southern
Standard and The Tennessean have
received seven General Excellence
Awards out of the 10 years since the
points-based award, formerly called
Sweepstakes, was established in 1999.
The Leaf-Chronicle has won the award
three times, and this was a first for the
Memphis Business Journal.
Victor Parkins, 2007-08 Contests Committee chairman, presided.
TPA President Tom Griscom acknowledged the large turnout of newspaper
staff members. He said it was important
to let people know “what newspaper
people do, why, and why it is important
to those we serve.”
Hank Dye, UT vice president for public
and government relations, presented
awards. Charles Primm, communications coordinator, announced winners,
and Amy Rummel, media specialist, took
individual award photos. Amy Blakely,
assistant director of media relations,
handled a PowerPoint presentation. Jay
Mayfield, communications coordinator,
assisted Dye. Also attending was Gina
Stafford, UT assistant vice president
and director of media relations.
A change in the contests for this year
added a fifth division for competition,
those divisions being based on total
weekly paid circulation instead of
non-daily or daily status. This change
caused dailies and non-dailies to com-
The Tennessee Press
SEPTEMBER 2008
•Attended luncheon: 207
•Member paper with the most
attendees: The Tennessean, Nashville, with 18
•Universities represented: 2, with 8
attendees
•Training session with the most attendees: “Get Your Audience in Gear,”
with Adell Crowe, with 39 attendees
Win Anderson, The News-Democrat, Waverly
Donna Rea, The Erwin Record, and husband, Larry
Sara Withrow and Scott Broden, The Daily News Journal,
Murfreesboro
Andrew Oppmann, The Daily News
Journal, Murfreesboro, Drive-InTraining
chairman
Chris Fletcher, The Daily
Herald, Columbia
Hugh Jones, Shelbyville TimesGazette
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
2 - Awards
Mary Reeves, Shelbyville TimesJim Wozniak, Johnson City Press, and John Kiener, Herald Gazette
and Tribune, Jonesborough
A ‘sweepstakes’ history
The UT-TPA State Press Contests began many years ago, in 1940.
During a period at about the mid-20th century, a sweepstakes
awards was established. Later it was abandoned.
Then the Sweepstakes Award was reestablished in 1999 as a
points-based award. At that time, points were assigned as follows:
first place (6 points), second place (5 points), third place (4 points),
fourth place (3 points), fifth place (2 points), sixth place (1 point).
The newspaper in each of the four contests divisions (Group One,
Group Two, Group Three and Group Four) with the highest total
points in its group received the Sweepstakes Award.
In 2006, the category of General Excellence replaced the Sweepstakes Award. Since 2007, only five places are awarded, with points
as follows: first place (5 points), second place (4 points), third place
(3 points), fourth place (2 points) and fifth place (1 point).
Group I:
Group II:
The Review Appeal, Franklin
Group III:
Group IV:
Group I:
Group II:
Group III:
Group IV:
Group I:
The Rutherford Courier, Smyrna
Group II:
Group III:
Group IV:
Group I:
The Erwin Record
Group II:
LaFollette Press
Group III:
Group IV:
Group I :
Group II:
Group III:
Group IV:
Group I:
The Erwin Record
Group II:
The Standard Banner, Jefferson City
Group III:
The Daily Herald, Columbia
Group IV:
Group I :
The Erwin Record
Group II:
Group III:
Group IV:
Group I:
The Erwin Record
Group II:
Group III:
Group IV:
Group I:
The Erwin Record
Group II:
Group III:
Group IV:
Note: a fifth division was added to the State Press Contests for
2008. All divisions are based upon total weekly paid circulation,
which meant some dailies and non-dailies competed in the same
division. The divisions are as follows:
Group I: Combined weekly circulation of 5,000 or less
Group II: Combined weekly circulation of 5,001-15,000
Group III: Combined weekly circulation of 15,001-50,000
Group IV: Combined weekly circulation of 50,001-200,000;
Group V: Combined weekly circulation of 200,001 and above
2008 General Excellence Awards winners
Group I:
The Erwin Record
Group II:
Group III:
Group IV:
Group V:
The Tennessee Press
28 - Awards
2008 University of Tennessee-Tennessee Press Association
SEPTEMBER 2008
State Press Contests Awards
September 2008
Special section
GREG WILLIAMSON | THE LEAF-CHRONICLE, CLARKSVILLE
THE LEAF-CHRONICLE, CLARKSVILLE
Group IV
CMYK
CMYK
From left, Multi-media editor Robert Smith, reporter Jamie Dexter, reporter Eric Snyder, reporter
Ann Wallace, managing editor Chris Smith and night editor Brian Dunn
THE ERWIN RECORD
THE ERWIN RECORD
Group I
From left, Cody Lewis, Brenda Sparks, Kevin Lewis, Donna Rea, Mark A.
Stevens, Anthony Piercy, Keith Whitson, Lesley Hughes and Eileen Rush
LAUREN ZECHMAN | SOUTHERN STANDARD, McMINNVILLE
SOUTHERN STANDARD, McMINNVILLE
Group III
Front to back, Charlie Johnson, Publisher Patricia Zechman, Duane Sherrill,
Margaret Hobbs, Lisa Hobbs, Seth Wright, Rob Nunley, Dale Stubblefield and
James Clark. Not in the photo is Veola Sutherland.
BRAD ALEXANDER | MEMPHIS BUSINESS JOURNAL
SAM SIMPKINS | THE TENNESSEAN, NASHVILLE
Group II
THE TENNESSEAN, NASHVILLE
Group V
From left: Seated, staff reporters Trey Heath, Andy Ashby, Chris Sheffield and Toby Sells; standing, staff reporter
Einat Paz-Frankel, production artist Angela Snell, managing editor Terry Hollahan, researcher Jason Bolton,
editor Bill Wellborn, design editor Lee Swets and Web editor Jane Donahoe
From left, entertainment editor Linda Zettler, senior editor Deborah Fisher, sports editor Larry
Taft, managing editor Meg Downey, director of online content Knight Stivender, senior editor
Alan Whitt, photo editor Tom Stanford, editor Mark Silverman, city editor Mike Kennedy and
business editor Randy McClain
INSIDE
AWARDS LUNCHEON
UT-TPAAWARDS LIST
2
3-20
NEWS PHOTOS
EDITORIALS
3-5
3-7
FEATURE PHOTOS
6-10
PERSONAL COLUMNS 8-12
SPORTS PHOTOS
11-13
HUMOR COLUMNS 13, 16-18
BEST ADS
TAPME AWARDS
19
22-23

3-AWARDS Sec.9-08AMDfinal.indd

Transcription

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