Sunday, April 23, 2006

Kudos for CV staffers for winning some state awards

Michael Hockenbury, Leonarda Bilbow, Steve Bennett and Jonathan Bombulie all hit it big on something called the "Keystone Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists Spotlight Contest." Party on.

It should be noted that it helps to have friends in high places. The local SPJ chapter is run by CV lifer Pat Trosky. That may or may not have anything to do with why the TL never ever wins anything, according to the "Keystone Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists" Web site.

3 comments:

Tom Carten said...

The local SPJ chapter is run by CV lifer Pat Trosky. That may or may not have anything to do with why the TL never ever wins anything, according to the "Keystone Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists" Web site.

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I know Pat and I think she's enough of a pro that she would keep the newsroom over here, and the SPJ over there.

If someone can show otherwise, with hard examples, I think it should be discussed here.

Tom Carten said...

I have a request for information:

Your post noted, in part:
That may or may not have anything to do with why the TL never ever wins anything, according to the "Keystone Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists" Web site.

* * *

I was not able to find this anywhere on the site. Can you direct me to it? I'm curious.

Thanks, Tom

Tom Carten said...

Ok, I checked with Pat on this whole thing and here's what she has to say. Anyone have an opinion, you know her phone number.

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quote

Several TL journalists have entered and won SPJ Keystone's contest over the past several years. The most recent winner, if I recall correctly, was Dave Janoski and I believe it was last year or the year before. His entry to SPJ was the same one that was entered in the PNPA contest where he won there as well. The TL entries have been sent in by the individual journalists and editors and not by the newspaper. When the TL boasted its winners, it only credited the wins from PNPA and not from SPJ.

As far as having friends in high places, I am devoid of the contest for just this reason. I do not enter nor do I participate in any of the contest planning. I have been part of the award ceremony but I even try to stay away from that. SPJ Keystone has been blessed to have a dedicated contest coordinator who almost single-handly manages the entire contest.

Judging, in case anyone is interested, is done by SPJ's Northwest chapter (members are from Washington, Oregon, Montana and Idaho). We have exchanged contests for the past few years because they have met our deadlines. Prior to that chapter, we have exchanged with the New Jersey chapter and the Tennessee chapter since I have been president. Contrary to the PNPA judging which is based on circulation, SPJ judges big papers against small and medium-size papers in the daily or weekly categories. We believe good journalism comes in all sizes and shouldn't be determined by the size of the paper's circulation.

End quote

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My take: Professional journalists check first, then they check again.