Newsmakers

The Texas Associated Press Managing Editors selected new officers for 2004-05 at its convention in Abilene and Terri Burke, editor of the Abilene Reporter-News, is the new president. Burke succeeds Bob Moore, executive editor of the El Paso Times.

Other officers include first vice president Lois Norder, managing editor/investigations at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram; second vice president Dorsey Wilmarth, managing editor of the Amarillo Globe-News; secretary Keven Willey, editorial page editor of The Dallas Morning News and treasurer Brett Thacker, managing editor of the San Antonio Express-News.

Tommy Miller, former managing editor of the Houston Chronicle, received the APME’s Jack Douglas Award. Miller left the Chronicle in July to take the Roger Tatarian Endowed Chair of Professional Journalism at California State University, Fresno.

The Austin American-Statesman, Houston Chronicle and The Dallas Morning News were winners in the 70th annual National Headliner Awards, sponsored by The Press Club of Atlantic City, N.J.

Rodolfo Gonzalez won first place in feature photography for the American-Statesman.

Christobal Perez won first place in sports photography for the Chronicle.

Ruben Navarrette of the Morning News won a second-place in special or feature column on one subject with coverage of a fake drug scandal.

Erich Schlegel of the Morning News won second-place in photo essay and David Leeson finished third in war and war-related photo coverage.

Becky Barrera has joined the Ozona Stockman as sports reporter. She is a senior at Ozona High School and replaced Makinsey Morris who moved.

Cynthia Bond joined the Kilgore News Herald as a reporter. Bond comes to the Kilgore paper with experience as staff writer and assistant editor for two New Hampshire periodicals, Business NH Magazine and New Hampshire Magazine. She also held adjunct faculty positions at community colleges in Concord and Nashua, N.H.

Amy Burroughs was promoted to managing editor at the Williamson County Sun following the resignation of longtime editor Linda Welch. Burroughs has been the Sun’s associate editor since June. While leading the Sun’s editorial staff, she is working to complete her thesis in civic journalism.

Joey Dauben has joined The Ellis County Press as a full-time reporter. Dauben has been with the paper for two years, working as a free-lance reporter. He worked as a reporter for Focus Daily News in DeSoto before coming to Ferris.

Adrienne Dale filled the news editor position at The Copperas Cove Leader-Press. In June 1998, Dale went to work for the Killeen Daily Herald as a sports clerk.

Stephen Farris traded his carrier job at the Corsicana Daily Sun to become a reporter. In January while on his route, Farris helped save a local resident’s life after finding the man unconscious and lying in his front yard.

Dwayne Hartnett joined the Amarillo Globe-News as business editor. Hartnett comes from the Panama City, Fla., News Herald, where he had worked as business editor since 2002. Hartnett previously served as business editor at the Brownsville Herald. Earlier in his career, Hartnett was a sportswriter and columnist at the Dallas Times-Herald.

Mark Housewright, publisher of the Oak Cliff Tribune, accepted the Texas Media Award from Preservation Texas for the newspaper’s coverage and support of the revitalization of historic Oak Cliff.

Oak Cliff consists of 23 historic neighborhoods and the Tribune publicized each of these individual communities to assist in their redevelopment and revitalization through the “Beautiful Pocket Neighborhoods of Oak Cliff” series, which ran weekly and featured the history and unique character of each area.

The Jasper Newsboy received two third place awards in the Hearst Distinguished Journalism Awards. TPA president Willis Webb, Newsboy publisher, was third in columns/commentary after first place Midland Reporter-Telegram and second Midland (Mich.) Daily News.

Georgia Purdy placed third in sports photography, finishing behind first-place Midland Reporter-Telegram and second-place Laredo Morning Times.

The Newsboy was competing in the Community Group for the fourth quarter 2003.

Tami L. Jones has been hired as a staff writer in the editorial department of the Borger News-Herald. She also has been a lifestyle’s clerk for the Amarillo Globe-News.

Jack Loftis, a Hillsboro native who went on to become executive vice president and editor of the Houston Chronicle during a 45-year journalism career, was honored April 3 at the Hill County Cell Block Museum during a ceremony unveiling an exhibit detailing his journalism career. Jack Loftis Day has been declared for the museum and Hillsboro. Loftis started his career with the Hillsboro Daily Mirror in the mid-1950s while attending Baylor University.

Karen Long has joined the Abilene Reporter-News as director of human resources. She had worked for eight years as the human resources director for Tampa’s WFFS-TV, which is owned by the E.W. Scripps Co., parent company of the Reporter-News.

Mickey Herskowitz was suspended by the Houston Chronicle after the newspaper discovered his sports column published in the Sunday, March 21 Chronicle was virtually identical to one he wrote for the Houston Post in 1990.

“This is a clear violation of journalism standards and the writer has been suspended,” the Chronicle wrote in an editor’s note.

Herskowitz’s column about legendary basketball coach John Wooden contained little new information and many duplicate phrases. A further examination also found other examples of short passages in Post columns that later appeared in the Chronicle.

A longtime Houston sportswriter, Herskowitz joined the Chronicle as a columnist in 1995 after more than 30 years at the Post. His column was scheduled to return later this month.

Mike Lutz retired April 1 from The Associated Press. Lutz, AP’s Houston-based sports writer since 1971, joined the AP in Louisville in 1966. He was a fill-in sports writer at The Monitor in McAllen and wrote obits and features for six months at the Port Arthur News. While at Texas Tech, he worked at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.

Joel Anderson replaced Lutz. Anderson most recently has been sports editor for the AP in Oklahoma City. After serving an AP internship in Houston, Anderson joined the AP in Dallas in January 2001. He led the Texas AP’s high school sports coverage in 2001 and 2002.

Jim Moroney, publisher of The Dallas Morning News, was named Publisher of the Year on March 29 by Editor & Publisher magazine. Moroney has been the publisher and chief executive officer since June 2001.

Jonathan Sampson has been named managing editor of The Community News in Aledo. Sampson joined the staff in June 2003, after serving as an intern during 2002. He graduated from Texas Christian University with a degree in journalism in May 2003. Sampson was largely responsible for the redesign of the News in late 2003.

New to the staff is Thomas Peipert. He is a 2001 graduate from the University of Colorado at Boulder Journalism School and has since worked as a free-lance designer and photographer. He was a copy editor for Moyer Bell Publishing in Kingston, R.I., and has experience as a reporter and photographer for a daily newspaper.

Texas Daily Newspaper Association announced awards at its 83rd annual convention March 21-23  in Corpus Christi.

Bill Hartman, president of Hartman Newspapers Inc., received the 2003 Pat Taggart Award for Texas Newspaper Leader of the Year for recognition of outstanding service to his newspaper, to the newspaper industry and to the community.

Bill Cornwell, editor and publisher of The Facts in Clute, received the 2003 Mayborn Award for Community Leadership. Cornwell volunteers for the Lake Jackson Volunteer Fire Department and was a driving force in the development of the Brazosport Center for The Arts and Sciences.

Vic Odegar, lead copy editor at the Beaumont Enterprise, received the 2003 John Murphy Award for Excellence in Copy Editing, a cash prize of $1,000 and a plaque. Odegar designs and edits the front page and A section five days a week, including Sunday. He has been at the Enterprise for 10 years.

Brice Cherry, sports columnist for the Waco Tribune-Herald, earned the 2003 Fred Hartman Excellence in Sportswriting Award, a cash prize of $1,000 and a plaque.

The 2003 “Bright Idea” Awards sponsored by TDNA and the International Newspaper Marketing Association winners were:

Under 10,000 circulation category: Seguin Gazette-Enterprise – “Meet the Press”

10,000 to 35,000 circulation category: The Baytown Sun – “Community Partnerships”

35,000 to 100,000 circulation category: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal – “Awesome Auction” campaign

Over 100,000 circulation category: Houston Chronicle – “Hotspot” campaign

The Texas State Teachers Association announced winners of the 2004 School Bell Award given for outstanding education-related reporting:

Terrence Stutz, Outstanding Continuous Coverage, The Dallas Morning News

Raechal Leone, Outstanding Continuous Coverage, Odessa American

Joshua Benton, Outstanding Feature Story, The Dallas Morning News

Yamil Berard, Jen Friedberg, and Diane Smith, Outstanding Feature Stories, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Tara Trower, Andy Alford, Bill Bishop, Michelle Martinez, Kathy Blackwell, Laylan Copelin and Michelle Breyer, Outstanding Feature Series, Austin American-Statesman

Keri Mitchell, Outstanding Story Collection, Pasadena Citizen

Sidney Levesque, Outstanding Story Collection, Abilene Reporter-News

Michael Ryan, Outstanding Editorial, Houston Chronicle

Editorial Boards, Outstanding Editorials, Wichita Falls Times Record News and Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Editorial Boards, Outstanding Editorial Collections, Wichita Falls

Times Record News, Corpus Christi Caller-Times and Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Etta Hulme, Outstanding Political Cartoon, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Clay Robison, Outstanding Continuing Column, Houston Chronicle

John Young, Outstanding Continuing Column, Waco Tribune-Herald

Kathleen Holton, Outstanding Regular Supplement, The Post (published by the Alvin Sun)

Chronicle in Education Staff, Special Consideration, Houston Chronicle

 

Tommy Wells is leaving his sports editor job at the Big Spring Herald to become managing editor of the Devils Lake (N.D.) Journal.