Pauline Arrillaga, the Southwest regional reporter for The Associated Press, has been named a national writer. She will continue to be based in Phoenix. Arrillaga joined the AP in Dallas in 1992 and also worked in Austin. In 1995, she became a correspondent in Harlingen then transferred to Houston in 1998.

The Associated Press Managing Editors in Baltimore last month named a Texan as one of two recipients of the inaugural Robert M. McGruder Awards for Diversity Leadership.

The winner was Don Flores, editor of the El Paso Times. The award is named in memory of McGruder, a former Detroit Free Press executive editor, and is designed to recognize efforts in hiring and keeping minority journalists. The $2,500 awards, given by APME and the American Society of Newspaper Editors, are funded by The Freedom Forum. Also at the conference, Stuart Wilk, managing editor of The Dallas Morning News, became the organization’s vice president. Walter Johns Jr., assistant managing editor of the Houston Chronicle, is treasurer.

Milton Babb was promoted from county news and education reporter to managing editor for the Greenville Herald-Banner. He came on board two years ago.

Micah Chaplin is the newest reporter at the Corsicana Daily Sun. She is a graduate of Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa where she worked for The Tack, the college’s newspaper.

Michael Clements is the new managing editor of the Texas City Sun. He has been a reporter for 17 years and most recently came from sister newspaper The Galveston County Daily News where he covered local government.

Walter Cronkite was the emcee for the Dallas Press Club’s Katie Awards and the first to receive the group’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He attended the University of Texas at Austin.

Ann Hatchitt joined the Austin Business Journal as its Web reporter and will handle news stories that appear daily on austin.bizjournals.com. She had been free-lancing for the Journal since March 2001.

Herrel Hallmark left his role as editor at the Sweetwater Reporter last month to join the news staff of the Lamesa Press-Reporter. He has been in the newspaper business for 30 years and has edited several Texas newspapers.

Tabitha Houchens joined the DeKalb News and Bowie County Citizens Tribune as general assignments/sports reporter. She most recently worked as a substitute teacher for Maud school district.

The Huntsville Item announced three staff changes.

Jason Barfield is the new assistant sports editor. He replaced Brian Lacy who took the position of managing editor. Barfield was sports coordinator at The Baytown Sun for 13 months and is a Sam Houston State University graduate.

Lacy replaced David Arkin who accepted the managing editor role at the 12,000-circulation Porterville (Calif.) Recorder. Arkin had been on staff for 18 months.

Laura Kestner joined the De Leon Free Press as roving reporter and features writer. She has worked as writer and editor for the Dublin Progress, Dublin Citizen, the Hico News Review and as editor and publisher of Lone Star Gazette.

Gary Maitland is the new managing editor of the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung. He brings more than 30 years’ experience including stints as editor of dailies in Mississippi, Florida and Colorado and weeklies in Tennessee and New Mexico as well as a publisher role in Colorado. He came from the Taos (N.M.) News.

Dan Marsh is the new editor of the Denison Daily Post. He has been working with the staff on enhancing the newspaper’s design and adding new features.

Jennifer Mills is a new reporter for the Ennis Daily News. She moved from Ruston, La. where she attended Louisiana Tech University.

Larry Reynolds, TPA chairman of the board, has accepted a position as publisher of the Moore County News-Press in Dumas. Reynolds most recently was an advertising manager at the Amarillo Globe News.

The San Angelo Standard-Times has named two employees to new positions. Diane Murray is the new metro editor. She has worked at the newspaper since 1986 and held positions as copy editor, reporter, features editor, city editor-features and projects editor. Summer Blackwell is the new deputy metro editor. She joined the staff as copy editor in 1998 after graduating from Baylor University in 1997. She was the 2002 recipient of the Texas Daily Newspaper Association’s John Murphy Award.

Don Sanders will pen a weekly column for the Texoma Family section of the Denison Daily Post. Sanders is a veteran newsman and photographer and has worked as reporter and sports writer for two New Mexico dailies and the El Paso Herald Post and Midland Reporter-Telegram.

Several Texans were honored by the American Association of Sunday and Features Editors’ annual Excellence in Writing competition. More than 1,200 entries were judged in four circulation categories. In Division III, 175,001 to 300,000 circulation, Austin American-Statesman staffers Denise Gamino won second place for general feature and Brad Buchholz won first place for commentary. Kevin Robbins also of the American-Statesman won honorable mentions for short features along with Rick Press of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The Star-Telegram’s Christopher Kelly won first place for A&E criticism, while colleague Jeff Guinn received honorable mention. In the A&E feature category, Michael Corcoran of the American-Statesman won first place, while Guinn took second. Tim Madigan, also of the Star-Telegram, won an honorable mention.

Cristen Sterner is a new writer for the Hale Center American. She is a junior ag communications major at Texas Tech University.

The Texas Division of the American Cancer Society announced winners in the 21st annual Texas Media Awards. TPA member newspapers that won this year include The Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Quanah Tribune Chief, Today Newspapers, Waxahachie Daily Light, Winters Enterprise andWise County Messenger.

Dolph Tillotson, president and publisher of The Galveston County Daily News, was elected treasurer of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association. Among the SNPA board members elected to new three-year terms was Jack Sweeney, president and publisher of the Houston Chronicle. The SNPA board elected three trustees to the SNPA Foundation Board of Trustees for three-year terms. Among them was Lissa Walls Vahldiek, chief operating officer of Houston-based Southern Newspapers Inc. Burl Osborne, publisher emeritus of The Dallas Morning News, was elected to fill a vacated seat on the board.

The Mineral Wells Index welcomed back two not-so-new-newcomers. Mary Jo Watson/Whitehead assumed the position of advertising representative. She worked for the Index from 1994-2000 as advertising manager. She also worked for Polk County Publishing for 13 years. Denise Southern is office clerk and receptionist, a role she also held in 1999.

Two Austin American-Statesman writers have received one of the first awards for reporting about the environment from the Society of Environmental Journalists. Ralph K.M. Haurwitz and Jeff Nesmith, who works out of Cox Newspapers’ Washington bureau, spent a year examining the safety and governmental oversight of the nation’s oil and gas pipelines. The series was published in July 2001 and can be read at www.statesman.com/specialreports.

John Wilburn, who previously worked as a news and operations manager of Houston-based KHOU-TV’s Web site, has been named the Houston Chronicle’s assistant managing editor. He will oversee Sunday editions.

Rene Wisch and her husband Jimmy Wisch, who died in January, are the recipients of the Akiba Academy of Dallas’ annual Civic Service Award. Rene Wisch still publishes the Texas Jewish Post, which the couple founded in 1947. The award recognizes people who make outstanding contributions to the Jewish community.