News-Star staffers win awards

The Shawnee News-Star and members of its newsroom staff were honored Jan. 31 with 13 awards from The Society of Professional Journalists, including first place honors for the newspaper’s 2007 Centennial issue.
Awards were presented during the Oklahoma Pro Chapter’s annual awards banquet, held this year in Tulsa.
The Shawnee News-Star competed in Division B, which is for newspapers with circulations between 7,000 and 24,999.
The News-Star’s Centennial Issue took first place in the Special Projects category. The Centennial edition, printed Sept. 17, 2007, commemorated Oklahoma’s 100th birthday with more than 80 pages of local content.
Judges said, “Shows great planning, coordination and execution. Terrific job!”
The News-Star staff also won third place for In-Depth Enterprise Team Reporting for its coverage of Shawnee’s ice storm in December 2007, which closed schools and left countless area residents without power.
News-Star staffers also took home individual awards in several categories.
Publisher Brian Blansett won first place in Personal Columns for “Some Lessons Gain Deeper Meaning,” a column about his mother.
Judges said, “The writer skillfully and touchingly takes an incident from childhood to pay tribute to his gravely ill mother, whose humility and kindness taught him how to live.”
Police and Courts Reporter Kim Morava won first place in Spot News Reporting for “Lockdown shakedown,” a package about the surprise lockdown of the Pottawatomie County Public Safety Center in August 2007 following three escapes. Judges said, “The most in-depth of the spot news entries, it was written with urgency but also context to understand what was going on.”
Morava took second place in Criminal Justice Reporting for “Justice for Kelsey?” That entry was a series of stories in July 2007 on the child abuse trial of Raye Dawn Smith, mother of Meeker toddler Kelsey Smith Briggs who died from suspected abuse in 2005. Smith was convicted of enabling child abuse and sentenced to 27 years in prison.
Morava also won third place in Best Reporting Portfolio for a compilation of news stories written in 2007-08.
Lifestyles Editor Vicky O. Misa won second place in the Feature Page Layout category for her design of a Lifestyles page cover for the Red Shoe Gala.
Mike McCormick, executive editor, won a third-place award in Editorials for “Pursuing a quick resolve,” an editorial about residents protesting a proposed sexual offender rehabilitation center in a Shawnee neighborhood.
Ed Blochowiak, staff photographer, took home two awards in the Sports Photography category. Blochowiak won third place for his photo of a saddle bronc rider being bucked off during the International Finals Youth Rodeo. He also won an honorable mention award for a photograph of a wee-ball player running bases.
Former News-Star Managing Editor April Wilkerson won three awards for work she completed while at the News-Star in 2007-08.
In Feature Writing, Wilkerson won first place for, “A tale of two moms,” a story about two moms meeting after one child was saved with organ donation from the other child who died in a traffic accident.
Judges said, “Clear, compassionate writing paints a picture of love.”
Wilkerson won second place in Entertainment Feature Writing for “American Idol finalist brings show to Shawnee,” a story about Phil Stacey. Wilkerson also won an honorable mention in the category of Best Reporting Portfolio.