SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Many local broadcast journalists were honored by their peers at the New York State Associated Press Broadcasters Association's annual news awards competition last week. From the "better late than never" file, we've got the full list of local winners. Thanks to a guest contributor, we've also got some "bonus coverage" from the college competition, as well as some awards for CNY "alumni" who now work elsewhere in the state.
First up, we'll begin with the list of local award winners. Just like when we listed the finalists last month, we'll keep the list limited to categories which involved stations within the markets of the CNYRadio.com and CNYTVNews.com coverage area (Syracuse, Utica, Ithaca).
A quick reminder on some of the key rules for the AP's contests:
- "Class 1" is limited to New York City market outlets. "Class 2" includes Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and the Capital District. "Class 3" includes all other areas of the state.
- "Best regularly scheduled news program" entries are limited to newscasts which aired on two randomly-selected "Contest Days," which are not revealed to stations until that day.
- Finalists either get 1st Place or "Special Mention." (There is no 2nd or 3rd place.)
Television
Category 1: BEST REGULARLY SCHEDULED LOCAL NEWS PROGRAM
Class 3
- 1st Place: WKTV, Utica, NEWSChannel 2 at Six — Staff
- WENY, Elmira, "Twin Tiers Tonight" 6pm, Wed. November 14, 2012 — Staff
- WENY, Elmira, "Twin Tiers Tonight" 6pm, Thurs. October 18, 2012 — Staff
Category 2: BEST NEWS SPECIAL/DOCUMENTARY
Class 2
- 1st Place: WSTM, Syracuse, A Saint for Central New York — Matt Mulcahy, Andy Wolf, Dave Fulkerson
- WIVB, Buffalo, Wallenda Walk — Staff
- WRGB-TV, Albany, Tropical Fury — Christine Harris, Brendan Foley, WRGB News Staff
Class 3
- 1st Place: WKTV, Utica, Boilermaker 2012 — Staff
Category 4: BEST INTERVIEW
Class 2
- 1st Place: YNN, Syracuse, Billy Blake: 25 Years Later — Bill Carey, Tom Walters
- WHEC-TV, Rochester, WHEC Best Interview #2 - Clanton Family — Lynette Adams, Jeff Forthman
- WIVB, Buffalo, Not on My Watch — Rich Newberg
Category 5: BEST SPOT NEWS COVERAGE
Class 3
- 1st Place: WKTV, Utica, Union Tools Fire — Staff
- WENY, Elmira, "Election Night 2012 Coverage" — Staff
- WWNY, Watertown, Alcoa Fire — John Friot, Matt McClusky
Category 9: BEST SPORTS COVERAGE
Class 2
- 1st Place: WGRZ-TV, Buffalo, Helping Ryder Skate — Heather Ly
- YNN, Rochester, "Some Things Never Get Old" — Seth Voorhees
- YNN, Syracuse, Coach V's Fight — Brian Dwyer
Category 12: BEST WEBSITE
Class 2
- 1st Place: WIVB, Buffalo, WIVB.com — Chris Woodard
- WGRZ-TV, Buffalo, wgrz.com: 2 On Your Side — Staff
- WSTM, Syracuse, CNYcentral.com — CNY Central Staff, Maren Guse
Class 3
- 1st Place: WKTV, Utica, WKTV.com — Staff
Radio
Category 2: BEST NEWS SPECIAL/DOCUMENTARY
Class 3
- 1st Place: WRVO, Oswego, WRVO News Election Night Special Coverage — Catherine Loper, Jason Smith, Ellen Abbott, Ryan Delaney, Mark Lavonier, WRVO News Staff
Category 3: BEST NEWS SERIES
Class 3
- 1st Place: WRVO, Oswego, Downtown Syracuse goes residential — Ryan Delaney
- WRVO, Oswego, Local Foods Series — Joanna Richards
Category 4: BEST INTERVIEW
Class 3
- 1st Place: WSKG, Binghamton, Community Conversation: "The Winter That Wasn't" — Crystal Sarakas
- WRVO, Oswego, Profile: Ann Marie Buerkle working for a 2nd term — Ellen Abbott
- WSKG, Binghamton, Community Conversation: "Gratitude (David Isay Interview)" — Crystal Sarakas
Category 5: BEST SPOT NEWS COVERAGE
Class 3
- 1st Place: WRVO, Oswego, Post-Standard publisher explains why it's cutting print editions — Ellen Abbott
Category 6: BEST CONTINUING NEWS COVERAGE
Class 3
- 1st Place: WRVO, Oswego, The saga of Destiny USA — Ellen Abbott, Ryan Delaney, WRVO News Staff
- WRVO, Oswego, Residents near Watertown industrial site say pollution has made them sick — Joanna Richards
Category 7: BEST ENTERPRISE REPORTING
Class 3
- 1st Place: WRVO, Oswego, New York's craft breweries bubble on thanks to tax credit deal — Ryan Delaney
- WRVO, Oswego, Stand Against Suicide offers help while increasing awareness — Ellen Abbott
Category 8: BEST FEATURE
Class 3
- 1st Place: WRVO, Oswego, Project to protect old forests comes to Cortland — Ellen Abbott
- WRVO, Oswego, Kids study water levels' effects on invasive species at Eel Bay — Joanna Richards
Category 11: GENERAL EXCELLENCE IN USE OF MEDIUM
Class 3
- 1st Place: WRVO, Oswego, Syracuse man teaches the history of Ellis Island — Jasmyn Belcher
- WRVO, Oswego, Fayetteville's high tech Fab Lab — Ellen Abbott
Awards for college level contests and for CNY "alumni"
Syracuse University had plenty of reasons to be proud about this year's NYSAPBA competition. Broadcast journalism professor and award-winning journalist A. Randall Wenner graciously provided the following recap to CNYRadio.com:
Once again Newhouse students and alumni did very well in this annual competition.
In the college competition, two BDJ May graduates placed. Perry Russom's story on CoffeeVision took 1st place in the Best TV News Story category, and Lorne Fultonberg won special mention in the same category for his piece on understanding the Greek Debt Crisis.
In the Best Regularly Scheduled Local News Program category, CitrusTV won both 1st place and a special mention.
In the Best Radio News Story category, BDJ May graduate Jim Levulis won a special mention for his story on Hancock protesters.
BDJ alumni winning first place in the professional categories include:
RADIO
Alex Silverman, WCBS radio, General Excellence In Use of Medium , Class 1. Alex was also a big part of his station's first place award in Best Spot News Coverage.
Eric Reinhardt, WBEN-AM, was part of his station's 1st place award for Best Continuing News Coverage, and Best News Special/Documentary, Class 2.
Ryan Delaney [WRVO] was part of the Innovation Trail's 1st place award in Best News Series, Class 2.
TV
WKTV Station Manager and News Director Steve McMurray's department, Best Regularly Scheduled Local News Program,Best Regularly Scheduled Local News Program, Best Spot News Coverage, and Best Website in Class 3.
Nick Natario [WFFF/WVNY, Plattsburgh], Best Enterprise Reporting, Class 3.
Several other BDJ alumni received special mentions, including Chrissie Harris and Brendan Foley, WRGB-TV, in Class 2, Best News Special/Documentary.
Our thanks again to Wenner for combing the list for SU graduates -- we appreciate it!
This year, it was a "Thruway battle" for the college television news awards. While SU students snagged first place in both college TV categories, special mentions were awarded to students at Herkimer County Community College's HCTV 99 News for their coverage of an all-day standoff between police and a gunman who shot six people, killing four. The March 13 incident had Herkimer and surrounding areas on lockdown, until police finally cornered the suspect and killed him during a shootout.
Our congratulations go out to all of the winners. Although our coverage focused primarily on winners within our site's coverage area, you can view the full list of winners -- all classes and all categories -- on the AP website.
