Bringing home the gold

The annual Society of Professional Journalism’s annual statewide contest of journalistic excellence netted NUVO 17 awards, including seven first-place finishes. The awards were presented in a ceremony last Friday night at the Indianapolis Athletic Club, in a gathering comprised of television, radio and print journalists. The event was elevated by this year’s keynote speaker, Indy Men’s Magazine Editor in Chief Lou Harry. Harry calls himself a former stand-up comedian. Truth is, he still is, and his speech was a scathing send-up of local media. He’ll be a hard act to follow.

Congrats to all the winners:

First place: Karen Hawkins, deadline reporting, “Running Out of Time”
First place: Becky Oberg, feature writing, “Full Metal Straightjacket”
Third place: David Hoppe, feature writing, “A Stone of the Heart”
Third place: Mary Lee Pappas, non-deadline reporting, “Feral Felines: Managing Indy’s Cat Overpopulation”
First place: Jack Miller, investigative reporting, “Troubled Water”
Second place: Jim Poyser, headline writing, features
First place: Ed Johnson-Ott, critique/review writing
Third place: David Hoppe, critique / review writing
First place: Jeff Reed and Wayne Bertsch, personality profile, “Swingin’ Sisters”
Second place: Molly Martin, medical/science reporting, “On My Knees: Confessions of a Bulimic”
Third place: Fran Quigley, minority issues, “No Longer Business as Usual”
Second place: Steve Carr, education reporting, “Self Driven”
First place: Mike Fox, layout, page one, “Overclockers”
Second place: Jayson Teig, layout, page one, “Revolution — Margaret Cho”
Third place: Andy Fry, layout, page one, “Full Metal Straightjacket”
First place: Jason Pitman, layout other than page one, “Chris Shaffer Moves On”
Second place: Andy Fry, layout other than page one, “Blueprint to End Homelessness”