PR: Pittsburgh media group announces finalists for 2014 Vann awards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Pittsburgh Black Media Federation
P.O. Box 292
Pittsburgh, PA 15230
www.pbmf.org
412-339-0730
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PITTSBURGH MEDIA GROUP ANNOUNCES FINALISTS FOR 2014 VANN AWARDS
Legacy, Communicator of The Year Winners Also to be Honored at Sept. 4 Reception

(PittsburghNewsWire.com) PITTSBURGH, PA – The Pittsburgh Black Media Federation is proud to announce the finalists for its 2014 Robert L. Vann Media Awards.  The winners will be named at a reception Sept. 4.

With the Award of Excellence, the Vann program honors excellence in print, broadcast, photography and online journalism coverage of the African-American community of Western Pennsylvania.

“The roster of finalists represents a group of journalists whose work is vitally important to shining a light on issues of importance to the black community.  PBMF is excited to recognize their stellar bodies of work,” PBMF President Tory N. Parrish said.

Award winners will be named during PBMF’s annual awards reception, which will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 4, at the University of Pittsburgh’s O’Hara Student Center, 4024 O’Hara St., Oakland.

The Award of Excellence finalists were selected in 19 categories.  Entries were published or broadcast between Jan. 1, 2013, and Dec. 31, 2013.

The entries were judged by professional journalists in Atlanta; Gaithersburg, Md.; Toledo, Ohio; and Washington, D.C.

Also at the reception, PBMF will present its Legacy in Journalism and Communicator of the Year awards, whose winners were selected by the PBMF membership.

Allen King will be given Legacy in Journalism honors for his distinguished and varied news career, which began in 1957 at WAMO radio. Over the course of 41 years, he was a producer, writer and reporter with five Pittsburgh radio stations and two local television stations.

PBMF’s Communicator of the Year Award acknowledges winners’ messages of empowerment, strength and hope they disseminate through their community service work.

The 2014 Communicator of the Year Award will be presented to Luther J. Sewell Jr. and Roxanne N. Sewell of the LJS Group.  An enterprise more than 50 years old, LJS publishes Talk Magazine and hosts community events and initiatives, including the Pennsylvania African American Network Convention and the African-American/Latino Roundtable.

Tickets for the Vann awards reception may be purchased online at www.pbmf.org.  Tickets are $10 each for PBMF members and $15 each for nonmembers.  Proceeds from the reception help fund college scholarships for graduates of PBMF’s Frank Bolden Urban Journalism Workshop for high school students.

In 1988, PBMF launched its journalism awards competition. It is named for the late Robert L. Vann, legendary publisher of the Pittsburgh Courier, to honor his personal commitment to journalism and to creating a voice for the black community.

Founded in 1973, PBMF is a nonprofit organization that advocates for diversity in newsrooms, hosts programs that recognize excellent media coverage of minority communities and trains young people to enter the media industry.
For more information about the Vann awards, contact Deborah Todd at 412-263-1652 or dtodd@post-gazette.com, or Ervin Dyer at 412-624-4796 or edyer@pitt.edu.

2014 ROBERT L. VANN MEDIA AWARD OF EXCELLENCE FINALISTS

Magazine series
Brenda O’Neale, Soul Pitt Quarterly, travel series

Magazine/Feature Photography
Martha Rial, Heinz Endowments h Magazine, “Models of Success”

Jason Snyder, Heinz Endowments h Magazine, “Exit Plan” — Tintype photo of Kristal Robinson

Newspaper illustrations
Ben Howard, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Rock of the Rox”

Broadcast/Television sports feature
Mike Clark, Tim Lohle, WTAE-TV, “Charlie Pruner West: Uncommon Integrity”

Michael Bartley, producer; Paul Ruggieri, editor; Frank Caloiero, photographer, WQED Multimedia, “The Clairton Bears”

Broadcast/Television feature
Olga George, producer; Aaron Sledge, photographer; Kimberly Gill, reporter/anchor, KDKA-TV, Honors Black History Month

Christopher T. Moore, producer; Paul Ruggieri, editor/photographer; Walt Francis, editor/photographer; Bob Lubomski, photographer, WQED Multimedia, “Getting Schooled”

Christopher T. Moore, producer/reporter; Bob Lubomski, photographer; Frank Caloiero, editor, WQED Multimedia, “The LeMoyne Center”

Iris Samson, producer, Amy Grove, editor; WQED Multimedia, “Journey to Medicine”

Bob Allen, reporter, Greg Benedict, photographer/editor, KDKA-TV, “Keyboard Prodigy”

Broadcast/Television Documentary
Nathalie Berry, producer; Paul Ruggieri, editor; Walt Francis, photographer; Bob Lubomski, photographer; Frank Caloiero, photographer, WQED Multimedia, “Media Men”

Broadcast/Radio/Public Affairs
Paul Guggenheimer, host; Marcus Charleston, producer; Heather McClain, assistant producer, WESA-FM, “The Black Middle Class Experience in Pittsburgh: A Public Dialogue”

Magazine Features
Evan Pattak, Pittsburgh Quarterly, “STEM series/How Do We Attract More Women and Minorities into Science?”

Bonita Lee Penn, Soul Pitt Quarterly, “From Slavery to Freedom Exhibit”

Robert Isenberg, Pittsburgh Magazine, “MaNoah”

Karen Dacko, Pittsburgh Magazine, “Be Free”

Diane Daniels, Soul Pitt Quarterly, “A Global Affair”

Sports Features
Bob Cohn, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “Overcoming the Odds”

Mark Dent, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Franco’s Crusade/The Former Steelers Star Has Made a Mission of Defending Late Penn State Coach Joe Paterno”

Mike White, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Rockin‘ It: Sto-Rox QB Finding Comfort Zone After Tough Start”

John Harris, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “Declining Diversity”

Mike White, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Miracle Man”

Newspaper Feature Stories
Renee P. Aldrich, New Pittsburgh Courier, “Macedonia FACE Joins Fight Against HIV/AIDS in Black Community”

Rex Rutkoski, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “Relating the African-American experience”

Adam Brandolph, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “Life on the Outside Tough for Man Who Spent 18 Years in Jail”

Eleanor Chute, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Test Overkill/This Year, the Pittsburgh Public Schools Must Give a Total of More Than 270 tests”

Chris Togneri, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “Jackie’s Backstop”

Jason Cato, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “Championing for a Cure”

Newspaper Business Feature
Andrew McGill, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “More Companies Owned by Minorities, Women Are Getting County’s Business”

Tim Grant, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Money Should Matter to Kids/Blacks Need Guidance the Most”

Deborah M. Todd, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Haiti’s Digital World”

Diane Daniels, New Pittsburgh Courier, “New Year, a Sign of Hope”

Thomas Olson, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “Poor Towns Losing Banking Services”

Newspaper Series
Brady McCollough, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “This is No Game” (Pressley Ridge series)

A. M. Moore, B.R. Huber, T.J. Starr, S. Blake, Pitt Chronicle, “Black History Month Series”

Eleanor Chute, M. Niederberger, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Back to School: Missing Class”

Joe Smydo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “After Mayview”

Newspapers/Public Affairs
J. Silver, L. Navratil, R. Lord, M. Balingit, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nate Harper corruption stories

Luis Fabregas, Andrew Conte, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “Casey Fund Fails to Aid PA Donor Families”

Debra Erdley, Bill Zlatos, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “August Wilson Center”

L. Navratil, J. Silver, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,  Ka’Sandra Wade, stories on kidnapping of infant

J. Silver, M. Balingit, R. Lord, L. Navratil, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, series on probe of Mayor Ravenstahl

Newspaper Spot News
Cara Masset, Pitt Chronicle, “Strickland Honored in Capital”

Staff, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “3 Brashear Students Shot”

Adam Smeltz, Megan Harris, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “Omar Islam’s Death”

Staff, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “Baffling Behavior”

L. Navratil, L. Belculfine, E. Chute, M. Balingit, M. Born, R. Zullo, J. Silver, B. Schackner, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Shootings Near Brashear”

Print Investigative/Enterprise
Paula Reed Ward, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Inmate Hopes Juvenile Lifer Ruling Will Free Him”

M. Balingit, J. Rendleman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Grief Grips a Family”

Adam Smeltz, Rich Gazarik, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “No Exit Strategy”

Newspaper Columns
Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Stupidity Not Race”

Debbie Norrell, New Pittsburgh Courier, “The Long and Short of It”

Nafari Vanaski, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “Census Data Not Just Black and White”

Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Black Voters a Surprise”

Newspaper Photography
Julia Rendleman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Grief Grips a Family”

Andrew Russell, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “Woman Pinned in Porch Collapse”

Stephanie Strasburg, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “The End of a Record-setting Streak”

J.L. Martello, New Pittsburgh Courier, “Taking the Shot”

Michael Henninger, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “No Stopping Love”

Andrew Russell, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “3 Brashear Students Shot”

Newspaper Editorials
Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Sinking Ship/AWC Deserves a Rescue”

Tom Waseleski, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Trying Verdict”

Magazine Sports
Malik Vincent, Soul Pitt Quarterly, “Curtis Martin: Taking the High Road to the Hall”

Sean Collier, Pittsburgh Magazine, “Above the Rim: Talib Zanna”

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