KC PRESS CLUB NAMES HEART OF AMERICA WINNERS The Kansas City Press Club, the local chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, recognized a number of media outlets during its "Heart of America" awards program Saturday night (6/13). The annual event honors journalists at newspapers and radio and television stations in western Missouri and eastern Kansas. Glenn McCoy, an award-winning syndicated cartoonist, gave the keynote speech at the banquet held in the Muehlebach Tower of the Downtown Kansas City Marriott. The Kansas City Star was named the "Newspaper of the Year" with its chief police reporter, Christine Vendel, honored as "Journalist of the Year." "Vendel's passion for giving voice to crime/accident victims and their families comes through loud and clear," noted contest Judge Dave Umhoefer of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Other major winners included Sun Publications' Publisher Steve Rose, who was presented the prestigious "Joe McGuff Liftetime Achievement" award." KOMU, the only university-owned commercial TV station in the U.S., which is based at the University of Missouri in Columbia, was named "Television Station of the Year." The NBC affiliate was founded in 1953. Kansas City's public radio station, KCUR, captured "Radio Station of the Year" honors. The National Public Radio station captured gold awards in "News Program," "Business Reporting," "Talk Radio," "Feature" and "Investigative Reporting." Kansas City's alternative weekly, The Pitch, captured 10 awards, including sweeping the top three spots in the "Entertainment" category and taking gold and silver awards for its Blog. The Pitch was so excited that both its editor CJ Janovy and Jason Harper combined (6/15) to write a glowing account (LINK). The Sun Newspapers' veteran Opinion Page Editor Bob Sigman won every category for "News Columns" at non-daily publications. He also captured a Gold award for "Editorial." The KC Press Club Web site (and the PDF below) features all the winners: http://www.spjchapters.org/kcpress/. 06-14-2009
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