Syracuse, NY -- Post-Standard metropolitan columnist Sean Kirst won a career achievement award, and newspaper photographer Mike Greenlar was honored for his professional standards Saturday night at the Syracuse Press Club’s annual Professional Recognition Awards dinner at Drumlins. The press club also issued 31 other awards to The Post-Standard’s reporters, photographers, artists and editors, and named www.syracuse.com as the...
Color fills the sky at sunrise on Halloween morning across a cornfield along Harris Road in Onondaga. The Syracuse Press Club awarded Post-Standard photo director Nicholas Lisi first place in the color photography category.
Syracuse, NY -- Post-Standard metropolitan columnist Sean Kirst won a career achievement award, and newspaper photographer Mike Greenlar was honored for his professional standards Saturday night at the Syracuse Press Club’s annual Professional Recognition Awards dinner at Drumlins.
The press club also issued 31 other awards to The Post-Standard’s reporters, photographers, artists and editors, and named www.syracuse.com as the region’s best news website.
“Congratulations to Sean and to Mike and to all our award-winning staffers who were honored in the Syracuse Press Club’s annual competition,” said Stephen A. Rogers, editor and publisher of The Post-Standard. “The newsroom staff won 33 awards, a testament to the fine journalism it produces every day for readers of The Post-Standard and of its affiliated website, Syracuse.com.”
The club’s board of directors selected Kirst, a columnist at The Post-Standard since 1991, as one of two winners of the Gus Bliven-Joe Ganley-Mario Rossi Career Achievement Award. Shawn Wayson, chief video editor at WSYR-TV (Channel 9) also received it.
Greenlar, a photographer at The Post-Standard for 13 years, was honored as one of two winners of the Selwyn Kershaw Professional Standards Award. The other recipient was WSYR-AM (570) sportscaster Kevin Maher.
Bob Allen, vice president of communications and government relations at Crouse Hospital, was given the Philip A. Hofmann President’s Award for Best News Source. Samantha Shelton, a SUNY Oswego journalism student, was awarded a $2,000 DeVesty-Williams Scholarship.
The press club issued Professional Recognition Awards to journalists who produced the best work of 2009 in newspapers, television, radio and websites from Binghamton to Watertown.
Press clubs in Cleveland, Florida, Houston, Milwaukee, San Diego and western Pennsylvania picked the winners from hundreds of entries submitted.
The Post-Standard’s winners were:
WRITING
Investigative reporting: Marnie Eisenstadt and Matt Michael, second place, for a series of stories examining slow responses by volunteer fire departments.
News feature: Dave Tobin, first place, for a story about a 26-year-old former Army soldier and private security company worker who killed himself after working in Iraq. James Mulder, second place, for a story about a Liverpool woman who received a kidney transplant after waiting two years.
Human interest feature: Hart Seely, first place, for stories about the Syracuse mayoral candidates’ favorite things.
Humor column: Seely, first place, for “Instructions for the assembly of Christmas.” Jeff Kramer, second place, for a column about going to Canada to escape civic responsibility.
Robert R. Haggart Award for Best Column: Kirst, first place, for a column about a boy’s angry letter to Santa after his mother died. Dick Case, second place, for a column about proposals to replace the elevated downtown section of Interstate 81.
Sports column: Bud Poliquin, first place, for a column about the Syracuse University head football coach’s reaction to a loss.
Sports story: Poliquin and Mike Waters, first place, for stories on the SU men’s basketball team’s six-overtime victory.
Editorials: Michael J. Connor, first place, for an editorial about the state Senate coup. Paul Riede, second place for an editorial about Syracuse’s living wage law.
Headline writing: Mark Libbon, first place, for page A-1 headlines.
PHOTOGRAPHY, GRAPHICS AND DESIGN:
Front page design: Sue Santola, first place, for her page A-1 designs.
Spot news: Stephen D. Cannerelli, second place, for a photo taken at the funeral of an Auburn soldier killed in Afghanistan.
Feature: Nicholas Lisi, first place, for a photo of two young players at a chess tournament.
Color: Lisi, first place, for a photo of a Halloween morning sunrise over a town of Onondaga cornfield. John Berry, second place, for a photo of anglers fishing on a foggy morning on Onondaga Lake.
Sports: Frank Ordoñez, first place for a photo of Tully High School’s boy’s basketball team celebrating a victory over Onondaga Central. Michelle Gabel, second place, for a photo of a racer in the Iron Girl Triathlon.
Scenic: Greenlar, first place, for a photo of a horse and buggy driving past a wind farm. Lisi, second place, for a wintry Syracuse scene.
Portrait: Gabel, first place, for a photo of an Endicott woman who blames chemical pollution for her health problems.
Art illustration: Santola, first place, for “Give to the Old Newsboys Christmas Fund.” Peter Allen, second place for “A Night in Washburn Cemetery.”
INTERNET:
Best news site: The Post-Standard staff, first place.
Human interest blog: Tobin, first place, for his blog about the New York Army National Guard’s 27th Brigade Combat Team’s mission in Afghanistan. Kirst, second place, for his blog.
Best photo gallery: Gabel and Ordonez, first place, for photos showing the effects of pollution in Endicott. Ordonez, second place, for photos about the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock concert.
Public service: The Post-Standard staff, second place, for “CNY Speaks,” a blog about improving our community.