LAWTON, Okla. — I’ve been blessed to win a number of awards from the Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists over the last 30 years.
In 2021, I was surprised to win the first-place prize for best reporter.
This past weekend, I was honored to place in five categories in the 2022 awards, given for work produced last year. The winners were announced in a ceremony at the Apache Casino Hotel.
My awards:
• First Place, Election Reporting (with Hamil R. Harris and Cheryl Mann Bacon): “Flags, faith and fury” (from Washington) and related coverage.
• First Place, Spot News Reporting: “Christians offer physical, spiritual help after historic flooding” (from Waverly, Tenn.) and related story “Emotions high as Tennessee church floods — again” (from Nunnelly, Tenn.).
• First Place, Sports Features: “All in the family: baseball and Jesus” (from Montgomery, Ala.).
• Second Place, Best Reporter (for portfolio of five stories):
1. “Tulsa Race Massacre prayer room highlights churches’ 1921 sins, seeks healing.” (from Tulsa, Okla.).
2. “In Canada, a reckoning after remains of 215 Indigenous children are found.”
3. “In city where George Floyd died, minister emerges as key champion for justice” (from Minneapolis).
4. “Picket signs, honking horns and sidewalk sermons: Inside an anti-abortion ministry” (from West Bloomfield Township, Mich.).
5. “Will Candice McQueen really be the first female president of a Church of Christ university?”
• Second Place, Government Reporting (with Kenneth Pybus): “Could U.S. Supreme Court soon overturn Roe v. Wade?” and related story “Picket signs, honking horns and sidewalk sermons: Inside an anti-abortion ministry” (from West Bloomfield Township, Mich.).
The Ross News 