Deep in the heart of Texas - Reason 78 why journalism awards stink

Football_Bat may be able to provide some more insight, but here you go:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/042107dnmetalbanese.37b2682.html

To sum up, the Katie awards go to media outlets in six states and with a focus on the metroplex.
A trade publication writer was responsible for the awards last year (and has had a hand in the awards for a couple of years before that) and had won four. This caused some professional jealousy and it was looked into. Turns out the writer - no problems were found with her work - had a history of mental problems and a criminal history.
This has caused a brouhaha of epic proportions in the media since it appears that the awards are tainted. They haven't been able to find judges, it looks the writer who was in charge just picked the awards herself.
Sports, of course, is caught up in the mess as the awards honored large, medium and small print markets, plus radio and TV.
Some outlets - Fort Worth - have given their awards from last year back to the press club.
Of course the Katie awards are a big deal, fairly prestigious, but as someone who has judged awards, I can say that with a great degree of confidence that all journalism awards are a joke. Maybe joke is too strong, but they are a crapshoot.
Thoughts?

 

Unless, of course, you happen to win one

 

It all started in a small, 100-watt radio station in Fresno, California....

 

The Katie I'd want to win isn't a trophy, I can tell you that much.

 

Jay, your two threads: one of award congrats, now award dyspepsia -- which is it?

 

good thing these awards aren't based on investigation, ya know?

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/40459/

 

No, I think 'joke' sums it up.

 

I concur.

 

I really don't have anything to add. The Katies are probably a bigger deal for the TV and radio outlets than the papers, since there are only two big papers in the DFW market. Of course, it was a smaller publication, The Dallas Business Journal, which broke the story a week before the DMN ran with it.

 

Wow. I will never get bummed in a writing contest again. LOL.

 

the katie awards aren't just limited to dallas/fort worth. newspaper entries, i believe, come from five or six southwestern states.

 

from the dmn: ... the 2007 Katie Awards, which have been distributed for 48 years to reward the top work by journalists and communications professionals in Texas, Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico and Oklahoma. ...

incidentally, the star-telegram is returning its 2007 awards and a.p. will likely follow suit. and the dallas press club is look at the legitimacy of the 2004 and 2005 and may not have 2007 katie awards.