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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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Lone Stars, Longnecks, Blue Ribbons
It was a North Texas kind of night at the Hilton Hotel on the University of Houston campus on Saturday, where they were handing out Lone Star Awards from the Houston Press Club. (They were handing out diplomas all over campus, and free champagne at the wedding down the hall, but your local contingent didn’t want to burp on anyone’s baccalaureate or bridesmaid, and chose news-schmoozing instead.) The Star-Telegram — from Fort Worth, not Fort Bend, despite what the announcer kept saying — dominated the big-newspaper categories, taking firsts in eight of 12 writing categories and three of five for photos, including the best-in-show kinds of prizes. The Dallas Observer picked up two more firsts, leaving only two writing firsts for the hometown Houston Chronicle.
In the under-100,000 circulation categories, your own modest bunch of grizzled, ink-stained veterans didn’t do too shabbily either. In between warm Budweisers, Fort Worth Weekly reporter Jeff Prince modestly accepted Print Journalist of the Year honors, but was more interested in the $500 check that accompanied it. Editor Gayle Reaves won a first in business news for her tale of a WorldCom whistleblower’s woes. Kristian Lin’s movie reviews took second in arts criticism, as did Betty Brink’s story on air pollution, in the investigative category. The Weekly’s story on Muslims in post-9/11 America, by former intern Naureen Shah, took third in features; the cover image that went with it, by Denton freelance photographer and frequent Weekly contributor Kes Gilhome, won second for feature photos. Besides the bourbon pecan pie and Jeff’s check, which helped to pay for more drinks at a Galleria bar afterward, the best part of the evening may have been the video clip from the Houston journalism club’s Gridiron Show, with singers (to use the word loosely) chanting “Lie lie-lie ... lie lie-lie lie, lie lie-lie” from the chorus of Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Boxer” as photos of politicians and Enron officials slid by.
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