ThirdCoast Digest Wins Five Excellence in Journalism Awards

The Milwaukee Press Club today announced the preliminary results of its 82nd Annual MPC Awards for Excellence in Wisconsin Journalism competition, and ThirdCoast Digest picked up five. In addition, TCD assistant editor Matthew Reddin, also Editor of the Marquette Tribune, won in the collegiate category of Best Editorial or Commentary.

We won’t know whether we have won a gold, silver or bronze award in any category until the final results are announced at the Press Club’s May 18th Gridiron Awards Dinner at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts.

To see all contest winners, representing media markets from across the state of Wisconsin, Click here.

The contest garnered more than 500 entries in professional and collegiate divisions. Submissions were judged by 25 professional journalists from press clubs throughout the U.S., including Arizona, Florida, Idaho and Pennsylvania and in Los Angeles, New Orleans, San Diego, Syracuse and Cleveland.

Other honorees at this year’s Gridiron event will be:

Veteran political commentator Juan Williams of Fox News will receive the Press Club’s Sacred Cat Award recognizing professional achievements on the national level.

Sue Black, Milwaukee County director of Parks, Recreation and Culture and John Cary, executive director of the MACC Fund, Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer, Inc. will each receive the MPC’s Headliner Award. The Headliner Awards are bestowed annually to local newsmakers making a positive contribution to the community.

Williams, a long-time journalist for National Public Radio, Fox News and The Washington Post made headlines himself in October 2010 when, after more than a decade as a frequent contributor and senior news analyst for NPR, he was fired for comments he made in his role as a news analyst for Fox News.

NPR said William’s statement, that in the wake of 9/11, “When I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous,” was “inconsistent” with its “editorial standards and practices and undermined his [William’s] credibility.” Williams, the best-selling author of a book on civil rights, “Eyes on the Prize,” and an Emmy award winning commentator, said he was fired for “speaking the truth.”

William’s latest book, “Muzzled: The Assault on Honest Debate,” grew out of his high-profile firing. In it, Williams writes, “the voice of honest debate in America has been muzzled…[and ] the quality of our political institutions has been diminished.” Williams goes on to analyze recent events in that light, including “the 2010 national healthcare debate and 2011 Wiscosnsin public-sector union debacle,” notes “Publishers Weekly.”

For additional information or to register for the Gridiron Awards Dinner please visit the Press Club’s website.

Here’s what we won:

Best critical review
Tom Strini
Tom Strini’s Culture Desk

Best blog
Mark Metcalf
Erin Peterson
Dan Shafer
Podcast with Mark Metcalf

Best innovative feature
Joel Van Haren;Tom Strini
TCD.tv

Best website design
Jeramey Jannene
Jon Anne Willow

Best local news or feature website
Jon Anne Willow
Tom Strini
Erin Peterson
Dan Shafer
Patti Wenzel
Brian Jacobson

Best editorial or commentary
Matthew Reddin
“Seek Truth in Laramie”
The Marquette Tribune