Award-Winning Stories
At the Mike Quinn Awards lunch on Sat., Oct. 17, 2015, award-winning journalists discussed “Breaking News and Beyond.”
For the “Breaking News and Beyond” keynote presentation, Jeremy Schwartz, Melissa Correa and Dr. Seema Yasmin discussed what made them and their news organization dig further when news stories broke, when spot coverage transformed into enterprise and what kind of commitment does that entail as well as reporting the beyond after news breaks.
Jeremy Schwartz is a reporter for the Austin American-Statesman and 2014 Green winner for Star Breaking News Report of the Year for the Statesman’s story, “South by Southwest Crash;” Melissa Correa is an Emmy award-winning reporter at KRGV-TV in Weslaco and a finalist in our Showcase award for “Police Chief Shot,” which also won the Texas AP Broadcasters Freedom of Information Award; and Dr. Seema Yasmin is a medical doctor, epidemiologist and journalist. She is a staff writer at The Dallas Morning News, a professor of public health at the University of Texas at Dallas and a Medical Analyst for CNN. She also contributed to the Morning News’ story, “Ebola in Dallas,” a 2014 Showcase Silver Award winning entry to that contest.
Governor and Foundation Professional Excellence Committee Chair John Lumpkin moderated the presentation. Lumpkin retired as the Director of the School of Journalism and Strategic Communication at Texas Christian University’s Bob Schieffer College of Communication in June 2014 where he served for five years. Previously, John was Vice President of the Associated Press, where he worked for 37 years as a reporter, bureau chief and corporate executive. He was also a reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram before joining the Associated Press.
At the Quinn lunch, James W. Mangan, an important figure in Texas journalism and Lumpkin’s early mentor, was memorialized. Mangan had 36-year career with The Associated Press, and recently died in San Antonio at age 87. He spent the last decade of his AP career as vice president in charge of membership of AP’s newspaper services division. Career highlights include his coverage of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination and an exclusive interview with a former Texas election judge who said he certified enough fictitious ballots to steal a 1948 primary runoff election for the U.S. Senate for Lyndon B. Johnson. His story was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.
Finally, Governor and Foundation Academic Excellence Committee Chair Patti C. Smith introduced 2015-2016 scholars and gave them a chance to talk about their journalism career plans.
To view a compelling introductory video of the award-winning journalists’ work produced by KVUE-TV in Austin, click here.
To view video of the event, click here.