The East Tennessee SPJ chapter announced 55 honors in the Golden Press Card Awards on Thursday evening.
More than 50 journalists or teams of journalists from the Tri-Cities to Chattanooga won awards for outstanding journalism produced in 2022.
The Golden Press Card, the “Best of Show” award of the contest, went to East Tennessee freelance journalist Jamie Satterfield for “OSHA officials admit to shredding documents in Tennessee Valley Authority coal ash case,” which appeared on the digitally only news site, Tennessee Lookout.
The judges’ said: “One after another problem has faced the cleanup workers of the coal ash disaster: death, illness, damage to the environment. Now their government can’t even protect them? Great job, Tennessee Lookout, in reporting that OSHA shredded documents related to the cleanup.”
Judging of the East Tennessee entries was coordinated by the Hawaii SPJ Chapter.
Satterfield also won first place in General Reporting for Digital Only news organizations and for Feature Writer among all media.
The Horace V. Wells Jr. Community Service Award, the second top award of the Golden Press Card, went to Tyler Whetstone of the News Sentinel (Knox News) for “Cop’s lies reveal gap in how KPD commanders review use of force incidents.”
The judges said:
This police officer wrestled with a woman after she drove by a police scene. Her sports bra came off during the scuffle. The officer lied about his actions, and charges against the women were dismissed. This story led to creation of a Use of Force Review board to review police officers’ actions. A top-fight public service to the community.
A new award this year for Arts & Culture reporting was named in memory of Brandon Gibson, who died in November at age 36.
Gibson, managing director of the Marble City Opera, was well-known in the Knoxville arts community an actor, voice actor, writer, reviewer and essayist. He also won a Golden Press Card award for his writing in the BLANK Newspaper.
Ryan Wilusz and Calvin Mattheis of the News Sentinel won first place and Steve Wildsmith of the BLANK Newspaper won second place.
Also, new this year were student journalism categories that were won by students at the University of Tennessee and East Tennessee State University.
A complete list of winners is on the chapter’s website, ETSPJ.org.
The awards were held at Maple Hall in downtown Knoxville.
The 2023 Golden Press Card Awards will begin accepting entries in early 2024.
(For more information, contact Maria Cornelius at mmcornelius23@gmail.com.)