Eyewitness News was honored with 35 awards from the Press Club of New Orleans on Saturday, including top awards for best use of Facebook and Twitter, as well as first place trophies in continuing coverage, editorial writing and videography.
The awards were presented at the Press Club's 60th annual journalism awards ceremony, held at the Jung Hotel. WWL-TV sports director Doug Mouton presided over the event as Press Club president.
Digital director Tom Planchet earned the Ashton Phelps Sr. Memorial Award for best editorial writing for an essay he wrote after Hurricane Harvey: "Dear Houston, Here's What You Can Expect Next." The piece won the first place award for best editorial.
The WWL-TV staff earned a first place award for Best Use of Facebook, for coverage of the Confederate monuments' removal. Another first place win for the digital staff came for Best Use of Twitter for coverage of the New Orleans East tornado.
Eyewitness News political analyst and Gambit political columnist Clancy DuBos received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Press Club for his five decades of work in local journalism.
Also Saturday, investigative reporter Katie Moore earned a first place award in the continuing coverage category for her reporting in the investigative series, “Down the Drain,” on the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board crisis. The series, featuring reporting by Moore and investigative reporters David Hammer and Mike Perlstein, was also honored with an award for best documentary. Digital producers Kevin Dupuy and Sam Winstrom also earned a first-place award for their work on the digital special section accompanying the “Down the Drain” series.
The photographer/editor on the “Down the Drain” project, T.J. Pipitone, earned a separate first place award for visual storytelling, for his work on Moore’s investigative series, “Searching for Ramona Brown.”
WWL-TV honored by Press Club of New Orleans
Photographer/editor Brian Lukas won a first-place award for general news videography. Photographer/editor Derek Waldrip won a second-place award in the same category and was also honored with a first-place for breaking news videography for coverage of the Aug. 5 flood.
Anchor Sheba Turk, producer Caegan Moore and photographer/editor Josh Detiege were
honored with a first-place award for best talk show for “The 504.” They also earned a second place in the same category as well as an award for best use of Instagram.
The Eyewitness Sports team earned several awards. “Fourth Down on Four” was selected as best sports show, with sports director Doug Mouton, producer Danny Rockwell and photographer Adam Ney taking home the first place award. Rockwell and sports anchor/reporters Ricardo LeCompte and Andrew Doak also won a third place award in the same category. Mouton, Rockwell and Doak also won a second-place for best sportscast, while Mouton and Rockwell earned third place for best sports special.
WWL-TV promotions producer Candace Harralson and graphics artist/director LeKeith Holmes won a first-place award for best station promotion.
Other second and third place winners were:
David Hammer, investigative reporting
Katie Moore, investigative reporting
Meg Farris, medical/health reporting
Meg Farris, environmental/science reporting
Karen Swensen, crime reporting
Jacqueline Quynh, business reporting
Danny Monteverde, breaking news reporting
Brian Lukas, best photo essay
Brian Lukas, feature videography
Derek Waldrip, best photo essay
Dominic Massa, best critical review
Dominic Massa, best planned event
Kevin Dupuy, best use of Facebook
Doug Mouton & Adam Ney, best use of Twitter
Mary Staes & Sam Winstrom, best social media campaign
Ralph Malbrough, best sports column
Timme Mackie, Candace Harralson, best promotional campaign