Monday, August 24, 2009

Illinois Issues and WUIS take top awards

Journalists from Illinois Issues magazine and WUIS/Illinois Public Radio took home six combined “Best of Statehouse Reporting” honors in a national competition. The awards were sponsored by Capitolbeat, which is made up by reporters and editors.

Illinois Issues Columnist Charles N. Wheeler III won first place in the Columns/Commentary/News Analysis category for magazines for his columns that appeared throughout the year.

Dave McKinney won third place in the same category for his analysis, “The two faces of Illinois politics.” His article appeared in the January 2009 edition of Illinois Issues and compared the reputations of newly elected President Barack Obama and then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was impeached and removed from office later that month. McKinney is a reporter at the Illinois Capitol for the Chicago Sun-Times.

WUIS/Illinois Public Radio Statehouse Bureau Chief Sean Crawford and reporter Amanda Vinicky won first place in In-Depth Reporting for their report, “The Fall of Governor Rod Blagojevich.” Vinicky also won second place in the Single Report category, and Crawford won third place awards in the Single Report and Beat Reporting categories.

The annual awards were announced August 22 at Capitolbeat’s conference in Indianapolis. The organization marked its 10th anniversary this year as the nation’s only professional association devoted to state government journalism.

For more information about the “Best of Statehouse Reporting” awards visit www.illinoisissues.uis.edu/ or www.wuis.org.

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