Judges
2004 Professional Communications Contest
Sam Kinch Categories 1-4 (News Reporting and Series) and 5 (Editorial) | Sam Kinch Jr., 64, was a prize-winning reporter on Texas politics and government for 37 years before his retirement in 1998. An honors graduate of The University of Texas, from which he earned bachelor's in history and master's in journalism degrees, he was editor of the student newspaper, The Daily Texan. He began covering the Texas Legislature in 1961, then moved to Washington to cover Texas members of Congress for six years for the Dallas Times-Herald and Dallas Morning News. In 1970 he returned to Austin , where he was state political editor for the Morning News until 1984, when he left to found Texas Weekly, the largest political newsletter in the state, which he sold in 1998. He has written three books on Texas politics, "Texas Under a Cloud" (1972), about the Sharpstown stock-fraud scandal, "Too Much Money Is Not Enough," about the need for campaign-finance reform at the state level, and "Crapshoot Justice," about the influence of campaign contributions on judges. |
| Brian Baresch Categories 6 (Feature Story) and 7 (Personality Profile) | Brian Baresch is a copyeditor working the slot as well as the rim on the main news desk of the Star-Telegram in Fort Worth , Texas . Baresch has a master's degree in journalism from the University of Kansas . Prior to working for the Star-Telegram, he was an editor at the Topeka Capital-Journal and the Wichita Eagle. |
| Ruth Thaler-Carter Category 8 (Special Articles) | Ruth E. Thaler-Carter is an award-winning freelance writer, editor, and publications producer, specializing in profile, feature, and news articles for magazines and newsletters. A native of Rochester , New York , Thaler-Carter has been a freelancer since 1985 after holding communications positions with the Urban League of St. Louis, St. Louis Argus newspaper, R&D Mexico magazine, American National Metric Council, and (Washington ) DC General Hospital. |
| Nicole Brodeur Category 9 (Personal Columns) | Nicole Brodeur has been a Metro columnist at The Seattle Times since 1999. Before that, she wrote columns at the Raleigh News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. for four years; and at the Orange County Register in California for eight years. In 1998, she won the National Headliner Award for Local Columns, and was a finalist for the Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Award in 2001. A New Jersey native, Brodeur is the mother of an 11-year-old son, and lives in Seattle. |
Kenton Bird Categories 10-16 (Pages/Sections/Supplements | Kenton Bird, Interim Director and Assistant Professor, came to the University of Idaho as a journalism major in the early 1970s. He became editor of the Argonaut in August of 1974. During his 15-year career as a reporter and editor, he also worked for papers in Lewiston, Washington Post. Kenton earned a master's degree in journalism from University College, Cardiff , Wales, in 1980. Now on the UI School of Communication faculty, he teaches Media and Society, Public Affairs Reporting, History of Mass Media, Mass Media & Public Opinion, News Editing and Introduction to Communication Studies. Brian Beesley, Lecturer and Student Media Advisor, has been involved in professional journalism for more than 25 years. Beesley has been the editorial adviser to UI Student Media since fall 2001. He also teaches News Writing and News Editing and Production. Has worked for the Post Register in Idaho Falls; the Tri-City Herald in Kennewick, Wash. ; The Idahonian in Moscow ; and the Lewiston Morning Tribune. Patricia Hart, Assistant Professor of Journalism and American Studies, combines teaching courses in writing, editing and publishing in the School with professional work in those fields. She is presently managing editor of Frontiers: A Journal of Women's Studies, a multidisciplinary and multicultural feminist journal. |
| Heather Anne Thomas Categories 17-22 (Photography) | Heather Anne Thomas attended Hollins College and then graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BFA in studio art and a BA in art history. A graduate of the Rocky Mountain School of Photography's Summer Intensive program, Heather's fine-art work has been exhibited in galleries at home and abroad. Her specialty is environmental portraiture and her commercial work has appeared in books, magazines, brochures and on web sites. Additionally, Heather teaches photographic lighting at the Rocky Mountain School of Photography. She is based out of New York City. |
| Don Rinker Categories 23-31 (Radio-TV) | Donovan (Donald) Rinker, executive director of Alaska Public Broadcasting since 1999, brings more than 30 years of broadcasting experience in radio, television, and telecommunications. His has held management roles at organizations in Barrow, Juneau, Kotzebue, and Anchorage, Alaska, as well as in several Lower 48 states. Mr. Rinker is a board member of the Alaska Broadcasters Association; a trustee of the Anchorage Museum Association; a founding director of the Minority Station Improvement Project, Native Broadcasting Center; and a member of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters and the National Association of Television Program Executives |
Bill Blinn Categories 32-34 (Web Writing/Editing/Development)
| William Blinn is owner of William Blinn Communications, a Web site design and consulting firm. He is a member of the HTML Writers Guild and is the host, along with Joe Bradley, of WTVN's Sunday morning "Technology Corner." In an effort to give something of worth back to his community, Blinn maintains the Web site for Citizens for Humane Action, a low-kill volunteer pet rescue and adoptions service in Columbus, Ohio. Blinn's own Web site (with links to Technology Corner and the pet center) is at http://www.blinn.com. |
Kay Pride Categories 35-40 (Electronic/Print Advertising), 41-56 (Public Relations/Promotions/Publicity) and 57 (Speeches) | Kathryn L. (Kay) Pride is director of public information for Jefferson County (Colorado) Public Library. Kay supervises a staff of three full-time and five part-time employees who provide public relations and marketing support to 10 libraries and a bookmobile. Kay and her staff won an award of excellence from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) in June 2003 for management of their library's 50th Anniversary Celebration. She is the selection committee chair for the Jefferson County Good News Coalition, which annually recognizes people who help others in the community. She received a Woman of Achievement award from the Denver YWCA in 1988. In 1998 her Jefferson County Public Schools team won a Golden Achievement Award from the National School Public Relations. Kay is a 41-year veteran of public relations work. |
| Categories 58-60 (Individual Achievement/Adviser/Research) (No Entries) | |
Polly Horn Categories 61 (Nonfiction Book), 62-65 (Fiction/Juvenile Book/Short Story/Verse), 66 (Book Editing)
| Polly Horn graduated from Allegheny College in Pennsylvania with a degree in American literature and has been a writer and editor in a broad range of industries since then. She began her career as managing editor of an academic journal about Africa, eventually leaving the ivory tower for high finance, where she supervised the creation of analysts' reports for an investment banking firm. After a relatively brief return to university publishing, this time in the pure sciences, she entered the high-tech industry and worked for years as a technical writer and technical-writing manager before moving into her current position in project management, where she gets to talk as well as write. |
