July Best of the Month

Congratulations to Trent Shadid, who was selected Best Overall for July. Trent was once Travis Haney’s best OU source. That’s right, the journalist who two months into his first full-time position has become a leader in the sports department, was a student at the University of Oklahoma when we hired Travis. Credit Travis with identifying Trent as someone who knew what was going on, and then introducing him to me as someone who would like a career in journalism.

At that point in late 2011/early 2012, Trent had never written a story. But he shadowed Travis at a couple high school football games and then did some stringing for us. On Travis’ recommendation and from what we saw from those stories, we hired Trent as a part-timer in 2012. He spent the next year writing, editing, paginating and doing anything and everything The Oklahoman Sports needed to get the job done.

When Hayley McGhee announced her resignation early this summer, there was no doubt who would replace her. And this summer, with the sports desk a designer down due to the vacancy created by Phillip Baeza’s departure, Trent has stepped in to lead. Working closely with designer Rob Backus and Assistant Sports Editor Scott Munn, Trent has kept the desk going and spirits high.

He does so with his hard work, great news judgment and a leadership style grounded in treating others as they would like to be treated.

For these reasons and many others, Sports Editor Mike Sherman nominated Trent for Best Overall and Employee of the Month recognition as someone who has shown continuous improvement.

Best Beat or Breaking News StoryFrom: Robby TrammellNominee: Chris CasteelPlay – Fort Sill gains jobs amid cuts; Announced restricting will mean new air defense, field artillery battalions at Oklahoma Army post. http://archive.newsok.com/olive/apa/oklahoman/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=DOK%2F2015%2F07%2F10&id=Ar00102&sk=EFE73FEC

Best Business Story or Business FeatureFrom: Don MecoyNominee: Adam WilmothAdam covered a lengthy night meeting of the Stillwater City Council to be first to report on the city's new rules for local oil and gas drilling. Despite the length of the meeting, and the challenges of finding dependable wifi, Adam managed to get voices from both sides commenting on the new rules. Remember, the Legislature this year said municipalities cannot ban drilling in city limits, in part because of Stillwater's consideration of such rules. This was breaking state news on a topic of statewide interest.http://newsok.com/article/5435037

Best Sports StoryFrom: Mike ShermanNominee: Jason KerseyThe savior of the Oklahoma football program's offensive reputation and identity grew up in a West Texas town called Muleshoe as the smart kid in the back of class who knew a better and easier way to solve the problem than his math teacher. We know this, and a lot of other important and interesting things, about Lincoln Riley because Jason Kersey -- and photographer/videographer Bryan Terry -- took us to Muleshoe with compelling reporting, extensive interviews and stories and photos presented so well digitally and in print. This is what a sports profile should be -- what any profile should be -- and I hope you will give it consideration for the highest honor available in Best of the Month this week. Both Jason and Bryan are deserving of recognition for this story.http://newsok.com/article/5433216http://newsok.com/article/5432489Notes: A great example of promoting your work, Jason shares the story behind the story a few days before its Sunday release.

Best Feature StoryFrom: Jaclyn Cosgrove/Phillip O’ConnorNominee: Silas AllenThis is the “Catfish” story. It involved a lot of moving parts, and Silas did a good job of writing in an engaging and interesting way. The lede does a nice job of pulling you in, and then the story itself is a very interesting read. Also, Silas did a good job of not sensationalizing the story. We don't know what Ashley Pietrowicz's story is (and it's probably very sad), but Silas did a good job of respectfully reporting from all angles, and I appreciated that.http://newsok.com/article/5436774

From: Mike ShermanNominee: Jenni CarlsonThe start of a series a story that allowed us to live out our Purpose Statement while entertaining readers, this column on a mother who wanted to send her daughter to Kevin Durant's camp began our workings to send her and other children who may not have been able to go. We used our connections and sponsorships to make it happen in an example of teamwork and making this a better place to live work and raise a family. At the center of it was Jenni's ability to tell a compelling story, again.http://newsok.com/article/5434163

Best Specialty FeatureFrom: Matt PriceNominee: Brandy McDonnellTulsa artist Matthew Bearden takes on the American Indian mascot issue with painted helmet series.The story was shared more than 300 times on Facebook. Michelle Gray -- Awesome! Sharing!!! Leah Hale Mansfield -- Great article & art, Matt!http://newsok.com/article/5436275

Best Project/Enterprise/In-DepthFrom: Robby TrammellNominee(s): Chris Casteel/Rick Green/Juliana Keeping/Randy Ellis/Adam Kemp/Bryan Terry)Presidential VisitPlay – Obama’s Oklahoma trip will mark presidential milestone; After meeting with Choctaws, he plans to visit federal prison – a first for a sitting president (Casteel) http://archive.newsok.com/olive/apa/oklahoman/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=DOK%2F2015%2F07%2F11&id=Ar00101&sk=20DCA40E

Play/Centerpiece – “An opportunity to make a difference”; In historic visit, President Obama brings criminal justice reform message to El Reno prison (Green/Keeping)http://archive.newsok.com/olive/apa/oklahoman/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=DOK%2F2015%2F07%2F17&id=Ar00104&sk=777F14AD

Page 1 – "In El Reno, opinions about Obama’s visit vary around town" (Keeping)http://archive.newsok.com/olive/apa/oklahoman/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=DOK%2F2015%2F07%2F17&id=Ar00101&sk=4745D5E7

Page 1 – President’s visit to Oklahoma prompts praise and protests (Green/Kemp)http://archive.newsok.com/olive/apa/oklahoman/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=DOK%2F2015%2F07%2F16&id=Ar00101&sk=B05875FC

Play/Centerpiece: In Durant, Obama promotes internet access for the poor (Ellis)http://archive.newsok.com/olive/apa/oklahoman/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=DOK%2F2015%2F07%2F16&id=Ar00100&sk=444D2544

Also, this photo by Bryan Terry:

Best Watchdog StoryFrom: Robby TrammellPlay/Centerpiece – “I 100% welcome” the death penalty; in letter from prison, murder defendant writes about deaths of family membershttp://archive.newsok.com/olive/apa/oklahoman/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=DOK%2F2015%2F07%2F12&id=Ar00111&sk=C0811DDD

Best Column/Opinion/First-Person StoryFrom: Matt PriceNominee: Ken RaymondKen wrote a column about the death of his loud, at-times uncouth cousin Allan, and how it had affected him and what he learned from that. Reader response was great, via email and social media.http://newsok.com/article/5434655

Best PhotoFrom: Doug HokeNominee: Paul HellsternOklahoma City Fire Dept. crews perform CPR on a crane operator about 100 feet up the crane at 800 Stanton L. Young Blvd. in Oklahoma City, OK, Monday, July 20, 2015, Photo by Paul Hellstern. The Oklahoman

Best HeadlineFrom: Chris SchoelenNominee: Todd Pendleton‘METER MADE’

Best DesignFrom: Mike ShermanNominee: Rob Backus

Best VideoFrom: Doug Hoke/Mike ShermanNominee: Bryan TerryOU's new offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley. Bryan's video is as good as anything you might see on ESPN or Sports Illustrated. The editing is superb and the shot selection really gives the viewers a feelingof where he came from.http://newsok.com/article/5433216

Special Effort to Improve AccuracyFrom: Tom MaupinNominee: Tom MaupinBelow are three-headline related mistakes that were caught in July: 1: History was wrong. Slotting a July 8 business story, Tom saw this headline: Carnival plans to launch cruise industry's first trips from Miami to Cuba during May. That was wrong because the story reportedCarnival said it would become the first U.S. cruise company to visit Cuba since the 1960 trade embargo. Plus, the story also said a Canadian company had offered cruises to Cuba since 2013. Tom changed the headline to: Carnival plans U.S. cruise industry’s first trips from Florida to Cuba since 1960.

2: Math mistake. A submitted headline for a July 15 business story was: LSB increases projected costs of new Arkansas ammonia plant by $40M. But this was the graph that explained the money differences:Oklahoma City-based LSB Industries Inc. now estimates the expansion of its El Dorado, Ark., chemical plant will cost $560 million to $575 million, up from the previous estimate of $495 million to $520 million. The rimmer compared the wrong numbers. Tom changed the headline to: LSB projects costs of its new plant in Arkansas will be $560M to $575M.

3: Headline could have been misunderstood. The submitted headline for the July 23 Business Q&A read: Disabled OKC architect pushed to incorporate ADA into projects. Tom was slot and thought, “Was the guy in a wheelchair and being pushed? Or did someone push – as in force – the man to do that?”Tom changed the headline to: Disabled OKC architect worked to incorporate ADA into projects. Here's a multimedia problem Tom caught: Web summary was wrong. A submitted web summary for aJuly 8 story read: Five Republicans are candidates for the vacant Oklahoma City House District 85 seat.While five people are seeking the House seat, one was a Democrat. Tom was slot editor and rewrote the summary.

Special RecognitionFrom: Don MecoyNominee: Paula BurkesADA packagePaula produced a comprehensive look at the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. While the centerpiece of the package was a two-page presentation beginning on the cover of the Sunday paper, her work spanned more than a week in the newspaper, and beyond that online. She used a variety of platforms including numerous Q&As, blog posts and email correspondence with sources and readers to report.

A listing of her published work on the ADA 25th anniversary: Jy19ExecQ&A-Cordova: Feature on Joe Cordova, who’s blind and runs the state DRS.

Jy20Mind Your Own Business: Blog on respecting our state’s largest minority group (the disabled). Jy22Trade: Print version of the blog. Jy23DailyQ&A-ADAarch: On access/building requirements by an FSB architect who’s disabled himself. Jy24DailyQ&A-ADAanimals: On guide dogs, with Phillips Murrah attorney. Jy26ExecQ&A-Lex Frieden: Alva native/Houston prof considered chief architect of ADA. w/video. Jy26ADAmain: Addresses how employment opportunities for the disabled still fall considerably short, with feedback from observers and facts from DRS release. Jy26ADAVignettes: 5 faces of the ADA, including Pam Henry (last poster child), UCO prof, Public Strategies CFO who had cancer, African American disability advocate, chief admin at ONG. Studio video of Pam. Jy26ADAintern: On the ijobs internship program. … has video Jy26ADAincent -- On OU-based outreach project that details incentives for disabled Oklahomans who go back to work. Jy29Trade: Let’s right our restrooms.http://newsok.com/article/5436202Americans with Disabilities Act falls short in employment opportunities, observers say http://newsok.com/article/5436202Faces of ADA http://newsok.com/article/5436124Executive Q&A: Alva native says research, timing, led him to design nation's historic disability policy http://newsok.com/article/5435218Let's respect the civil rights of our nation's largest minorityhttp://newsok.com/article/5434604Executive Q&A: No obstacle too high for lifelong disability advocate now helping others in Oklahoma.