The 2017 National Headliner Awards honorees were announced today, and winners from the TV station categories hail from a variety of DMAs across the country.
WCVB Channel 5, Boston’s ABC affiliate, earned an impressive 8 Headliner awards. The station swept the Newscast category, taking 1st, 2nd and 3rd place and was awarded 1st and 2nd place in Breaking News and a third place win in both Continuing Coverage and Investigative Coverage. WCVB team members to earn mentions include Chris Roach, Nick Terry, Gerry Wardwell, Scott Isaacs, and the rest of the station staff. WCVB also happens to be the sole New England station to be honored in this year’s awards.
WJW-TV in Cleveland won first place for continuing coverage of a single news event. The coverage is titled Fentanyl: The New Heroin, from WJW team members Bill Sheil, Mary Stiene and Chris Reece.
Second place in the aforementioned category went to KARE 11 in Minneapolis for The Secret Sex Offender, by A.J. Lagoe, Chad Nelson and Steve Eckert.
Here’s a list of additional winners from the local television categories, with Best in Show listed first:
Broadcast or cable television stations feature, sports or human interest story
- Stag at Sharkey’s (David C. Barnett WVIZ/PBS ideastream, Cleveland, Ohio)
- Time with Dad (Kevin Rader and Steve Rhodes WTHR-TV, Indianapolis, Ind.)
- Billy and Syd (Chris Vanderveen and Chris Hansen KUSA-TV, Denver, Colo.)
Broadcast or cable television stations public service
- Making The Grade (Phil Williams and Bryan Staples WTVF- TV, Nashville, Tenn.)
- Last of the Institutions (Susannah Frame, Steve Douglas and Russ Walker KING Television, Seattle, Wash.)
- Fatal Butt Dial (Chris Papst WJLA-TV, Arlington, Va.)
Broadcast or cable television stations documentary or series of reports on the same subject
- Deadly Grade: The Kendra Parton Story: Bullied, Belittled and Berated (Wendy Halloran, Jeff Blackburn and Ivan Hernandez 12 News, Phoenix, Ariz.)
Broadcast or cable television stations investigative reporting
- Charity Caught on Camera (Bob Segall and the 13 Investigates Team WTHR-TV, Indianapolis, Ind.)
- Sign Here (Marshall Zelinger and Kevin Krug KMGH, Denver, Colo.)
- 5 Investigates: Government Accountability (5 Investigates Team WCVB, Boston, Mass.)
Broadcast or cable television stations business and consumer reporting
- Toddler Has A Credit Card (Julie Watts and the ConsumerWatch Team KPIX-TV, San Francisco, Calif.)
- Towing Troubles (Noah Pransky, Paul Thorson and Melissa Rancourt WTSP-TV, St. Petersburg, Fla.)
- No Fence, False Claims, Fake Awards (A.J. Lagoe, Steve Eckert and Gary Knox KARE11-TV, Minneapolis, Minn.)
Broadcast or cable television stations health/science reporting
- Distance Delays & Denial (A.J. Lagoe, Steve Eckert and Gary Knox KARE11-TV, Minneapolis, Minn.)
- $IDE EFFECT$ (Chris Vanderveen, Anna Hewson and Katie Wilcox KUSA-TV, Denver, Colo.)
- Drug Deals (Walt Kane, Karin Attonito and Anthony Cocco News 12 New Jersey, Edison, N.J.)
Broadcast or cable television stations environmental reporting
- Dangerous Exposure (Sandra Chapman and the 13 Investigates Team WTHR-TV, Indianapolis, Ind.)
- Deadly Strike (Bigad Shaban, Liz Wagner, Mark Villarreal and Michael Horn NBC Bay Area, San Jose, Calif.)
- Endangered Bees (David Collins, Steve Adams and Howard Melnick WBAL-TV, Baltimore, Md.)
Local TV affiliated website
- WCVB.com (WCVB Digital Staff, Boston, Mass.)
- WBALTV.com (Greg Ng, Saliqa Khan and Ron Snyder WBAL-TV, Baltimore, Md.)
The National Headliner awards were founded in 1934 by the Press Club of Atlantic City. The annual contest is one of the oldest and largest in the country that recognizes journalistic merit in the communications industry.