Blade staff, others honored at Touchstone Awards

Award winners Gary Yoder, left, Martha Vetter, and Bob Bortel are all smiles after the Touchstone Awards ceremony sponsored by the Toledo Press Club at the Toledo Club. THE BLADE/ANDY MORRISON Enlarge | Photo Reprints

The reporting staff of The Blade was recognized Thursday night with an excellence in journalism award from the Press Club of Toledo for its coverage of the tornadoes that devastated parts of northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan earlier this year.

The distinction in the daily print category was announced during the Touchstone Awards ceremony at the Toledo Club.

Judges for the print journalism awards came from the Michigan Society of Professional Journalists, who said this "big breaking story was covered like a blanket" by The Blade staff.

"It was comprehensive coverage with detailed stories from several communities," the judges said of the reporting that followed the tornadoes of June 5 and June 6. "We really like the fact that they let the people tell the story … and reported on alarms and how little warning time people had."

Mayor Mike Bell, the evening's master of ceremonies, presented the award to Blade Managing Editor Dave Murray.

"On behalf of the reporting staff, which is still putting out tomorrow's paper, I will accept this award," Mr. Murray said.

WGTE Public Media received an excellence in journalism in new media for its video-on-demand multimedia service, knowledgestream.org.

Christina Schmitz of the Toledo City Paper received the excellence in journalism award in the nondaily publication category for her article examining how FirstEnergy Corp.'s Bay Shore plant affected fish in Lake Erie.

13 ABC Action News received the excellence in journalism award in broadcasting for its 6 p.m. newscast.

The Touchstone recipient in the student category was David Mette for his video news feature, "Zero Gravity Challenge."

The Touchstone Contributor Award honoring outstanding contributions to the community went to Gary Yoder of Fox Toledo for his work on the station's "Smoke Detectors Save Lives" campaign.

A nominee in the contributor category, Crystal Bowersox, an Elliston, Ohio, native, received the Home Town Hero award, whose inaugural honoree last year was Jamie Farr.

The Touchstone Lifetime Achiever Award went to Martha Vetter, founder and CEO of R/P Marketing Public Relations.

The Golden Touchstone Award went to Bob Bortel, who as director of student publications at Bowling Green State University and adviser to the BG News since 1982 has been a mentor to thousands.

The Norm Cartwright Award, named for a founding member of the Press Club, went to Chuck Krueger, a former WTOL-TV news operations manager who retired from Toledo Edison, where he was a spokesman and area manager.

Homer Brickey, a retired Blade senior business writer, paid tribute to a Press Club founder, former Blade editor-in-chief Bernard Judy. Mr. Judy died June 30.

He also announced the decision by the press club board to name the organization's annual scholarship after Mr. Judy. The $500 award went to Ashley Roth, a senior in broadcast journalism at the University of Toledo.

The keynote speaker was Christi Paul, a news anchor for HLN, who is an alumna in broadcast journalism from UT.