Monthly Archives: April 2012

Park Rapids (Minn.) Enterprise receives 2012 Minnesota FoodShare March Campaign Award

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Park Rapids (Minn.) Enterprise Ad Director Candy Parks (left) and Publisher Rory Palm pose for a photo during the newspaper's third annual Chili Challenge at the Park Rapids Legion Club. Photo courtesy of the Park Rapids Enterprise

PARK RAPIDS, Minn. – The Park Rapids (Minn.) Enterprise-sponsored Chili Challenge is among winners of the 2012 Minnesota FoodShare March Campaign Awards. The third annual event raised more than $8,150, and included 21 individuals and groups volunteering time and talent to raise funds for the Hubbard County Food Shelf. Food shelf director Dave Long nominated the Chili Challenge for the award.

The newspaper-sponsored Chili Challenge has become Park Rapids’ official kick-off to the March drive, but the effort involves many who donate time, their talent or help sponsor the event. The Park Rapids Legion Club was once again the site of the two-hour event.

Thirteen individuals, schools, churches and organizations across the state have been invited to a celebration luncheon April 23 in Brooklyn Park, Minn., to receive a Minnesota FoodShare award. Statewide, this year’s March campaign was the most successful in the organization’s 30-year history, according to Sara Nelson-Pallmeyer of Minnesota FoodShare.

The Park Rapids Enterprise is owned by Forum Communications Co., a multimedia information company based in Fargo, N.D. Forum Communications owns dozens of newspapers, websites and television and radio stations in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Contestants in the Park Rapids Enterprise's third annual Chili Challenge are line up, ready to serve the judges. Photo courtesy of the Park Rapids Enterprise

Columnist for FCC’s Daily Republic newspaper receives SDNA Distinguished Service Award

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Terry Woster

MITCHELL, S.D. – Terry Woster, a current columnist for the FCC’s Daily Republic in Mitchell, and a reporter who covered most of the state’s biggest stories during his four decades as a journalist, will receive the South Dakota Newspaper Association’s Distinguished Service Award during the group’s upcoming convention.

Woster will be honored April 27 at Cedar Shore Resort, Oacoma, during SDNA’s 130th annual convention.

Woster grew up on a farm in Lyman County, graduated from South Dakota State University in 1966 with a journalism degree and began his professional career at the Chamberlain (S.D.) Register. From there he worked for the Volga (S.D.) Tribune and the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls before going to work in 1969 as a correspondent and state government reporter in Pierre for The Associated Press. He covered the devastating 1972 flood in Rapid City and the uprising at Wounded Knee during that time.

In 1978, Woster became managing editor of the Pierre and Fort Pierre Times. He worked as managing editor of the Pierre Capital Journal from 1981 until 1987 when he returned to the Argus Leader as its state government reporter in Pierre and columnist. Woster’s reporting and insights into state government, particularly the legislature, made his work a must-read for anyone interested state politics and public policy.

Following retirement at the Argus Leader in 2008, Woster has been a columnist for The Daily Republic at Mitchell and the Tri-State Neighbor. Since 2009, he has worked as a public information officer for the South Dakota Department of Public Safety.

“It is our honor and privilege to recognize Terry Woster for his contributions to South Dakota journalism during the past 40-plus years,” said SDNA President Lucy Halverson, publisher of the Lyman County Herald, Presho. “Terry is an excellent reporter and has demonstrated over and over his ability to deliver clear and concise reporting from some of South Dakotan’s biggest stories and events.  He is also a great storyteller, having shared many personal stories from life through his weekly column.”

Woster has been married to Nancy (Gust) of Chamberlain for 45 years. They have three adult children and five granddaughters.

The SDNA Distinguished Service Award is given to someone who has demonstrated outstanding service to the newspaper profession in South Dakota.

Former FCC publisher inducted into the South Dakota Newspaper Hall of Fame

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Noel Hamiel

Longtime newspaperman and former Forum Communications Co. publisher Noel Hamiel will be inducted into the South Dakota Newspaper Hall of Fame on April 27 at Cedar Shore Resort, Oacoma.

Hamiel will be honored during the 130th convention of the South Dakota Newspaper Association. He becomes the 103rd member of the Newspaper Hall of Fame.

Hamiel retired as publisher of Forum Communication Co.’s The Daily Republic in Mitchell, S.D., in 2007 after 35 years in the newspaper business. He began his career in 1972 at the Huron Plainsman as a sportswriter. He also worked at the Brookings Register, Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, The Morning Sun in Pittsburg, Kan., the Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan and the Cincinnati Post.

When he retired from newspapering in 2007, Hamiel took a position with the South Dakota Community Foundation, where he works with communities statewide in philanthropic development.

“We are humbled to honor someone who has made huge contributions to the newspaper business in our state,” said SDNA President Lucy Halverson, publisher of the Lyman County Herald, Presho. “Noel Hamiel has had a positive, powerful impact not only on the newspaper industry in South Dakota, but throughout our state as well.”

Through his years as a journalist, Hamiel won numerous awards for editorial and column writing. He was president (twice) of the South Dakota Associated Press Managing Editors group and served on the SDNA Board of Directors.

He was named a Lusk Fellow at South Dakota State University in 2007 for outstanding service to journalism and received the SDNA Distinguished Service Award in 2009.

Hamiel served in the South Dakota Legislature from 2008 to 2010. As a freshman representative, he successfully sponsored a bill to require transparency for certain no-bid contracts in government. He served as co-chairman of the Governor’s Wage Study Task Force and as chairman of the South Dakota Board of Education.

Hamiel and his wife, Janet, have been married for 38 years. They have three grown children and four grandchildren.

Duluth News Tribune investigative reporting series earns bundle of national journalism honors

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Brandon Stahl

Mark Stodghill

DULUTH, Minn. – A Duluth (Minn.) News Tribune investigative series regarding a former local hospital surgeon who set up practice in Texas after incurring numerous malpractice suits and a medical board disciplinary action has earned several national journalism honors, including two first-place awards.

On Tuesday, “The Case of Dr. Konasiewicz” reported and written by DNT Investigations Editor Brandon Stahl and reporter Mark Stodghill was named the first-place investigative reporting honoree among smaller daily newspapers in the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi Awards. Overall, the contest drew more than 1,700 entries nationwide from newspapers, magazines, online news outlets and broadcast stations.

Last week, the Association of Health Care Journalists announced the series was its first-place winner in the investigative category of its national contest.

“Writer Brandon Stahl and the Duluth News Tribune showed exceptional doggedness and courage …,” the AHCJ contest judges wrote. “The News Tribune fought vigorously to have records made public and, although confronted by a libel suit, the newspaper continued its reporting.”

Also last week, Investigative Reporters and Editors announced the series as a finalist in the online and small print media category of its national contest. In March, it was named as a finalist in community journalism in the 2011 Scripps Howard Awards.

In addition to the national honors, in January the series was named the top investigative journalism awardee in the Minnesota Newspaper Association’s Better Newspaper Contest. In total, the awards probably are the newspaper’s highest journalistic honors in its 140-plus year history.

“I’m very proud of our staff and we’re very honored to receive this national recognition,” said Ken Browall, publisher of the News Tribune. “More important than what it means to us, however, is how it reflects the role that serious journalism plays in our community, in bringing us information that’s relevant and vital to our daily lives.”

The News Tribune series examined how Dr. Stefan Konasiewicz continued practicing at St. Luke’s for years despite malpractice settlements and questions about his skills that eventually led the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice to discipline him. He then moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, where other patients claimed he harmed them before he left the practice.

St. Luke’s and its CEO, John Strange, have sued the News Tribune, saying one of the stories in the series was false and defamatory. The News Tribune has denied those claims. The lawsuit is still pending.

Reporter Stodghill has worked at the News Tribune since 1978, covering courts and crime for the past 20 years. He previously was a sports reporter, columnist and city editor. Stahl started at the paper six years ago as a health reporter. He later covered Duluth city government and was named investigations editor in June 2010.

Forum graphic artist recognized nationally for work on Wednesday’s Page 1 graphic

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Troy Becker

FARGO, N.D. – The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead has been recognized twice in one week for an outstanding Page 1 design, notes Editor Matthew Von Pinnon in an email to colleagues.

Nationally renowned newspaper design guru Charles Apple noted Wednesday on his blog “The Visual Side of Journalism” The Forum’s April 11 Page 1 package depicting how drainage affects flooding, drawing special attention to the graphics created to demonstrate how tile drainage works. The graphics were created by Forum graphic artist Troy Becker, using a free iPad app called “Paper.” Apple’s post, which also details some of Becker’s other fantastic work, can be found here: http://apple.copydesk.org/2012/04/11/page-one-illustrations-drawn-on-an-ipad-with-a-free-app/.

As noted in the blog post, Becker has worked for The Forum for more than four years.

Von Pinnon wrote in his email that the company that created the “Paper” app Becker used to build the Page 1 graphic has asked to feature his work on their website.

“It was an outstanding graphic done in a very different style and with new tools,” Von Pinnon wrote in his email to FCC colleagues.

In a post Sunday, Apple also lauded The Forum for its Page 1 package on a local Titanic survivor. Read more here.