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Tracy Kennedy's video of 'Distracted Delegates' wins Hearst Award Tracy's video won first place in the Multimedia Competition of the Hearst Foundation's Journalism Awards Program. She beat out 78 entrants from 47 undergraduate journalism programs at colleges and universities across the nation, the foundation said in announcing the awards. Tracy's video has been featured on The Washington Post's politics blog and WTVR, Richmond's CBS affiliate; Style Weekly gave it a +3 in the city's zeitgeist. Some legislators say the video was unfair: that they were on a break when they were caught surfing the Web (Tracy says that's not true, and the House minutes for Feb. 25 don't indicate a recess). What's your take? Speaking of awards: CNS reporter Josie Varnier is among 12 student journalists chosen from throughout the country to help produce the daily newspaper covering the SPJ National Convention on Aug. 27-29 in Indianapolis. Josie will serve on the staff of The Working Press, which will produce flood-the-zone coverage of the convention. What a terrific opportunity to report, write, learn and network. |
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If you are a newspaper editor and would like to receive customized coverage of the General Assembly, the governor's office and other aspects of state government, contact the CNS director, Jeff South, at jcsouth@vcu.edu or (804) 827-0253. Need art? Browse our "CNS photo downloads" Web site. Got a story idea, news release or press-conference announcement? Send it to us, and we'll try to cover it. Submit your ideas to the CNS director, Jeff South, at jcsouth@vcu.edu or (804) 827-0253. There's more CNS at: |
CNS provides state government news coverage for Virginia's community newspapers. It is a free service staffed by students from the School of Mass Communications at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. We post our stories here after they have been sent to our client newspapers for publication. This ensures that our clients have the first opportunity to run articles produced by CNS. CNS stories may not be published elsewhere without written permission from the VCU School of Mass Communications. Our stories are (on) Delicious. Follow us on Twitter. At delicious.com/tag/vcucns, you'll find links to many full-text CNS stories as published by our clients. New for '09: You can get CNS headlines and news blurbs at twitter.com/vcucns. Read them on the Web, or have our "tweets" sent to your cell phone or PDA.
A segment about CNS produced and aired by VCU InSight With 26 students, CNS coverage is wide, deep and local Capital News Service is up and running again. Our staff includes 20 reporters and six copy editors. For the 2009 legislative session, we are serving more than 70 newspapers and news Web sites. Multimedia Take our narrated slide-show tour of the Virginia Capitol
Shad smoked; gubernatorial candidates roasted WAKEFIELD – The 61st annual Shad Planking kicked off Virginia’s political season with cold beer, smoked shad and a poignant roast of the 2009 gubernatorial candidates. Three of the four candidates for governor – Republican Bob McDonnell and Democrats Terry McAuliffe and Brian Moran – poked fun at each other in a Shad Planking tradition that began in 2001. (Another Democratic contender, Creigh Deeds, was campaigning in Southwest Virginia.) “Terry's a little disappointed,” McDonnell said of McAuliffe, the former Democratic National Committee chairman attending the Shad Planking for the first time. “He was told there would be a lot of big fish here. He didn't realize we meant that literally.” ... Here is our slide show of the Shad Planking:
Samples of recent stories Senator Pulls Bill on Reporting Fetal Deaths Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, has withdrawn his bill that would have required mothers to report the death of their fetus within 24 hours or face criminal charges. Obenshain withdrew Senate Bill 962 from consideration by the Senate Education and Health Committee after the legislation had ignited controversy in online discussions. Opponents said it would criminalize having a miscarriage by forcing the mother to relate her loss to authorities or else be charged with a misdemeanor. “Shame on you, Senator Obenshain,” one woman wrote in a Web forum. “Asking a woman to relive a miscarriage is disgusting and cruel.” ... Law Could Save Police Officer’s Life In 1988, Smithfield Police Lt. Kurt Beach tried unsuccessfully to save a dying baby by giving cardiopulmonary resuscitation. A recipient of numerous blood transfusions, the 9-month-old suffered from hepatitis C. After exposure, Beach became infected with the disease. “I’ve always had a soft spot for children. I was a brand new rookie. I tried, but I couldn’t save her,” Beach, 52, told WAVY-TV. “She was a very sick child.” Twenty-one years later, Beach is in desperate need of a liver transplant to save his life as a result of hepatitis C attacking the organ. If left untreated, the disease likely would lead to fatal liver failure. The General Assembly is considering legislation that would help with Beach’s medical bills. House Bill 2243 is sponsored by Delegate William K. Barlow, D-Smithfield. The bill calls for Beach to receive $250,000 from the state’s workers’ compensation fund to help cover expenses related to a liver transplant, including expensive anti-rejection medication Beach would need for the rest of his life. ... SPJ awards A story that Amy Biegelsen wrote for CNS in Spring 2005 won first place for general news writing among specialty publications in the Virginia Press Association's 2005 News, Editorial & Photo Contest. Amy's story, "The Fire Inside," was published on April 20, 2005, in the Richmond alternative newspaper, Style Weekly. It described a Richmond woman's fight to obtain a state pardon for an arson-related crime to which she unwittingly pleaded guilty 16 years earlier. The VPA judges' comments about the story: "Carefully and clearly reported. Compelling account of one human's story that illustrates a little-known aspect of the legal/political system." Amy continues to report in Richmond for Style Weekly, The Virginian-Pilot and WHRV-FM, the public radio station in Hampton Roads.
A story written by Maggie Souza and distributed via CNS received an award in the Society of Professional Journalists' Region 2 Mark of Excellence competition on April 1, 2006, in Washington, D.C. Souza's story, "Donors hedge bets in VA gov's race," was published on Stateline.org on Dec. 28, 2005. It won third place for Online News Reporting in the Mark of Excellence competition. In the Region 2 contest, VCU competes with student media from throughout Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Delaware and the District of Columbia.
Two CNS stories won awards in the Society of Professional Journalists' Region 2 Mark of Excellence competition on April 9, 2005, at Towson University in Maryland. The awards were for:
On April 17, 2004, CNS students won two awards in the Region 2 Mark of Excellence competition. The awards, announced at SPJ's SuperRegional Conference in Harrisburg, Pa., were for:
CNS in the News
All stories © 2009 by CNS - VCU School of Mass Communications CNS articles do not necessarily reflect the views of Virginia Commonwealth University or the School of Mass Communications. |
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