RiverheadLOCAL writers Katie Blasl and Laurie Nigro were among the winners last night at the Press Club of Long Island’s 2016 Media Awards dinner in Woodbury.
Blasl was named the James Murphy Cub Reporter of the Year by the Press Club, the local chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. The annual award is presented to a rookie reporter who demonstrates ability and dedication to journalism.
Blasl also took home awards in two narrative reporting categories. Her August 2015 report “Climate of Fear: Riverhead Latinos Made Worse by Board’s ‘Sanctuary City’ Comments” won second place in the community news category. Her March 2015 story about 8-year-old Gabriel Dispenziere, who lives in isolation due to severe food allergies, took second place for education reporting.
RiverheadLOCAL columnist Laurie Nigro won first place for her “Laurie, Naturally” column, published weekly on the website. The popular column is a humorous take on modern marriage, parenting and trying to live a natural lifestyle in an often frenzied world.
Syndicated columnist Karl Grossman won a first place award for his Dec. 26, 2015 column on RiverheadLOCAL “Let’s get serious about government corruption.”
The Press Club last night inducted four new members into the Long Island Journalism Hall of Fame: (Posthumous) Marie Colvin (The Sunday Times), Les Payne (Newsday), and Frank Eltman (The Associated Press) and Vicky Katz Whittaker.
The club also presented hundreds of awards to journalists in print, online, television and radio across Long Island, working for organizations as big as The New York Times and as small as RiverheadLOCAL. The dinner took place at the Woodbury Country Club.
“It is such an honor for the press club to present awards to the top journalists on Long island each year,” said PCLI President Chris Vaccaro. “From our hall of fame inductions to giving out prestigious awards to deserving professionals and students, this is the highlight of our year, and we congratulate all the winners. We hope that the awards competition helps to make the journalism on Long Island even stronger.”
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