February Best of the Month Nominations

Congratulations to Carla Hinton, selected Best Overall for February. In his

nomination, Features Editor Matt Price wrote that Carla is always very focused on
the needs of the faith community, which is a huge part of our readership. But she
doesnt only take time to hear concerns from the largest voices. Anyone with a
suggestion or concern on the religion beat gets an opportunity to share their
thoughts. Carla regularly attends events after hours and on weekends, if necessary,
to keep in contact with various faith groups. Sometimes, its not even for a
particular story, but just so that they will know she is aware of their community. In
addition, in February, shes worked extensively on the Holiday Worship Guide,
speaking with a variety of contacts as she created a stand-alone section celebrating
Christian and Jewish spring holidays.
Her willingness to connect with customers goes beyond her beat. One morning in
February, as the only reporter on hand, Carla was asked to talk to a man who had
come to the front door with concerns about his neighbors potentially spying on him.
Carla was attentive and respectful, and gave the man helpful suggestions that
allowed him to have a positive experience with The Oklahoman.
For all she does to lift the image of The Oklahoman in public, I dont believe anyone
carries the mantle of being customer focused better than Carla Hinton, Matt says.

Best Beat or Breaking News Story

From: Robby Trammell
Nominee: Randy Ellis
Page 1 Multiple fees, fines, bail charges add to jail crowding
http://archive.newsok.com/olive/apa/oklahoman/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=DOK
%2F2016%2F02%2F14&id=Ar00513&sk=313ECA88

Best Business Story or Business Feature

From: Paula Burkes
Nominee: Paula Burkes
Just the knowledge that The Oklahoman planned to run a story on seniors struggling
to keep up with the soaring premiums on their long term care policies, I believe, led
the state Insurance Dept. to announce its 9th inning decision to cap increases at 10
percent annually. I know the coverage (including video) helped untold policyholders

weigh solutions to lower their premiums, including cutting back on benefits -- and
also gave numerous others pause before buying like insurance products.
We easily received more than a dozen emails and calls after this article and followup Trade Talk column ran. Here's just one: I really appreciated your article in
Sunday's paper regarding long term care. It is very helpful to have a relevant story
presented as well as concise facts that could take any of us a great deal of time to
locate on our own. Articles such as this one are the reason I continue to subscribe to
the printed newspaper! Thank you for your skillful, hard work. Colleen Walker, 2212
Vance Dr., Edmond, OK. 73013
http://newsok.com/article/5477284
Escalating long-term insurance cost has Oklahomans frustrated
http://newsok.com/article/5477929
Seniors struggle to pay for constantly rising long-term care insurance

Best Sports Story

From: Darla Smith

Nominee: Jacob Unruh
Feb. 12: Once-dominant Dover picking up pieces one month after school fire
http://newsok.com/article/5478336

Best Feature Story

From: Matt Price

Nominee: Nathan Poppe
Nathan stepped out of his comfort zone to write a really good feature story about a
rape survivor.
http://newsok.com/unbroken-survivor-oklahoma-city-author-and-business-owneraddresses-rape-from-a-survivors-perspective-in-new-short-film/article/5480021

Best Project/Enterprise/In-Depth Story

From: Phil OConnor

Nominees: Matt Patterson/Chris Casteel
With "The Precinct," Matt and Chris gave our readers an inside view of the 2016
primaries through the eyes of voters in one Oklahoma City neighborhood. The
package included deep, rich reporting, great story telling and great presentation.
http://newsok.com/article/5481140

Best Watchdog Story

From: Robby Trammell

Nominee: Randy Ellis
Play State agencies give raises despite executive order
http://archive.newsok.com/olive/apa/oklahoman/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=DOK
%2F2016%2F02%2F07&id=Ar00300&sk=DCBDC233

Best Video

From: David Morris

Nominee: Greg Singleton
Greg single-handedly worked on a Chris Reen project for the Heart Ball, to rave
reviews from Reen and the American Heart Association. He cranked out a food
documentary on the side with Dave Cathey that has been submitted to the

deadCenter Film Festival. And he routinely goes on last-minute shoots without

hesitation.

Best Blog/Social Media Effort

From: Phil OConnor

Nominees: Darla Slipke/Tiffany Gibson
Darla and Tiffany worked tirelessly to build a new graphic display tool for tracking
Oklahoma City homicides. "The new map includes all homicides dating back to 2007
and allows people to search by race, gender, address, etc. The new tool also
includes three widgets that provide readers a much richer and more informationpacked online experience and will also help us in analyzing homicide data going
forward. This should prove an invaluable tool.
http://newsok.com/homicides

Best Column

From: Darla Smith

Nominee: Berry Tramel
Feb. 14: Fuss over video bigger than just Joe Mixon
http://newsok.com/article/5480721

Best Design/Illustration

From: Suzanne Green

Nominee: Suzanne Green
For the centerpiece illustration design for the story "A nerd in love" from Ken
Raymond's Purely Subjective column.
This was a really fun illustration. The style of the piece was kept loose to mimic the
age at which the story happened. Everything was hand drawn including the
headline type to keep the style playful and unpolished. The color scheme was
simple only using red, (the color of love) to call out a few details without
bombarding the reader with too much traditional valentine art. The background of
the image was intended to look like aged paper like a note saved for several years
to play off the fact that this story happened in Ken's childhood. Overall there were
several details that came directly from the story to keep the reader engaged with
the illustration as they read along, including the curly hair, thick "nerdy" glasses,
and the little note folded origami style into its own envelope. I think the simplicity of
the illustration style was a big part of what made this such an eye catching design.
Judges also selected this because of the high quality of hand-drawn work done
before deadline.

Best Photo

From: Doug Hoke

Nominee: Paul Hellstern
Three year old William Moore keeps his eye on the ball during the Bart and Nadia
Sports Experience in the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City, OK, Saturday,
February 13, 2016, Photo by Paul Hellstern, The Oklahoman
Cute photo.

Best Headline
From: Felicia Murray
Nominee: Glen Seeber
WIENERS AND LOSERS, skybox headline on Feb. 9.
With 30-second Super Bowl ads costing up to $5 million, its a huge gamble to
advertise. Heres a look at some of the winning ads, and some that didnt do as well.
The Heinz Wiener Stampede was one of the winners.

Special Recognition
From: Robb Hibbard
Nominee: Robert Griffin
Robert Griffin provides invaluable assistance to NewsOK.com and The
Oklahoman.com on weekends, especially Sundays. From 3 p.m. to well past
midnight Sundays, he serves as our digital news editor. While busy with the print
product for Monday, he is counted on to activate and place any live coverage
widgets, which he has done with regard to The Grammys, and other live events
such as live weather, and several weekend GOP and Democrat debates. Robert
attends to breaking news on NewsOK.com with a sense of urgency that surpasses
any reasonable expectation. Robert has handled this duty for years now, and has

always done so with the utmost professionalism. Im grateful for his diligence, and
think he deserves the highest possible recognition for his efforts on behalf of
Oklahoman.com and NewsOK.com.