1999 International Wheel Award Winners Announced At Detroit Auto Show
4 January 1999
1999 International Wheel Award Winners Announced At North American International Auto Show DETROIT, Jan. 3 -- Winners in the 1999 International Wheel
Awards competition for journalistic excellence were announced and awards were
presented today at the North American International Auto Show at Cobo Center.
Print and broadcast journalists representing the Detroit Free Press and
Maryland Public Television won the contest's coveted Golden Wheel awards.
Entries by the winners -- "Chrysler To Merge With Daimler-Benz" by the Detroit
Free Press staff and "Motorweek-TV Magazine" by John Davis of Maryland Public
Television -- also won first places in their respective categories.
Judges described the Free Press coverage of the merger as "outstanding
reporting of a major news story (and) effective mobilization of reportorial
resources." They said the entry for "Motorweek," which is in its 18th season
and the longest running automotive television magazine, was "quality service
journalism."
The 1999 Wheel Awards honor top journalists for stories published or aired
during the industry's 1998 model year that ended Sept. 30.
Two of the contest's seven first place awards were won by Automotive News:
David Versical and Karen Passino for Best Story in the Special Interest
Publications category, and Peter Brown for Best Editorial/Commentary in the
All Print Media category.
Other first place winners included Kathleen Kerwin, Keith Naughton and
Bill Vlasic of Business Week in the General Interest Magazines category, the
staff of Car and Driver magazine for its entry in the Best Product Review
category, and Stephen Aug of WPBT-TV's Nightly Business Report for his entry
in the Television News Reporting category.
The Wheel Awards -- including $12,000 in cash prizes -- were presented by
President Edward Lapham of the sponsoring Detroit Press Foundation, during the
press preview days that precede the Saturday, Jan. 9 formal opening of the
auto show.
Stylized wheel trophies and a $1,000 cash prize were presented to each of
the contest's first place winners. Each Golden Wheel winner received an
additional $2,500. Their entries were selected from among all first place
winners as Best of the Best in their respective medium.
Publications and stations represented by runners-up in the seven-year-old
contest included The Boston Globe, The Detroit News, The Flint Journal,
Newsweek magazine, Ward's Auto World, Fortune magazine, WXYZ-TV (Detroit),
WTSP-TV (St. Petersburg, Fla.) and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (Toronto).
The contest was established by the 33-year-old foundation as an extension
of its charter to promote excellence in journalism, and in recognition of
Detroit's and Michigan's global significance in the auto industry, according
to Lapham, executive editor of Automotive News.
Winners were selected from among more than 150 entries from news media in
the United States and Canada. They competed in four categories: Best story
by medium, and "all print" and "all broadcast" categories including
editorial/commentary, news programming/documentary and product evaluation.
Judging was conducted by faculty members at the University of Nebraska's
College of Journalism and Mass Communications under the direction of Dean Will
Norton, Jr.
Following are the winners in the Detroit Press Foundation's 1999
International Wheel Award:
GOLDEN WHEEL AWARDS
Work is judged "Best of the Best" from among all entries
PRINT: "Chrysler To Merge With Daimler-Benz," staff, Detroit Free Press
BROADCAST: "Motorweek-TV Magazine," John Davis, Maryland Public Television
(Owings Mills, Md.)
BEST NEWS STORY
NEWSPAPERS: 1st Place: "Chrysler To Merge With Daimler-Benz, " staff,
Detroit Free Press; 2nd Place: "Buick City Closing," Tom Wickham, Richard
Noble and staff, The Flint Journal; 3rd Place: "Michigan Trucking: Deadly
Encounters," Kenneth Cole and Anita Lienert, The Detroit News.
GENERAL INTEREST MAGAZINES: 1st Place: "The Future Of The American Car,"
Kathleen Kerwin and Keith Naughton with Bill Vlasic, Business Week; 2nd
Place: "A Life Or Death Choice?" Daniel McGinn, Danile Pedersen and Rich
Thomas, Newsweek; 3rd Place: "Chairman Ford," Keith Naughton with Kathleen
Kerwin, Business Week.
SPECIAL INTEREST PUBLICATIONS: 1st Place: "The Green Engineer," David
Versical and Karen Passino, Automotive News; 2nd place: "Let's Call Them
HYVES," "Greg Gardner and Drew Winter, Ward's Auto World; 3rd Place:
"Global Engineering Solving The Puzzle," staff, Ward's Auto World.
TELEVISION: 1st Place: "GM Labor Relations Problems," Stephen Aug, Nightly
Business Report, WPBT-TV (Miami); 2nd Place: "UAW Strikes GM," news staff,
WXYZ-TV (Detroit).
BEST EDITORIAL/COMMENTARY/COLUMN
ALL PRINT MEDIA: 1st Place: "The Winner? It's Anybody But GM And The UAW,"
Peter Brown, Automotive News; 2nd Place: "Automotive Overcapacity? Not A
Problem," Alex Taylor III, Fortune; 3rd Place: "Why Our Roads Are Clogged
And How To Cope Using Ketchup," John Phillips, Car and Driver.
BEST NEWS PROGRAMMING/DOCUMENTARY
ALL BROADCAST MEDIA: 1st Place: "Motorweek-TV Magazine," John Davis,
Maryland Public Television (Owings Mills, Md.); 2nd Place: "Chrysler's Kid
Killers," Greg Hunter, George Albright, Sondra Guffey, WTSP-TV
(St. Petersburg, Fla.); 3rd Place: "Marketplace: Head Restraints," Richard
Wright, Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (Toronto).
BEST PRODUCT REVIEW/EVALUATION
ALL PRINT MEDIA: 1st Place: "Salt Of The Earth Sedans," staff, Car and
Driver; 2nd Place: "The New Beetle," Paul and Anita Lienert, The Detroit
News; 3rd Place: "Winter Driving," John White, The Boston Globe.
