Finalists Announced in 1999 International Wheel Awards Competition
21 December 1998
Finalists Announced in 1999 International Wheel Awards Competition
DETROIT, Dec. 18 -- Newsmen and women representing 15
publications and stations in the U.S. and Canada are among the finalists in
the 1999 International Wheel Awards competition, it was announced today. They
were selected on the basis of their entries in the contest created to
recognize and encourage excellence in journalism.
News media represented include: Automotive News, The Boston Globe,
Business Week, Car & Driver Magazine, Detroit Free Press, The Detroit News,
The Flint Journal, Fortune Magazine, Newsweek, Ward's Auto World Magazine,
CBC-TV (Toronto), Maryland Public Television, WTSP-TV (St. Petersburg),
WPBT-TV (Miami), WXYZ-TV (Detroit).
In addition to bragging rights as the world's best in automotive
journalism, cash prizes will be awarded to the winning entrants. They include
separate Golden Wheel awards of $2,500 each to the print and broadcast
journalists whose work is judged the best-of-the-best in their respective
medium.
According to Edward Lapham, president of the sponsoring Detroit Press
Foundation, presentation of the awards -- being held in conjunction with the
1999 North American International Auto Show -- is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
Sunday, January 3, in the Skyline Room at Cobo Center.
The Wheel Awards competition was established by the 33-year-old Foundation
as an extension of its charter to foster excellence in journalism and in
recognition of Detroit and Michigan's global significance in the auto
industry, according to Lapham, who is Executive Editor of Automotive News.
Judging of the contest's more than 150 entries was conducted by faculty
members of the University of Nebraska's College of Journalism and Mass
Communications, Lincoln, Neb., under the direction of Dean Will Norton, Jr.
The awards recognize stories published or aired during the industry's 1997
model year which ended September 30.
A list of the finalists follows:
1999 INTERNATIONAL WHEEL AWARDS
FOLLOWING IN SCRAMBLED ORDER ARE THE FINALISTS
IN THE 1999 INTERNATIONAL WHEEL AWARDS COMPETITION
BEST NEWS STORY
NEWSPAPERS
"Buick City Closing", Tom Wickham, Richard Noble and Staff, The Flint
Journal; "Michigan Trucking: Deadly Encounters", Kenneth Cole & Anita Lienert
in The Detroit News; "Chrysler to Merge with Daimler-Benz", Staff, Detroit
Free Press
GENERAL INTEREST MAGAZINES
"The Future of the American Car", Kathleen Kerwin and Keith Naughton with
Bill Vlasic, Business Week; "A Life or Death Choice?", Daniel McGinn, Daniel
Pedersen and Rich Thomas, Newsweek Magazine; "Chairman Ford", Keith Naughton
with Kathleen Kerwin, Business Week
SPECIAL INTEREST PUBLICATIONS
"Let's Call Them 'HYVES'," Greg Gardner and Drew Winter, Ward's Auto World
Magazine; "The Green Engineer", David Versical & Karen Passino, Automotive
News; "Global Engineering Solving the Puzzle", Staff, Ward's Auto World
TELEVISION
"UAW Strikes GM", News Staff, WXYZ-TV (Detroit); "GM Labor Relations
Problems", Stephen Aug, Nightly Business Report, WPBT-TV (Miami)
BEST EDITORIAL/COMMENTARY/COLUMN
ALL PRINT MEDIA: "Why Our Roads Are Clogged and How to Cope Using
Ketchup", John Phillips, Car and Driver Magazine; "The Winner? It's Anybody
But GM and the UAW", Peter Brown, Automotive News; "Automotive Overcapacity?
Not a Problem", Alex Taylor III, Fortune Magazine
BEST NEWS PROGRAMMING/DOCUMENTARY
ALL BROADCAST MEDIA: "Motorweek - TV Magazine", John Davis, Maryland
Public Television (Owings Mills, MD); "Chrysler's Kid Killers", Greg Hunter,
George Albright, Sondra Guffey, WTSP-TV (St. Petersburg, FL); "Marketplace:
Head Restraints", Richard Wright, Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (Toronto)
BEST PRODUCT REVIEW/EVALUATION
ALL PRINT MEDIA: "Winter Driving", John White, The Boston Globe; "Salt of
the Earth Sedans", Staff, Car and Driver Magazine; "The New Beetle", Paul and
Anita Lienert, The Detroit News