NewsOK … Innovator of the Year
A week ago, at about this very time (11 a.m. or so), NewsOK was being honored with a national award by The Associated Press Managing Editors (APME).
Kelly Fry, vice president of news and information at OPUBCO Communications Group, presents NewsOK's video operation at the APME convention in St. Louis on Oct. 30. See more photos on Flickr: APME 2009
We were a finalist in the prestigious category of “Innovator of the Year.”
As our awards czar (unofficial title) Joe Hight pointed out before and after the award was given – the APME innovator award is one of the most prestigious awards in journalism and probably the most difficult to win. As he says, the hardest part is convincing a room full of top-notch journalists that you deserve the award.
Joe should know. We’ve won quite a few awards in the past year. I’ve blogged about them before. It’s fun to win. It validates the hard work.
I was lucky enough to attend the APME conference in St. Louis last week. The key person from our operation that wasn’t able to attend is our video superhero (unofficial title) David Morris.
The Innovator award goes back almost three years. It began with a vision from OPUBCO Communications Group leadership. I went through phases of implementation, training, construction and trial and error. It culminated with the execution of a plan to change the culture of our news and information operation and grow our audience.
It was good for the newsroom to win the Innovator.
Now – back to work.
Kelly Fry, vice president of news and information at OPUBCO Communications Group, accepts the award. That's me (Alan Herzberger) in the background.
NewsOK TV is on the air
NewsOK is officially on television now. Check out Dave Morris’ blog post for more details on how our stellar video team produced this show (and will continue to do so on a weekly basis).
But here is a quick steal from his blog – the air times for the shows:
Here is the upcoming schedule:
Sat 10/17 3:30-4:00pm 7 OKCOX7
Sat 10/17 8:30-9:00pm 7 OKCOX7
Sun 10/18 1:00-1:30pm 7 OKCOX7
Sun 10/18 4:00-4:30pm 7 OKCOX7
Wed 10/21 9:30-10:00pm 7 OKCOX7
The final word on the mustache
There not really anything I can add to this post, except this:
Our sports department is creative.
Showcasing an nDepth inspiration
Check out the nDepth piece we showcased on the home page of NewsOK today. Reported by Jenni Carlson, it’s a story about Dick Hoyt, who is internationally known for the races (marathons, triathlons, etc) he runs pushing, pulling and carrying his wheelchair-bound son.
Jenni interviewed Dick Hoyt (you can listen to the interview) and talked to other Oklahomans who have been inspired by his story. We tell this story with our nDepth piece, which contains videos, text, slideshows and a lot of photos.
We wanted to showcase this story today because while the story appeared in The Oklahoman on Sunday, we know that the attention on NewsOK on Sunday centered on another local story (see Sam Bradford). So today, you get inspired with our nDepth.
And while you’re reading about Dick and his son, be sure to click through to our other nDepth pieces. We have 15 of them finished, and we plan to have many more.
‘Oklahoma Idol’ series amuses, entertains, informs
I clicked on the video above from the NewsOK home page this morning.
Classic stuff. Quality entertainment.
Now I see what sports editor Mike Sherman has been talking about. This stuff is a bit different. You can’t help but be part amused, part shocked, part horrified — but completely entertained and informed.
Yes … in this one three-minute clip, we see Gerald McCoy profess his love for Sam Bradford (see ’shocked’) and Adrian Taylor sing country music (see ‘horrified’).
You can see the entire series this season on the College Football Preview page on NewsOK. It’s a page based on the theme of “Oklahoma Idol” and it has all the preview stories and videos for the college football season. We’ll be adding more amusing, shocking and horrifying videos from the players and our Idol hosts throughout the season.
Maybe we’ll eventually get to hear Mike Sherman sing. I’ve heard it before … all previously used adjectives can properly describe that experience.
High school fall sports day summed up in about one minute
This is a pretty cool video. It’s a quick (a very quick) look at all the high school athletes that were in our building here at OPUBCO on Thursday as we prepare to cover the fall high school sports.
Pay close attention to the names and faces. There will be a quiz after it’s finished. I memorized every name and face after watching it twice.
An afternoon break with Helen Ford Wallace, the trendsetter
I just had a nice afternoon break to discuss blogging with NewsOK’s first staff blogger - Helen Ford Wallace. Helen often stops by on Wednesday afternoon before her 3 p.m. video shoot at OPUBCO Studios on the seventh floor of the OPUBCO tower.
Helen is a trendsetter here at OPUBCO Communications Group. And that’s no exaggeration. After getting to know her about five years ago, I gave her the “trendsetter” title much to her amusement.
I wasn’t amused. It’s the truth.
- It started with the blog.
- Then came the podcasts; she was the first to regularly bring in Oklahoma City’s heavy hitters to our podcast studios.
- Then came the niche publications; she was quick to participate and share her ideas for the OKC N Style magazine that we’ve produce over the past few years.
- Then came the videos. You can set your watch by her Parties Extra! video series. Every week, she delivers. Here’s the one from last week:
She’s made a career of being a hard worker and the ultimate ambassador for The Oklahoman (and now NewsOK.com and wimgo.com). And just to prove her trendsetter status, she was unafraid to shoot her own video and post to her blog. I have a hunch we’ll see more of these posts in the future.
And I have a hunch they will get better and better.
Video initiatives bring ‘innovator’ results for NewsOK
At NewsOK.com, we know that we do a lot of things well. We produce a lot of news and information content that a lot of people use as a part of their daily lives, whether it’s breaking news, features, investigative pieces or sports columns.
Yes, we do a lot of things well, and we do most of them at a pretty high level.
But there’s one thing that we do more intensely than just about any other media company that has its tradition based in newspapers …
Here’s proof: The Oklahoman and NewsOK.com have been selected as one of three finalists for the Associated Press Managing Editors’ Innovator of the Year award for its “total approach” in video. It’s an award that is considered the most prestigious of the APME awards, and the ultimate winner will be announced Oct. 30.
From the APME annoucement:
Three finalists were selected for APME’s third annual Innovator of the Year Award: The Oklahoman of Oklahoma City, for a staffwide commitment to video; The News-Press of Fort Myers, Fla., for audience engagement efforts including packages that brought experts and readers together with in-depth reporting, photo and video to tackle issues; and The News Journal of Wilmington, Del., for environmental coverage called AllGreenToMe that brings print and online together and provides an international look at environmental challenges facing Delaware.
In its entry, it was noted that The Oklahoman’s commitment to video ranged from breaking news coverage to social networking to training to live feeds to Video Department productions to interaction with our special Web pages and “know it” communities to nDepth’s “Stories of the Ages.”
It’s one of many honors NewsOK and The Oklahoman have received in the last two years . You can see many of our recent honors on our Awards Page that lists the achievements.
We consider these honors validation that we are moving in the right direction journalistically.
And we consider our steady growth in traffic and visits validation that we are moving in the right direction for our audience.
A quick look at Fourth of July fun
I didn’t get a chance to go to the parade in downtown Edmond on Saturday.
I had planned on it, but reality of the company that was arriving at our home later that day settled in, and I found that the time was better spent preparing for the cookout.
A Fourth of July parade is a key part of the festivities, in my mind. Next year, I’ll be scheduling all other activities around a parade.
But this year, thankfully, photographer/videographer Bryan Terry was in Edmond and helped me out. Thanks to his video, I was able to watch the Edmond parade in about 2 1/2 minutes.
If the parade had been this fast, I’d have gone for sure on Saturday.
You can see coverage of the Fourth of July, including many of the photo submitted by the public on our special coverage page. Give it one more look today, then prepare fore next year’s festivities.
Coffee Break for a Tuesday recovery
Below are some highlights of all the videos you might have missed over the long weekend on NewsOK.com.
Dave Morris and Angi Bruss take us through the best videos with today’s Coffee Break:
