On Monday, May 18, 2020, the Indiana Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) announced the winners of their 2019 Best in Indiana Journalism Contest. The awards banquet was originally scheduled for this April, but the chapter announced that they would be announcing the winners online instead due to safety concerns around COVID-19.
I won third place for Arts and Entertainment Writing for publications with circulation below 30,000: https://www.wabashplaindealer.com/news/burgess-wins-spj-award/article_c7518c05-4c01-56b4-b9fe-990c85fd598f.html
My entry included five stories published in 2019. These stories included interviews with Amy Grant, David Crosby, Buck Trent of “Hee Haw,” Richard Sterban of the Oak Ridge Boys and Patrick Myers of Killer Queen before their respective performances at the Honeywell Center:
2019-08-03 - WPD - You will remember David Crosby's name
2019-12-12 - WPD - The Oak Ridge Boys to bring a 'Down Home Christmas'
2019-09-28 - WPD - Amy Grant in motion
2019-07-03 – WPD - 'Hee Haw' returns, this time to the stage
2019-06-15 - WPD - Killer Queen will rock you
The Best in Indiana Journalism contest is Indiana’s only open journalism contest. This was the 41st year that journalists from around the state competed in dozens of print, broadcast and online categories. The rest of the 2019 award winners may be found here: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5756ccd7cf80a1df079406c4/t/5ec285d639a7d161d0d25b1f/1589806550818/2020+awards+results_FINAL_TDedit.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1WkXhNfcDiZtQmE0VSVLVoAjgs4oL6Aryy46r9K9a3zXI4dF9Rh0N2QZw
