Press Club of Dallas Announces 2008 Katie Awards

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Press Club of Dallas Announces 2008 Katie Awards
           Integrity, Transparency and Competing Against the Best

    DALLAS, July 24 /PRNewswire/ -- A message from Gloria Campos, anchor
WFAA- TV Channel 8 and Cheryl Hall, business columnist The Dallas Morning
News:

    It's with great pleasure that we announce the launch of the 2008 Katie
Awards from the Press Club of Dallas.

    This will be the 50th Katie Awards competition and the first since it
was cancelled in 2007, when judging improprieties were discovered.

    Since then, the Press Club of Dallas Foundation, which oversees
scholarships generated by the Katies, has worked arduously with the Press
Club to restore integrity to the competition.

    As board members of the Foundation, we have taken this endeavor on as a
personal crusade. We staunchly believe in both missions of the Katies: to
help college students pay for degrees in media-related fields and to honor
the best work by those already in the media.

    We intend to restore the Katie Awards contest to its past glory. The
key to success will be transparency and judges of the highest
qualifications.

    Stunning Banquet

    The annual presentation banquet will be held in conjunction with the
45th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the
venue will be the Sixth Floor Museum, in downtown Dallas on Nov. 15.

    Our keynoter will be Hugh Aynesworth, an internationally recognized
expert on the assassination and its aftermath. He stepped in to help save
the Press Club as its president.

    Although the competition is scaled back from previous years, we believe
you will find it is as prestigious as ever. Exemplary judges, primarily
from the respected Poynter Institute, have agreed to carefully review the
entries.

    Tony Pederson, Professor and Belo Distinguished Chair in Journalism at
Southern Methodist University, has done yeoman's work in crafting the
categories to give the broadest entry possibilities in all major areas of
media. We believe the best of the best will shine even brighter.

    The categories are finely tuned to honor the most critical aspects in
media today - both new media and traditional. So if the categories you
might have entered in previous years are missing, look for others that your
work might qualify for.

    Free Entries

    To encourage participation and to make up for past judging
transgressions, we're offering two free entries to individuals who entered
in the past two competitions. Media outlets will be allowed to make two
free entries for each category previously entered.

    Additional entries and entries by those who did not participate in the
2005 and 2006 competitions remain at $40.

    Key Dates

    -- Entries must be submitted by Friday, August 22, 2008

    -- Finalists will be announced about October 1, 2008

    -- Banquet will be held on November, 15, 2008. Additional details can
be found at http://www.PressClubDallas.com or http://www.KatieAwards.com.

    The downside of offering free entries is that it will unfortunately
reduce the amount of money the event generates for scholarships. In fact,
if everyone who qualifies takes advantage of this offer, we will be
fortunate to break even.

    So with hat in hand, we'd also like to ask those who value our mission
of providing scholarships to forgo this free offer and pay the normal fee.

    We promise that every statue handed out during the awards banquet will
truly represent excellence. In addition, top leadership of the Club and the
Foundation will abstain from the competition. Those who have experienced a
special year and enter the competition will not be involved in judging or
the banquet.

    Limited Seating

    We also promise that the banquet, while limited in the number of seats
available, will be first class in every aspect, including excellent food,
libations and company. By reducing the number of categories to focus solely
on working media, the program should move at a much quicker pace.

    As co-chairs of this half-century competition, we entreat you to
support the Katie Awards, one of the most attractive awards in journalism
and communications.



    Thank you,

    Gloria and Cheryl
    Co-chairs of the 2008 Katie Awards
SOURCE Press Club of Dallas
http://www.PressClubDallas.com
http://www.KatieAwards.com
CONTACT:
Hugh Aynesworth, President, Press Club of
Dallas, +1-214-358-0666