Dear reader,
The syracuse.com | Post-Standard team had a lot to celebrate last Saturday night. We took home 35 awards for our reporting, social media efforts, magazine, podcasting and video work at the Syracuse Press Club’s annual professional recognition dinner. That’s more than any other news outlet locally, and the night included four special honors for our team.
First, reporter Darian Stevenson, who joined us in August 2022 after graduating from Newhouse at Syracuse University, was given the “Newcomer Award” for her work on the breaking news beat last year. The committee mentioned Darian’s reporting on the victims of the epidemic of Hyundai and Kia thefts in Central New York, her stories on the people living at the Candlewood Suites who became central to the migrant debate in Onondaga County, and her coverage of a fatal shooting outside the Rescue Mission in downtown Syracuse.
Glenn Coin, who covers weather, science/environmental topics and Micron news, earned the top honor of “Journalist of the Year.” Glenn has worked for our organization for 29 years, and as Senior Director of Content John Lammers noted in his nomination of Glenn, he’s at the top of his game:
“He was born for this moment in Syracuse. Glenn leads the syracuse.com and The Post-Standard’s coverage of Micron Technology’s planned construction of a massive chip-making factory here. It represents a once-in-multiple-generations opportunity and challenge for Central New York. It is important and complex. And in 2023, Glenn owned the Micron coverage, breaking news and breaking down the science of this project.
“He plowed through a nearly 400-page document to find this surprise: the plant’s likely water and power needs were vastly greater than earlier estimates. That dominated the local discussion for months. He profiled the amazing history of Micron and the mercurial nature of the global chip business. He fact-checked the job estimates promised by government and the company, and he found that the claims were overstated. He broke the news that a Dutch company, a high-flying international giant, was a major partner joining the local Micron plan.
“These scoops and others focused the debate here in the first full year of planning for this transformational project. Glenn would publish a story and it would be discussed in public meetings that same day.”
John also mentioned his personal favorite story from Glenn in 2023, a departure from his typical beats. “He told the stirring tale of the birth of twin elephants at our zoo. It was surprising, dramatic and highly unusual. Glenn’s story, beautifully told, puts you in the room, with all the tension,” John recalled. “This vast range of engaging work in this key year in Syracuse shows what a treasure Glenn is.”
Our team was particularly excited to help celebrate our longtime Syracuse University men’s basketball reporters, Mike Waters and Donna Ditota, who were named to the Press Club’s Wall of Distinction this year, the club’s highest honor. Donna is a Syracuse native who played basketball at St. Bonaventure. She was hired as a regional sports reporter for The Post-Standard in 1986 and has written about most every sport, but she is most well-known for her SU coverage of her. Mike graduated from the University of North Carolina and was hired by the newspaper in 1989 to report on SU basketball.
While spending countless hours on the road together over the years, Mike and Donna have so many fun and crazy memories, which they recounted in their speeches on Saturday, but they’ve also earned the highest honors for their work. Both are in the US Basketball Writers Association’s Hall of Fame, and they have each earned New York Sportswriter of the Year awards from the National Sports Media Association.
The other awards we won were for everything from breaking news, editorial writing and restaurant reviews to podcast awards for our investigation into the unsolved murder of Carol Ryan and our Buffalo Bills “Shout!” show. “Will to Win,” our documentary on the 2003 SU men’s basketball national championship run, won first place in the “Video Show” category.
To see a list of all the winners, visit this page on the Syracuse Press Club website. We know this kind of award-winning work would not be possible without our subscribers, so thank you all for your continued support.
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