Observer wins two Katies

Staff writers Miller, Rozen take awards for investigative, business-news stories

The Dallas Observer has won two Texas Katie Awards for outstanding journalistic achievement in the Dallas Press Club's annual statewide contest.

Announced at a November 11 ceremony, the Observer awards came in the major-market newspapers competition, open to all Texas newspapers, wire services, and news bureaus.

Observer staff writer Laura Miller won the investigative reporting prize for her "Arena Wars" series, uncovering the machinations behind the effort to bring Dallas a new sports arena. Miller's entry included three cover stories and six columns.

Staff writer Miriam Rozen won the award for best business news story. She was cited for her December 22 cover story, "The Crow-Qadhafi Connection." The piece detailed efforts by members of Dallas' mythic Crow real estate family to befriend the government of Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi, in hopes of unloading $200 million in real estate.

The Observer was also a finalist for seven other Katies.
The Dallas Morning News and WFAA-Channel 8 won the most Katies, with 13 apiece. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram won nine awards, including the Texas Legacy Award for its series on the family.

KDFW-Channel 4 won the Katie for best major-market newscast. The Irving News took the best non-daily newspaper prize. American Way won best magazine. And the Dallas Business Journal won the prize for best special interest newspaper.

The Met took two Katies. Marina Isola won the award for arts criticism in the major-market category, while Scott Kelton Jones won the feature prize for special interest newspapers.

Brad Tyer, a staff writer for the Observer's sister paper, the Houston Press, won the major-market prize for best arts feature.