Big night for WISN 12 at 2016 Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Awards for Excellence

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WISN 12 had an incredible evening at Saturday’s Wisconsin Broadcasters Association awards gala.

As 2016 was the first year in my role as the station’s Digital Media Manager, I’m especially proud that we were named “Social & Digital Media Station of the Year.”

In addition to that “big one,” we also did very well in other Social & Digital Media categories:

  • 1st Place: Best Website
  • 1st Place: Best Use of User-generated Content
  • 3rd Place: Best Breaking News Coverage

My incredible colleague, Melinda Davenport, took home a 1st Place win for Best Personality: Social & Digital Media.

If you’ll allow me to opine, I suspect the Best Breaking News Coverage submission could have performed better had it not been for the relaunch of the public-facing WISN.com and the backend publishing system. A big component of our coverage that night and weekend of unrest was a live blog offering constant updates during a very tense and fluid situation (I was cited by both Buzzfeed and Twitter Moments). That content was lost by the time contest entries were submitted for consideration. I’m disappointed in myself that I didn’t export/archive that portion in some fashion.

The full list of winners is posted to the WBA site.

  • Milwaukee’s downtown area has seen a resurgence in recent years — both men vying to be the city’s next mayor agree on that — but each accused the other of not doing enough for residential neighborhoods.

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  • The two candidates for Milwaukee County Executive say the decision before voters comes down to continuing the momentum started over the last five years or ensuring “American-style checks and balances.”

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  • I’ll be attending these, and I’m excited to be able to do some in-person reporting again. It’ll be nice to get out of the newsroom.

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  • Outstanding

    I have to give credit where it’s due. I just love this new image campaign from WGN-TV. It’s really incredible imagery.  

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  • Reel: Winter 2016

    Reel: Winter 2016

    Note: LutzReport.com has been replaced with LTZ.fyi.

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  • O’Hare Bus Crash

    O’Hare Bus Crash

    At least 15 people were injured when a shuttle bus crashed on Interstate 190 near O’Hare Airport on the Friday before Labor Day.

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  • Convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, sentenced to death Wednesday for the 2013 attack, will spend at least a portion of his remaining days at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. The medium security federal correctional institution currently holds more than 1,300 inmates, according to its Federal Bureau of Prisons website. Executions there are…

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  • A Chicago boat owner said he wants to see extra security at Diversey Harbor, where he lives during the summer months, after coming home from a business trip early Friday and discovering the signs of an unwelcome guest. “I noticed right away there was all the bedding I had just cleaned a couple days ago…

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  • An Amtrak train collided Friday afternoon with a tractor-trailer carrying 70,000 pounds of bacon that was obstructing the tracks, officials said. The train was passing through Wilmington, southwest of Chicago, when it collided with a truck near Illinois Route 53 and River Road. The trailer of the truck was overturned and split open, with its contents…

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  • Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert made regular bank withdrawals below a limit that would require reporting and then lied to federal officials when asked about those withdrawals, according to a federal indictment handed down Thursday. The Department of Justice and IRS allege Hastert, 73, withdrew $1.7 million from various banks between 2010 to…

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