Regional television news staffers were honored last weekend with local Emmys, as WBFF-TV and Maryland Public Television received the most awards from the Baltimore area.
MPT took top awards in five categories: program segments (producer Violet Carberry), public service announcements (producer Frank Batavick), children's programs (producer Carol Jackson), photography (videographer Tom O'Connor) and host (Bob Heck, better known as "Bob the VidTech").
WBFF, Baltimore's Fox station, won honors for best newscast - but it achieved that honor in a category limited to "medium market," so it faced competition only from other Baltimore stations. The Washington newscasts were judged separately in that category.
WBFF-TV also won or shared awards for feature story (reporter Jeff Abell), news writing (reporter Emily Schmidt, now with WUSA-TV in Washington), daily news story (reporter and anchor Craig Demchak) and spot news (photojournalist Bryan Barr).
Director Don Horner of WBAL-TV won his station's two awards, one for his editing and another for his direction of coverage of the Preakness Stakes last spring.
Reporter Derek Valcourt of WJZ-TV shared a local Emmy for a news story turned around in a single day. And reporter Sherri Johnson of WMAR won for a daily feature story.
The Capital-area chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences held a ceremony last weekend in Washington to announce the awards publicly.
