Celebrate public affairs journalism in Minnesota with the announcement of the best of public affairs reporting at the Premack Awards. Named after legendary reporter Frank Premack, the award ceremony celebrates its 35th year.

In addition to the journalism award winners announcement there will be an honoring of Graven award winner Dave Pyle of the Minnesota Associated Press and Farr award winner Lynda McDonnell of the Minnesota teen reporting project ThreeSixty.

The evening will be capped with a keynote by the Pulitzer Prize winning founder of PolitiFact, Matt Waite, about the evolving role of public affairs reporting.

Come to the ceremony to find out who the panel of Premack judges selected as the winner among the following finalists:

Opinion Writing: Large Organization category

• "Capitol Doors Swing Open" by Jon Tevlin of the Star Tribune
• "Protest teen victims in sex trafficking"  by Scott Gillespie of the Star Tribune
• "UCare donation raises questions" by Jill Burcum the Star Tribune

Opinion Writing: Small Organization category

• “Law would endanger teen health” by Kathy Vos of The Free Press
• “With marriage amendment, no one wins” by Randy Krebs of the St. Cloud Times
• “Sauk Rapids pledge seeks to hide facts from public” by Randy Krebs of the St. Cloud Times

Public Affairs Reporting: Broadcast/online category

• “Tough Economy Forcing More Children Into Homelessness” by Jeff Olsen and Rena Sarigianopulos of  KARE-11  
• “Welfare Waste” by Mark Albert, Mike Maybay, Erik Altmann, Jim O’Connell and Lee Zwiefelhofer of KSTP-TV
• “Minnesota: Weak on Bullying” by Tom Weber and Bill Wareham of Minnesota Public Radio

 Public Affairs Reporting: Print/Online, Large Organization category

• “Notorious Landlords” by Elizabeth Mohr and MaryJo Webster of the St. Paul Pioneer Press
• “The Reckoning: Minnesota Confronts Its Budget Crisis” by Curt Brown, Baird Helgeson, Pam Louwagie, Kelly Smith, Jim Spencer, David Phelps, Jennifer Bjorhus, Brand Schrade and Warren Wolf of the Star Tribune
• “Violated: Abuse of the Aged and Vulnerable in Minnesota” by Brad Schrade of the Star Tribune

 Public Affairs Reporting: Print/Online, Small Organization category

• “The Banishing: Terrorized by the Native Mod, an Indian Tribe turns to an ancient punishment” by Andy Mannix of City Pages
• “Minnesota Sex Offender Program” by Brandon Stahl of the Duluth News Tribune
• “Bullying gay and lesbian kids: How a school district became a suicide contagion area” by Beth Hawkins of MinnPost

Visit http://premackaward.org/finalists/ to review the entries and vote for the one you think is best.

Schedule:

Reception:                 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Awards Program:     6:00 pm - 6:45 pm

Matt Waite lecture:    6:45 pm - 7:30 pm