Will Katie Awards Be Continued ?

It looks like Elizabeth Albanese may have done more damage to the Katie Awards than originally thought. The Katie Award was once regarded as a prestigious accolade for those lucky enough to win one, but now many respectable news organizations in the six-state area (Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana) are wondering if the awards even have a future.

Winners at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram are planning to return their awards, and the Associated Press is considering doing the same thing. The managing editor of the Houston Chronicle says a recent Katie is not something their reporters would put on a resume.

Other large news organizations such as the Austin American-Statesman, The Oklahoman and the Arkansas Democrat are considering withdrawing their participation in the annual awards event.

This is very bad news for the Katie Awards, given annually by the Dallas Press Club. If these large news organizations refuse to submit entries, the future of the Katies would be very much in doubt. In fact, the Dallas Press Club has not decided whether to hold the 2007 awards or not.

It seems that Ms. Albanese may have rigged more than just the 2006 awards. The Dallas Press Club is now also investigating whether the awards were also rigged by Albanese in 2005 and possibly 2004 also. So far, they have been unable to find who the judges were for any of these three years.

As for Albanese, it seems that she received as many as 10 Katie Awards over this three year period! Is there anyone out there who believes she won 10 of the awards in a fair and impartial judging? I doubt it.

It also now comes out that she had used for personal purposes about $10,000 of the Dallas Press Club's money, which she has now paid back. It has also been confirmed that she has a criminal history of fraud and theft. She has claimed to have a Harvard degree (not true) and claimed to be a former New York Times reporter (also not true) among numerous other false claims.

I have to wonder just how she came to be in such a position of power with the Dallas Press Club. You wouldn't need to be a great investigative journalist to find these things out - most of them could have been uncovered with a few phone calls.

But that aside, she was put in that position of power, and her self-congratulatory dishonesty may have destroyed a once honored and prestigious award. It's just a damn shame!