2023 Mike Quinn Awards Luncheon

Name: 2023 Mike Quinn Awards Luncheon — Headliners Foundation
Start: 2023-10-14T11:00:00-0500
End: 2023-10-14T13:30:00-0500

Saturday, October 14, 2023
11:00 AM 1:30 PM 11:00 13:30

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Celebrating Texas Journalism

On Saturday, October 14th, Foundation supporters gathered at the Headliners Club in Austin to celebrate our 2023-24 scholarship recipients and Texas' best journalists. Record attendance and an extraordinary panel discussion featuring Uvalde Leader-News owner and publisher Craig Garnett, helped to make this our most successful Quinn luncheon to date.

19 inspiring student journalists, many of whom brought family members, were on hand to be recognized as scholarship recipients for the 2023-24 academic year. Foundation Vice Chair and Academic Excellence Committee Chair Patti C. Smith introduced the Scholars, who spoke about their interest in journalism and plans for the future.

Professional Excellence Committee member Kathleen McElroy presented the Charles E. Green and Showcase Awards to journalists from across the state for outstanding work produced in 2022. Journalists from ten different media outlets were honored at the luncheon as the best of the best in Texas journalism. Their winning entries are posted on our website here and here.

Tony Plohetski, this year's Charles E. Green Award winner for Best Reporter in both print and broadcast categories, moderated the Keynote conversation with Craig Garnett, who discussed the challenges of leading his newsroom through the horrific shooting at Robb Elementary in 2022.

Many thanks to Foundation Board Chair Patti Ohlendorf for serving as the emcee, and to Patti Smith and Kathleen McElroy for participating in the program. Special thanks to Craig Garnett and Tony Plohetski, and to the Austin American-Statesman for sponsoring the printed program. Our sincerest appreciation to all luncheon attendees, our scholarship recipients and award-winners. We are grateful for your support and hope you enjoyed the event!

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Featured Speakers

Craig Garnett, owner and publisher of the Uvalde Leader-News since 1989, writes news stories, commentary and editorials for which he has won numerous awards from the Texas and South Texas Press associations. A graduate of Southern Methodist University with a degree in economics, Garnett worked for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Kansas City Star before moving back in Texas. In 2023, he received the TPA's Frank W. Mayborn award for community leadership and the University of Kentucky's Tom and Pat Gish Award for courage.

Tony Plohetski is a national award-winning journalist whose reporting spans print, digital and television platforms. He joined the Austin American-Statesman in 2000, and since 2013, he has worked in partnership with KVUE, Austin’s ABC affiliate, where he is the station’s senior reporter. Plohetski was a lead contributor to the Statesman’s coverage of the 2022 Uvalde school shooting that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize gold medal for public service, and his work for the Statesman and KVUE received multiple other national and state awards. Most notably, he was the first journalist nationally to obtain a video that captured police breakdowns in the hallway of Robb Elementary School and dismantled a false tale of law enforcement heroism.