This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, June 23, 2009 - Beacon political reporter Jo Mannies has won two national first place awards from the National Federation of Press Women for reporting she did for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Reporter Kathie Sutin won for work in the Beacon.
Jo won one award for reporting on the controversial handling of e-mails by former Gov. Matt Blunt's staff. The issue was whether the electronic records were being preserved in accordance with state law and were being properly released to the public and press. She also reported on the lawsuit filed by Blunt staff member Scott Eckersley, who contended he was fired after warning that the e-mail records were not being properly released or preserved.
Jo also was recognized for presidential coverage, including analysis of what it takes to win in Missouri and reporting on candidate Barack Obama.
Jo was the Post-Dispatch's lead political reporter for many years. She retired from the paper and started work for the Beacon early this year.
Freelance reporter Kathie Sutin, who writes frequently for the Beacon, also won awards from the federation for her work with the Beacon. Kathie won two first place awards for web coverage - one for a story about Metro service cuts, another for coverage of a family's battle with cancer. In the travel category, she won for articles published in the AAA Traveler magazines.