ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Sunday, May 19, 1996                   TAG: 9605200089
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: B-7  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH
SOURCE: Associated Press 

WSLS WINS TV NEWS AWARD ROANOKE STATION NAMED YEAR'S OUTSTANDING NEWS OPERATION

WSLS (Channel 10) in Roanoke was named Saturday as Virginia's Outstanding News Operation of the Year for television by the Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters.

The award to the NBC affiliate came at the group's annual conference.

WRVA-AM in Richmond was named Outstanding News Operation among metro radio stations, while WINA-AM/WQMZ-FM, Charlottesville, won the top honor in nonmetro radio.

Metro includes all radio stations located in or licensed to a city with a population of 50,000 or more. Nonmetro includes radio stations in cities with fewer than 50,000 residents.

Individuals recognized for outstanding effort were Craig Butterworth of WRVA-AM in Richmond, Chris Callahan of WINA-WQMZ and Andy Fox of WAVY-TV in Portsmouth.

The Douglas Southall Freeman Award went to WWBT-TV in Richmond, WRVA and WINX-FM in Warrenton. The award recognized the stations for the most effective reporting in the public interest.

In all, the VAPB awards honored work in nine radio categories and 11 television categories, including news, sports, features, photography, documentaries and editorials.

WAVY-TV won first place for sports coverage. WRVA and WINA won in the radio divisions.

WRVA captured the most honors, taking home seven first-place awards.

Other Virginia stations receiving first-place awards include Lynchburg's WSET (Channel 13) for spot news coverage of 1995's floods; WVEC-TV in Norfolk for a documentary on wasteful spending; and WINC-AM/FM, Winchester, for its spot coverage of the slaying of 12-year-old Valerie Smelser.

The broadcasters group honored three stations with the Frank H. Fuller Award, named after a former Virginia Associated Press bureau chief and given for outstanding news contributions to the wire service. The winners were WINX, WFLS-AM/FM in Fredericksburg and WSLS. The stations contributed a total of 1,181 stories to the AP in 1994.

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