nllilll Seigenthuler lluiurd for
Excellence in local Television

first PIIIIE Presenteiltn "IIuds,” lessiru lllin, Illtllll-Tll

BY JOHN SCAGLIOTTI

CAX News Director
Marselis Parsons is
quite proud that one of
his youngest producer/reporters
has won a national award. “Im-
pressive” was the word used by
Parsons in describing the news
that Jessica Abo won first place.
for the National Lesbian and
Gay Journalist Association/Sei-
genthaler Excellence in Local
Television Award. Abo’s award-
winning news story, “Dads,” was
part of a series of reports re-
cently broadcast by Burlington’s
WCAX—TV on various forms of
adoption taking place in and
around Vermont.

As the title of the second of
four WCAX reports indicates,
“Dads” is about the “non-tradi-
tional” adoption of a young girl
named Cheyenne and her baby
brother Takoda by two Vermont
gay men, Craig Stevens and
James LaPierre. In the piece, we
hear from not only the fathers,
but also the birth mother, Karen.
Abo'asks Karen what she will
tell her children Why she con-
sented to have them adopted
by Stevens and LaPierre. “It’s
going to be hard telling them
why I did it. That’s going to be
the hard part,” says Karen. Abo
continues, “And what will you
say?” Karen replies, “I did it be-
cause I wanted to do what’s best
for you and I love you and I’m
sorry I couldn’t give you what
you needed.” In_ the piece, Karen
adds strong praise for Stevens
and LaPierre, “I like them a lot.
They’re good parents.”

Jessica Abo flew out to

 

. Chicago's famous Palmer House

to personally receive her NLGJA
award November 8th. In the
Windy City she was greeted by
warm applause and congratula-
tions by hundreds of her joumal-
ist peers who had gathered from
across the nation to be part of
the awards ceremony. '

Abo told OI TM that she was
“ecstatic to win an award from
the gay journalists association.” .
Abo said she told the audience,
“When I was in college, deter-

Q mined to be a good journalist,

I took all types of courses,

like American History of Gays -
and Lesbians, so I could better
understand the communities I
would be covering. And now to
receive this award from NLGJA,
well, it is extremely touching

and beyond beinghonored.”

The excitement of the award
also spread to her parents, who
flew up from Pennsylvania to
celebrate with Abo at the awards

‘ ceremony.

 

Jessica Abo

News Director Parsons was
also pleased with the results,
especially when the piece was
put on the WCAX webpage. “It
received an incredible amount of
hits, more than 5,000,” he said.
The record before that time had

' been a piece on Hooters, which

came in at 200 hits.
Abo was pleased that she did

' not receive any negative emails

about her reporting and that
the “Dads” in the piece, Craig
and James, called and told her

 
 
  
   
     

how much they appreciated her
work. Abo added, “I promised
them that the piece would not be
so much about them being gay _
but about them being parents.”

NLGJA is an organization of
journalists, media profession-
als, educators and students who
work within the news industry
to foster fair and accurate cov-
erage of LGBT issues. NLGJA
opposes all forms of workplace
bias and provides professional
development to its members. It
has more than 1,300.members
around the nation.

NLGJA’s Excellence in Jour-
nalism Awards was established
in -1993 to foster, recognize and
reward excellence in journalism
on issues related to the LGBT
community. < ‘

In addition to A_bo’s award
this year, other awards included
first place in Network Television
to Lesley Stahl at CBS News’-
60 Minutes for a piece entitled
“Gay or Straight?” The first
place Winner of the Sarah Pettit‘
Memorial for Excellence in

‘LGBT media went to Melinda Lo,

AfterEllen.com. V

John Scagliotti, a
documentary filmmaker

living in Guilford, is head of
the documentary caucus at
NLGJA and a former recipient
of an NLGJA Excellence in
Journalism Award. I

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