The Award-winning Hook
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Lisa Provence, Dave McNair, Hawes Spencer, Courteney Stuartjen fariello -
Former art director Mitchell Jarrett, editor Hawes Spencer, and reporter Lindsay Barnes after the Hook won the top award at the Virginia Press Association banquet in 2007 in Norfolk.photo by courteney stuart
Earlier this year, the Hook won the state's top journalism award for its coverage of the attempted ouster of UVA President Teresa Sullivan last year. It is the third time the Hook has won the coveted prize for Journalistic Integrity and Community Service, given to only two newspapers every year at the Virginia Press Association's annual award ceremony.
“Aggressive inquisitiveness beyond a daily’s or even a weekly’s normal scope produced unusual facets of the story that went uncovered by other news outlets," said the judge's statement. "This includes pursuit of angles that, while risky, opened the aperture for the audience."
In 2006, the Hook won the top prize for a package of unrelated stories, including the "12-step" rape apology case, the shooting of a pet cat, and for the coverage, penned mostly by Lisa Provence, of the so-called "school bombing plot," which a VPA judge lauded as our "shining crown jewel."
In 2008, the top award came as the result of our coverage of the controversial water proposal plan, penned mostly by former Hook editor and founder Hawes Spencer.
Since 2003, the Hook staff has won a total of 149 VPA awards. Not bad.
14 comments
Going to miss reading the HOOK!!! Thank you for being the voice of Charlottesville
Good lord, guys, if you have to keep reminding people of how great you think you are -- right up until they come to carry out your phones and your computers -- then I'd say there's a good chance you're NOT as great as you think you are. Rest in peace, already.
The Hook will be missed by many. Thanks for the years of work in informing Charlottesville about so many things. Some controversial, some not, but I always felt the pull to know what's inside.
Good Luck to All at the Hook. Green pastures are ahead.............
Trouble not the grass for five months
All this death bed back patting is really sad. It's a cute little paper that I have enjoyed on occasion, but good lord almighty, if The Hook was as amazing as their few employees seem to believe, why is it going out of business?
Nothing quite so awkward as someone announcing their awesomeness to the world, and being rather ignored. Maybe if the reporting was based more on all the facts instead of just the ones the reporter found convenient, more people would have taken them seriously.
I will miss the Hook, it was a different and more off the path look at the news. I moved to the Smith Mountain Lake area 3 years ago and it wasn't available in print form here. I did look for it whenever passing through the C'Ville area and kept up with it on line. I find it ironic that people come to the page and post how they won't miss the Hook, or ridiculing it for going "out" the way they see fit in the commentary section. It was always an interesting read. best of luck to you all.
@Ugh,
Is that you, Cathy?
@Clarice
Bill?
Great paper that pushed our daily and its bulky weekly competitor to take seriously the news and events in Cville. Thanks to Hawes, Lisa, and Courteney, original HooKers, for their years of service to our community in telling stories that were not easily approached or discerned. I guess I will need to find a new home web page. Sad but grateful.
Oh well, desdemona. You know how these things go. There will always be the naysayers. Can't please all of the people all of the time.
"Maybe if the reporting was based more on all the facts instead of just the ones the reporter found convenient, more people would have taken them seriously."
That about sums it up. Problem is, we take others seriously when we shouldn't, and we don't take them seriously when we should.
It's not the same as a retraction. If I didn't let it go, than where's the court file? Sometimes we get it right too.
Hardly cute.
Story about why it is ending has nothing to do with its success but more with both it and the other weekly being owned by same entity. That entity made the wrong choice. Compared to the Hook, all of the other media covering Charlottesville, including the TV stations, are lazy suck-ups to those issuing press releases--easier to just print those and go off and have a beer. They have no interest or desire to look at the truth and dig deeper, and what they produce is pablum. I will miss the HOOK!
Oh, yeah. Phil Collins solo. That's right.
I remember when this happened, I was in the seventh grade I believe. I do remember how traumatic it was for everyone even though I was too young to know him. What I do remember is a song that played on the radio a lot at that time, it was by Ruby and the Romantics and the name of it was Our Day Will Come. Sounds a little ironic doesn't it. I attended Rock Hill for five years and this unsolved mystery was never far from anyone's mind. I think everyone would like closure, it is a shame that his family never knew the truth.