Best Story About a Personal Tragedy
The physical and emotional pain of a miscarriage is a very personal matter, and only those who have shared the experience can fully understand the feelings involved. In a very moving report, Channel 19's Tricia Macke bared her soul by interspersing her own story with tales of other women who have suffered miscarriages. She offered new insight into an all-too-common tragedy and allowed viewers to know her as someone who's more than just a news anchor. While the story aired during November sweeps, Macke's classy handling of the subject matter prevented it from seeming exploitive.

Best Exploitation of a Personal Surgery
Channel 5's Lisa Cooney donated her kidney to a friend and subsequently shared her story with viewers. We don't want to downplay the importance of organ donation, but airing the story during February sweeps made Cooney's and Channel 5's motivation seem a little suspect. It was like some sick form of prostitution: organs for ratings. The whole thing was too self-congratulatory, trying to show off the humanitarian side of Cooney and in turn her employer.

Best Advertisement for a Local Restaurant
The low-budget Cactus Pear TV commercials in which the owner, Swamy (an East Indian who also owns Mayura next door), tries to pass himself off as Mexican. Hilarious.

Best Campaign Commercial
The Bob Bedinghaus action figures used by Todd Portune to mock his opponent.

Best Crap About a Flush
A female custodian at the Hamilton County Courthouse sued a Cincinnati Police officer for being a "potty Nazi." Sheila Williams accused the officer, Charles Taber, of arresting her simply because she wouldn't let him use a bathroom she'd closed for cleaning.

Best Saturday Night Local TV Show
The Zone on Channel 9. It's a Christian music show with lots of "uplifting" messages and is probably the best locally produced show we've seen in a while, possibly because it doesn't look local.

Best Sunday Morning Local TV Show
Hot Seat on Channel 9. The panel of regulars (Peter Bronson of The Enquirer, Kitty Morgan of Cincinnati Magazine, Eric Kearney of The Herald and Fred Nelson and Aaron Herzig of Civic Solutions) sounds off from all points on the political compass. And don't miss their best feature, "What They're Not Telling Us."

Best Springer Comparison Without the Strippers
Sportscaster Dennis Janson tries to do the Jerry Springer thing by stirring us up with his thoughts several nights a week on the Channel 9 news. Mostly feel-good material, but an intelligent opinion in the midst of local news fodder is a nice break.

Best Place to Sober Up
The Enquirer's comics page. The dreadful Pokemon was replaced by the totally bland James, which is not only unfunny, it's not even fun to look at.

Best Questionable Price Hike
Saturday's Cincinnati Post went up to 75 cents. There are no new sections, additional columns or writers: just the same ragtag Post we've been reading for years.

Best Loss to the Local Journalistic Community
The departure of the ever quotable, ever unpredictable Charlie Winburn, who quit Cincinnati City Council for a post with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission. Our council stories, and our fax machines, will never be the same.

Best Loss to the Hamilton County Community
Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus' defeat in November by Todd Portune, who became the first Democrat in 36 years to win a county commission seat. Throughout the contentious stadium-building process, from sales tax hike to Paul Brown Stadium cost overruns, Bedinghaus was openly disdainful of the public's role in spending their money. His arrogance - along with the Bengals' horrible record - helped turn county residents against the stadium projects.

Best Move to Keep the Public Ill-Informed
The decision by Clermont County Police to encrypt their scanners, thus shutting out the public from the inner workings of the police department. No longer can reporters, or the average Joe for that matter, listen in on emergency calls and the general discussions of cops on the airwaves. The move to buy the expensive encryption devices is ill-advised: Essentially, it's spending the public's money to shut the public out. Rarely is it a good idea for law enforcement to operate in secret.

Best Practical Thinker
Cincinnati City Councilman Pat DeWine seems to be getting things done in a practical, no-nonsense manner. He does it without much fanfare or self-congratulation. A Republican on council who sees the way? We're impressed!

Best Non-Campaign
Mayor Charlie Luken seems to have already won this fall's election for Cincinnati's first "strong mayor." He's scared off any competition by being largely noncommittal. We're trying to figure out what's so strong about that.

Best Friends to Animals
Those PETA girls sure know how to sell a message. First it was "Drink beer, not milk." Then the Lettuce Ladies showered the city with vegan awareness during the Big Pig Gig dressed in nothing but fake lettuce covering their, uh, buns. Most recently, Cincinnati got a glimpse of the Tiger Lady on a rather wet and cold February day clad in black undies and a sign covering her breasts to protest circuses that use animals.

Best Phone Forecasting
Here's the daily regime: Get up. Turn on the laptop. Make coffee. Call the Channel 9/Cincinnati Post weatherline and listen to Jessica Jameson purr her morning forecast like some 1-900 phone sex girl. Jameson's sultry voice is enough to make cold fronts and overcast skies sound provocative.

Best Reason Not to Watch the News
The "newscaster/reporter as news" trend. Pete Delkus breaks his leg, and Channel 9 sends out a camera crew. Channel 9 does a special report about a gunman who briefly took over its newsroom 20 years ago. Channel 19 gives an entire segment to on-air personalities Andy Trinen and Wendy Shaw after their wedding and honeymoon. And, as already mentioned, Channel 5's Lisa Cooney donates a kidney as a sweeps stunt.

Best Reason Not to Read the Paper
Newspaper industry magazine Editor & Publisher revealed the contents of the secret 1998 settlement between The Enquirer and Chiquita, making it clear that
to avoid costly litigation, the paper promised it would never again allow then-editor Larry Beaupre to print anything negative about Carl Lindner, his family or any of his companies. The paper also promised it would hunt down anyone in its own newsroom who had copies of stolen voice mails used in the original investigative series that blew up in The Enquirer's face, and that it would destroy all evidence collected for the series in 2003. Most unsettling in this debacle is that if a major local businessman can force The Enquirer to lay off negative coverage of of his company, then the paper could agree to do it again.

Best Motto You'll Never See Inscribed on an Enquirer Souvenir T-Shirt
The words "craven legacy," which is how a later Editor & Publisher editorial described The Enquirer's settlement agreement with Chiquita Brands International.

Best Helicopter Grounding
The retiring of the Fox 19 helicopter (due to it not being cost-effective) couldn't be a better move for the station. It gives traffic reporter Dan Carroll a permanent home in the studio. It's about time. Carroll is knowledgeable and accessible with a strong sense of humor that transforms into an appealing early morning repartee on Fox 19 in the Morning. Let's hope the copter grounding doesn't mean he'll be benched.

Best Guilty Pleasure
The best reason to request local Channel 25 from Time Warner Cable might be the cheesy syndicated fare like Blind Date, Sex Wars and Change of Heart.

Best Master of Ceremonies
Sister Jean "Cookie" Crowley, asked to be the honorary grand marshal of the city's 2001 St. Patrick's Day parade. The Sisters of Charity nun has spent her entire life working in local orphanages and with troubled youth. Sister Jean comes by her Irish roots honestly: The Price Hill resident and her family hail from County Cork, and her father founded Crowley's Irish bar in Mount Adams.

Best Reason to Kick Ourselves, Part 1
Letting Argosy Casino open across the border in Lawrenceburg, Ind. Thanks to the incredible success of the riverboat gambling operation, Argosy has fed more than $100 million in tax revenue to the tiny city (pop. 4,700). The town's entire annual operating budget was only $3.3 million a few years ago. Now the town is poised to build a convention center that will steal business from us. Nice going.

Best Reason to Kick Ourselves, Part 2
As Cincinnati struggles to provide vital services and fix delapidated public schools, city officials are proposing to spend $1 million on improvements at city-owned golf courses. It's questionable whether the city should even be in the business of running golf courses, a horrendously expensive recreational line item that serves primarily a middle class that can afford the renovation equipment involved.

Best Reason to Kick Ourselves, Part 3
While the city frets over how to build a convention center expansion west across I-75 and after Nordstrom pulled out on its deal after the land was cleared, the Regal Hotel between them remodeled. Expanding the convention center east to the hotel/ex-Nordstrom block could have killed multiple birds with one stone, but it's not going to happen now.

Best Reason to Kick Paul Daugherty
Sure, he's a wonderful sportswriter, but sometimes his Enquirer news column leaves us wondering. Like the time he totally jumped on the study that found men and women listen differently - men using one side of the brain while women using both - and called it an excuse for not listening. OK, if you're a regular guy you can say that and look stupid, but if you're a reporter, it's just unprofessional to say you don't listen well.

Best Scam Letter to an Advice Columnist
Psychologist Jill Bley worked herself into a frenzy after a reader asked her about a tongue-in-cheek organization called Citizens Against Breast Feeding.

Best Scam of the Media by the Media
WEBN, convincing The Enquirer that they were giving away $10,000 left by a devoted listener who had recently died. The paper, never letting the facts get in the way of a good story, jumped on the tale, even knowing the source, WEBN staffers, are famed practical jokers.

Best Way to Alienate Minorities
Cincinnati Police took the initiative to provide 24-hour protection for a cross erected by the Ku Klux Klan on Fountain Square. At least one crime victim ended up waiting for assistance, because police were busy watching the cross.

Best Exploitation of One's Own Child for Political Purposes
Restaurant owner Jeff Ruby refuted accusations of racism in connection with Ujima Cinci-Bration by offering photographs of his daughter on a date with a black youth.

Best Effort to Extend the First Amendment to Indian Hill
The United Steelworkers took their protest to the home of the chairman of AK Steel, only to be arrested for violating city ordinances against soliciting. Indian Hill dropped charges after the union threatened a civil-rights lawsuit.

Best Prediction Likely to Come True
Channel 9 weathercaster Larry Hanley bravely prophetized, "It looks like December will wrap up this weekend," in a weather report that aired Friday, Dec. 29.

Best Correction to Come Back to Haunt You
Wouldn't you think the one obituary that would get the most attention from Enquirer editors would be the one for Jim Behr? After all, for a quarter century, Behr was the staunchest stickler for detail and nit-picking critic of the local paper, a reader who pointed out grammatical and factual inaccuracies in daily phone calls. He'd even been named "honorary editor" of The Enquirer. Yet The Enquirer was forced to print correction upon clarification, running the obituary in its entirety not once, but twice, to atone for all the errors. Somewhere, Jim Behr is laughing.

Best Proof Cincinnati Has Too Many Rules
Prior to Riverfest, a celebration already laden with restrictions and prohibitions, the Cincinnati Police Division issued a statement reminding the public that no "liquid beverages" are allowed, finally closing the loophole that had allowed so many non-liquid beverages into the party.

Best Indicator Some Activists Have Too Much Free Time
PETA warned pet-owners that Riverfest fireworks can frighten cats and dogs, urging residents to keep pets inside, close the windows and "turn on a radio or TV to drown out the noise."

Best Way to Make Cops Look Stupid
When a grand jury indicted two Cincinnati Police officers in the death of a suspect, Keith Fangman, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said, "We no longer know the meaning of 'assault.' "

Best Street Theater
The Anarchist Cheerleaders who chanted revolutionary rants during protests against the TransAtlantic Business Dialogue in November. There's nothing like hippy chicks in short skirts performing rhymed vulgarities as police in riot gear glare menacingly.

Best Evidence Grassroots Activism Is Alive in Cincinnati
The protests against the TransAtlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) conference. The Coalition for a Humane Economy, a group cobbled together by like-minded social justice organizations in Greater Cincinnati, hosted teach-ins to educate people on globalization and the WTO. The Independent Media Center set up a mechanism for people to record and report on issues surrounding the TABD meeting. Protesters used creative tactics to get their message heard in downtown Cincinnati. Even the mainstream media played along, providing surprisingly even-handed coverage of the activists' issues.

Best Evidence Cincinnati Police Don't Get It
The police didn't quite play along with the anti-TABD activists, however. About 50 protesters were arrested, most of them during the weekend's final march, which, ironically, was against police brutality. About half of those arrested pled no contest to get out of jail, but of the half that requested a trial, not a single person was convicted in court. Three lawsuits have now been filed against the city for false arrests. And, on top of that, the police sent Coalition for a Humane Economy (CHE) a bill for $16,000 for providing a police presence. CHE has refused to pay.

Best Evidence Some of the Media Don't Get It
Of all the inaccurate reporting during the TABD conference and the protests surrounding it, Channel 19 takes the cake. They stated in one newscast that the protesters didn't know what they were protesting. This was based on comments from one interview, which hardly counts as fair and accurate reporting on a topic as global as the TABD. For every person who didn't understand the events going on around them, there were hundreds upon hundreds of others, braving cold weather and terrifying cops, who knew exactly the issues in question.

Best Evidence There Are Smart, Cultured People in Cincinnati
WAIF celebrated its 25th anniversary as Cincinnati's community radio station and even leaked word that it might be moving soon to new studios. Congratulations, Stepchild Radio!

Best Familiar Voice on a Public Station, Part 1
Brian O'Donnell, affectionately known as Brian O'D, maintained his presence Saturday mornings on WNKU, even though he cut back his day by a few hours. And he still does weekdays spinning the Classical hits on WGUC.

Best Familiar Voice on a Public Station, Part 2
It's great to hear Niki Dakota (Niki Buehrig) back on the air doing evenings and weekends on WNKU. One of the area's better singer-songwriters, she'd left town a few years ago as musicians tend to do, but now she's back. And, to their credit, WNKU has gotten her alter ego back on the air. Her smooth delivery, quirky sense of humor and obvious love of the Alt Country/Folk she plays are infectious.

Best Familiar Voice on a Public Station, Part 3
Every now and then, during a WVXU fundraiser, for instance, you'll catch a snippet of Ron Esposito's velvet fog voice and remember the halcyon days when he used to emcee the station's Audiosyncracies program. Ron's still active in town playing in bands and promoting concerts, but we miss his voice in the afternoons. Come back, Ron!

Best Reason to Wish Bill Cunningham Was Back in His Time Slot
His successor on the WLW night shift, J.R. Gach, is - if you can believe it - even more of a nutcase than Sick Willie. Most recently, he characterized the Japanese sailors killed by a U.S. submarine as "yellow monkeys." Gach makes hate-monger Cunningham resemble a Nobel Peace Prize candidate.

Best Substitute for Napster
One of the true measures of a great radio station has been whether a three-song series sounds like it came right off one of your mix tapes. 97X comes the closest to pulling that trick off on an hourly basis. And if you can't grab the Oxford signal, listening to the station's Web broadcast (www.woxy.com) works great.

Best Kept Secret
The name of the Cincinnati family that just dropped a cool million bucks into the creationist museum being built by the Answers in Genesis group in Florence. The $14-million Creation Museum and Family Discovery Center will open in 2002. The Answers in Genesis group holds the account of the creation in Genesis literally and dates the Earth to about 10,000 years old. Next door, look for the Earth Is Flat and Christopher Columbus Is a Fraud Museum, scheduled to open in 2003.

Best Job Switch, Win-Win Situation
Thom Collins, curator of contemporary art at the Cincinnati Art Museum, took the job of senior curator at the Contemporary Arts Center. Under the deal, the city doesn't lose one of its premier contemporary art experts, and the CAC gains some new vision as it ramps up construction of its new facility.

Best Job Switch, Lose-Lose Situation
Former Enquirer Editor Larry Beaupre took the managing editor's job at the Scranton (Pa.) Times. Beaupre couldn't land a job for more than a year after being ousted from The Enquirer and its parent company, Gannett, over the Chiquita mess. But having to take a job in Scranton is the new definition of living in media ignominy.

Best Example of Absurd Logic
The president of the Greater Cincinnati Health Council warned, in a recent Enquirer guest column, that local hospitals will be forced to reduce free medical care to the poor in the wake of recent financial losses. Consider this: There are no "for-profit" hospitals in Greater Cincinnati. Every single hospital enjoys tax-exempt status as a "non-profit" institution, which means they're charitable institutions that are required to serve the indigent in exchange for their precious tax-exempt status. The Council implied this mission is optional and that free care can somehow be reduced at will. The day that happens, maybe Bethesda, Mercy and Christ can begin paying their taxes. Just like Humana and other corporately owned hospitals. And just like the rest of us.

Best Mad Dreamer
Jungle Jim's owner, Jim Bonaminio, bought an extra two acres of land from the city of Fairfield so he can install the monorail system he purchased from Paramount's Kings Island. Bonaminio dreams of a Jungle Jim theme park around his giant grocery, which will include a Desert Storm military restaurant. Look for the monorail to go on line this summer.

Best Candidate to Hold a Supporting Role in a Scandal
The newly formed Port Authority. Think New York City docks. Think Jersey. Think On the Waterfront. Then think about how this "public" agency trusted with coordinating all future riverfront development tried to hold powwows behind closed doors. The Authority failed to notify the public and media of scheduled meetings to the point of holding board meetings in an inaccessible 29th floor executive suite of Cinergy Corp.

Best Names We're Sick and Tired of Hearing
Kate Pahls and Rodger Bingham. Pahls is the Mariemont woman who was one of 10 contestants on ABC's The Mole reality game show; Bingham of Crittenden, Ky., was a member of the CBS Survivor II team. No offense, but if we never read a fawning interview or see your scantily clad photograph in The Enquirer and The Post again, we could - if you'll excuse the expression - survive just fine.

Best Overlooked Accomplishment
The Fort Washington Way project. Yes, it was a royal pain to commuters. But the massive $314 million construction job came in relatively on time and on budget, with minimal man hours lost to accidents. In an era of outrageous cost overruns for stadiums and other massive public projects, the city transportation director, John Deatrick, and project manager, Fred Craig, deserve a hand.

Best Lawsuit by a Disgruntled Media Type
You wouldn't think this category would have much competition, but it does. Cases in point: Anchor Norma Rashid suing Channel 5. Ex-Enquirer Editor Larry Beaupre suing his former paper. Even Pat Minarcin, the television anchorman who blew the lid off the Donald Harvey murders at Drake, suing his TV station in Baltimore. Next thing you know, a certain Best of Cincinnati editor might have to sue his bosses for a better office with a view of Fountain Square. Hint, hint.

Best Political Prosecution
The case against Dr. Jonathan Tobias, assistant coroner at the Hamilton County Morgue who was indicted with photographer Thomas Condon. It turns out the county prosecutor, after saying Condon's photos of dead bodies were the most shocking thing he'd seen in 25 years of law enforcement, offered Condon a plea bargain to testify against Tobias. Clearly it's more important to convict the coroner office's scapegoat than to prosecute a "shocking" photographer.

Best Mike Brown Imitation
Cincinnati Bell threatened to move its headquarters out of downtown unless the city provides a solution to parking shortages. Operating the bus system apparently doesn't count.

Best Hope for Ending Corruption in Butler County
Prosecutor John Holcomb died.

Best Insult at a City Council Meeting
The two men who seem to delight in disrupting the meetings by calling Mayor Charlie Luken a "punk faggot."