KATY: AWARDS WARS

Some newspeople in Dallas and Fort Worth are so put out with the Dallas Press Club’s Katy Awards that they’d just as soon cudgel ol’ Katy as attend her 23rd annual awards banquet this year.

This recent rift among the daily press in the Dallas area stems from what some say was a deliberate effort to stack the deck in favor of Times Herald scribes, editors and photographers. Why else, they reason, would the Morning News not receive official notice of the contest until four days before deadline? They quickly point to Katy Awards Committee chairman Bill McKenzie, who, yes, just happens to work for the Times Herald.

McKenzie remains unflappable in his defense against such charges, and even cites six specific instances when contest rules and regulations were mailed to individual staffers at the News. “That was about three times more than any of the other organizations received.”

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, however, grew disenchanted with the Katy Awards earlier this year and in March ended its two-year fling with Katy. Executive Editor Jack Tinsley described the affair as “half-assed” and said it was pitifully lacking in organization and professionalism.

McKenzie remains stoic through it all.

“I’m pretty much like the armadillo. They’ll be throwing barbs at me, but not too many of ’em will stick.”