Those of you who are long-time Oregonians know that former Governor Tom McCall was the first reporter here at KGW Northwest NewsChannel 8. As a reporter here in the 1950s and 60s, he was the first person to dramatize the pollution problems in the Willamette River. He then went on to become governor and one of the most important people in Oregon history.

For the past six years, we have been honoring a journalist in our news room with an award named after Tom McCall. We give this award to the person who during the past year shows a strong commitment to Northwest NewsChannel 8, to community service and to high journalistic standards - all qualities embodied by Tom McCall. The personn is selected from nominations made by members of the News Department. In the past five years, we have given the award to Reporters John Becker and Kyle Iboshi, to Photographers Kurt Austin and Scott Williams and to Special Projects Manager Ray Fanning.

Today we announced that Anchor Laural Porter was our Tom McCall Award winner this year. During the past year Laural has produced several great stories, written stories nearly every night for the 5 p.m. newscast (often anchor stories that led our 5 p.m. news) and she co-anchored our 6:30, 10 and 11 p.m. newscasts. She did one story about a local man - a former hockey color announcer - that underwent a sex change operation. The story won a national award from the National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association. Last summer she did a multi-part series on the horrific living conditions at the Oregon State Metnal Hospital. Then, in November, she did an emotional story about a 50-year-old woman boxer who nearly died from blows she received in her debut boxing match and about the other woman boxer in the ring that night.

Besides her journalism, Laural demonstrated great commitment to making Portland, Oregon and Southwest Washington better places to live. For the past two years she has organized a team for the Komen Race for the Cure to raise money for cancer research. She is an honorary chair for the Komen Race for the Cure. She also made many other public appearances in the community on behalf of NewsChannel 8. Just this month she has volunteered time each Saturday to appear at our Toy Drive drop-off locations.

At NewsChannel 8 we are very proud of our journalistic legacy in this community. We are very proud of the fact that Tom McCall once graced our channel as a tough-nosed reporter. Each day we try to live up to that legacy by producing the best television news in the area. We are lucky to have many talented and hard-working journalists who continue to maintain McCall's high standards. The Tom McCall Award gives us a chance each year to recognize one of these fine journalists and to keep the flame of Tom McCall's legacy burning.
Rod Gramer
Executive News Director