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Larry Craig, Ryan Craig honored at Al Smith Awards Dinner

Al Smith and the Craig family.

The Al Smith Awards were presented to the late Larry Craig of Butler County, former owner of the Green River Republican of Morgantown, and Ryan Craig, owner of the Todd County Standard of Elkton, on October 12 in Lexington. These awards recognize public service through community journalism by current or former Kentuckians.

 

At the awards dinner, Al Smith, who owned weekly newspapers in Kentucky and Tennessee and was the founding host of KET’s “Comment on Kentucky,” spoke of Larry Craig’s life and work in journalism. Larry Craig worked in journalism for three decades, taught journalism at Western Kentucky University, was past president of the Kentucky Press Association, and was inducted into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame in 1994. A video of Larry Craig speaking about journalism and events of the time was also shown. Smith concluded: “The people in rural America deserve journalists who can tell their readers about education, healthcare, the environment and economic development and their government—and make sense of it all, bringing transparency to every issue. The Institute, through UK and our leader Al Cross, also champions to urban America the concerns of more than 60 million rural Americans. A tall order. That’s why we honor the Craigs tonight.”

 Next David Hawpe, retired editor of The Courier-Journal, spoke about his friendship with Craig: “He left a lasting impression on all of us who knew him. He certainly left the silhouette of his influence on me…impressed on me by his example of compassion and courage, wit and wisdom, hutzpah and humility.” Patty Craig, wife of the late Larry Craig, accepted the award for the Craig family.

 

Jennifer Brown and Tom Eblen, representing The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, introduced Ryan Craig, speaking of his journalistic contributions. Ryan accepted his award.  Another award, The Tom and Pat Gish Award, will be presented to Art Cullen, of the Storm Lake (Iowa) Times, at the Iowa Newspaper Association convention on February 2, 2018.

 

The Bluegrass Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalism (SPJ) presents the Al Smith award in conjunction with The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues (IRJCI). The Bluegrass Chapter of the SPJ was founded in 1909 and is perhaps the largest organization of journalists in the United States. The IRJCI is part of the School of Journalism and Media in the University of Kentucky, College of Communication and Information, under the leadership of Al Cross, IRJCI Director and University of Kentucky tenured associate professor.

 Summer, Julie, Patty, and Paige

The late Larry Craig was married to Patty Craig of Morgantown, and they have three daughters: Julie Blanford (John) of Morgantown, Summer Hines (Will) of Hartford, and Paige McKinney (Brian) of Morgantown. They also have seven grandchildren: Garrett and Will Blanford; Hope Watkins (Cameron), Faith, Cameron and Sophie Hines; and Morgan McKinney.

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