BJ excellence awards

Four staffers from the newsroom and an advertising supervisor were among 11 who won 2005 Akron Beacon Journal excellence awards. They are:

Mary Beth Breckenridge, news, for Journalism Excellence. A champion of good news, Breckenridge brings an extraordinary eye to ordinary topics writing Your Home features, seasonal home and garden sections, and the Good Neighbors profiles. On her beat for 10 years, she is as fresh as her first day on the job.

Tim Good, news, for Journalism Excellence. According to co-workers and managers alike, Good excels in every aspect of his profession -- rim editing, slotting, trimming wires, creating story budgets, writing headlines, and designing hard news pages, feature pages and special sections. A great example of quiet excellence, Good was the principal designer for the inaugural edition of Outlook, the newspaper’s annual economic overview of the region.

Betty Lin-Fisher, news, for journalism excellence. One of the newspaper’s most followed writers, consumer columnist Lin-Fisher is readers’ “Homework Helper” Thousands count on her advice before choosing suppliers for natural gas, electricity, cell phones, banks and other products and services. Her personal, easily understandable style and meticulous reporting help readers become better, smarter consumers.

Mitch McKenney, news, for Journalism Excellence. Colleagues describe him as a “reporter’s dream” for his innate ability to place the right people on the right story assignment and then give them the freedom to do their best. He headed the effort to create the annual Discover community guide. The three issues published so far have generated a combined revenue of more than $640,000.

Phillip White, advertising, for General Excellence. As advertising systems supervisor, White is always looking for a better way to do things. He was a driving force behind the launch of six major products in as many months, including two glossy magazines and a new weekly newspaper. He is known buildingwide as the “go-to” guy for getting things done.