Ohio Valley Outdoors Magazine

Outdoor Writers of Ohio honor OVO,
others at Spring Conference

DELLROY, OH — Atwood Lake Resort hosted the 69th Annual Outdoor Writers of Ohio Spring Conference in April with several Ohio Valley Outdoors contributors attending — and winning awards.
OVO garnered one of the top honors by winning one of five “Outstanding Media Achievement” awards for exemplary accomplishments in outdoor communications in the state of Ohio in 2007. OVO Publisher/Editor Larry Claypool accepted the award. Other winners were: Vicki Ervin, Ralph Ramey, Melissa Hathaway and Fred Snyder. The awards were presented by OWO President Celeste Baumgartner and Awards Chairperson Jamie Kochensparger.
Several of OVO’s writers/contributors claimed awards at the conference. Ed and Joanne Moody won the Lou Klemer Award for their dedicated service to OWO (Ed is OVO’s Ohio Field Editor and OWO board member and Joanne is OWO’s Lore newsletter editor); John Hageman placed second in the ‘Best Magazine Article’ category and Kelly Riesen placed first in the ‘Best How-to Article’ category.
Also honored at the OWO conference was the Leetonia Sportsman’s Club of Leetonia, Ohio for its efforts in supporting youths and the outdoors through its annual Kid’s Day event. Tom Butch, coordinator of Leetonia Sportsman’s Club Kid’s Day, accepted the Bruce Dawson Award, which was presented by Chip Hart of OWO, Bill King, ODNR Supervisor and Scott Angelo, Columbiana County ODNR Wildlife Officer. The Leetonia Sportsman’s Club is located in Columbiana County.
The Kid’s Day event has been hosted by the Leetonia Sportsman’s Club for more than 30 years. “It began in 1976 with 12 kids and grew to 607 last year,” said Butch, who’s been chairman of the Kid’s Day event since 1989.
OWO presented awards in 19 categories, including: print, broadcast and Internet media, photography and overall communications achievement.
Tom Cross, chairman of the State Record Fish Awards, presented a new state record plaque to Brent McGlone of Toledo, who arrowed a 11.21 pound sucker in the bowfishing division. McGlone’s 31.5-inch fish was taken from the Maumee River.