It's not an Emmy. But, we'll take it.

Acknowledgement for a job well done in Mr. News Readin's real newsroom is tough to come by.

Yes - we joke that he merely touches up the bronzer, straightens the tie, clears his throat a few times and reads the teleprompter to the masses. In actuality, he does quite a bit of work and a whole lot of schlepping around to gain interviews and sound bites for our viewing pleasure.

July is sweeps. This means all of a sudden you are watching in-depth reports on bus driver drug use and the dangers of pools in the backyards of foreclosed homes. The good stuff...

The NRH sweeps story covered the transport of coal fly ash from a spill area not far from here to a very poor county in Alabama. And we're not talking about one train car of this stuff. More like 1.1 billion gallons that will take an entire year to remove.

For this fine moment of reporting he was awarded - drum roll, please...
the Reporter of the Week!

Here is a snippet from his News Director's email, which he forwarded me (big mistake):

For the first time in a while I can officially call the Reporter of the Week a “landslide winner. “
Mr. News Readin is this week’s winner for his “Ash to Alabama” stories.

First I’d like to give Mr. NR credit for coming up with this idea as his one sweeps suggestion for July.
(Our guy thought it was that solid he only submitted one! My! The confidence...)

His co-workers wrote:

“Anyone who watched it won’t forget the line “smells like money.”
“Any journalist who can get a politician to sniff fly-ash on tape is pretty good.”
“He asked the right questions, made excellent points in his stand-ups."

Others receiving votes this week:
Jill for her second massage parlor bust story and her substitute teacher lawsuit story.
Whitney -- for her follow-up on the local church that burned down.

(I left that last part in because for some reason it made me laugh...)

We are so proud...Of course there was a celebratory dinner last night - consisting of beer and cheeseburgers by special request of the honoree.

If they made bumper stickers that said, "I'm the proud wife of a Reporter of the Week" - it would already be on the back of the Tahoe.

Stay tuned. More at 11.