An Eric Hanson (KCCI) Facebook post today shared the station has been awarded the National Headliner Award for 2023, and their first ever. The subject: The ISU Football team's Victory Day event. Here's part of the post, followed by a link to the video.
Last August, I shared this moment of Iowa State Football player Funto Akinshilo wiping drool from Colt Cosper's face before a picture. The two had just met as part of the football team's Victory Day. It's a chance for football players to spend an afternoon with special needs kids, letting them experience the locker room, score a touchdown and soak in the spotlight.
Colt's mom told me, "I was getting ready to take a picture of the two of them and Funto stopped me, because he noticed Colt has some drool on his chin. He wiped his chin and it was one of the sweetest moments I've ever experienced in my life."
That genuine love for a stranger is at the heart of the story KCCI photojournalist Cortney Kintzer and I shared about that day. "Victory Day" ran as part of a This is Iowa special last fall.
Well this week, we found out the story won KCCI's first ever National Headliner Award. It's a national award given to one feature story in America last year. Of all the feature stories told last year, this one connected with the East Coast judges for two reasons: the love that was on display and the way Cortney Kintzer captured those genuine moments as they unfolded.
I share this as proof that the kindness we see in moments all over Iowa is special and worthy of the spotlight we try to showcase in our This is Iowa stories. People across America notice. It spreads. And we are all better for it. So congratulations on being a state where these moments are a way of life.
You can (re)watch the video here.
Last August, I shared this moment of Iowa State Football player Funto Akinshilo wiping drool from Colt Cosper's face before a picture. The two had just met as part of the football team's Victory Day. It's a chance for football players to spend an afternoon with special needs kids, letting them experience the locker room, score a touchdown and soak in the spotlight.
Colt's mom told me, "I was getting ready to take a picture of the two of them and Funto stopped me, because he noticed Colt has some drool on his chin. He wiped his chin and it was one of the sweetest moments I've ever experienced in my life."
That genuine love for a stranger is at the heart of the story KCCI photojournalist Cortney Kintzer and I shared about that day. "Victory Day" ran as part of a This is Iowa special last fall.
Well this week, we found out the story won KCCI's first ever National Headliner Award. It's a national award given to one feature story in America last year. Of all the feature stories told last year, this one connected with the East Coast judges for two reasons: the love that was on display and the way Cortney Kintzer captured those genuine moments as they unfolded.
I share this as proof that the kindness we see in moments all over Iowa is special and worthy of the spotlight we try to showcase in our This is Iowa stories. People across America notice. It spreads. And we are all better for it. So congratulations on being a state where these moments are a way of life.
You can (re)watch the video here.
