KARE, Gannett’s NBC affiliate in Minneapolis-St. Paul, won for local broadcast station. The judges cited its coverage of the marriage equality debate, calling KARE’s reporting “fair, balanced and deeply personal.” WBNS in Columbus received a special commendation for citizen engagement. Denver’s KUSA was the winner of the Cronkite/Jackson Prize for Fact Checking Political Messages, a category that was just introduced to the awards this year.

• Related, TVNewser: ABC News, CNN Win Cronkite Awards

Two reporters were honored for individual achievement at a local broadcast station. Marshall Zelinger, a content producer and presenter at KMGH in Denver, won for his “clarity of presentation” and “modern production techniques.” Tom McKee, a reporter at WCPO in Cincinnatti, received the special commendation for citizen engagement for his his extensive fieldwork. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Bill Close

Close, who KSAZ calls “the Walter Cronkite of Phoenix,” was best known for an on-air incident in 1982 when a gunman entered the KOOL studios and held Close and his camera man, Louie Villa, hostage for five hours. Close negotiated with the gunman and read a “rambling” statement from him. The gunman eventually surrendered.

Watch KSAZ’s look back at his life after the jump. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

As an 11-year-old, David Ushery, WNBC‘s weekend anchor, hosted a Saturday morning children’s show on WFSB called “Kidsworld.” Ushery interviewed Walter Cronkite (video above) in 1979.

Cronkite told Ushery about his beginnings in the business — starting as editor of his high school newspaper — and talks about his ideal qualities in a newscaster: “a person with a sense of curiosity, with a desire to work and an ability, a physical and mental ability, to work long hours with a high degree of intensity.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

As Scott Pelley prepares to take the “CBS Evening News” anchor desk, he will continue what is becoming a Texas legacy at the position.

Iconic CBS newsman Walter Cronkite grew up in Houston and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. Dan Rather, Cronkite’s successor, was also a native of Texas and attended Sam Houston State University in Huntsville. Veteran CBS News anchor Bob Schieffer was born in Austin and graduated from Texas Christian University. Pelley is a San Antonio native and a graduate of Texas Tech.

He began his TV career at Lubbock’s KSEL in 1975 and quickly moved on to Dallas-Fort Worth, where he worked for KXAS and eventually WFAA. During his seven years at WFAA, Pelley caught the attention of CBS News and eventually accepted a job with the network in 1989.

“He was a good guy and a real pro,” remembers Texas media blogger Jim McNabb “You knew that he was bound for bigger things. He had the voice, the looks, the brains, and the talent.”

> Related: Rather tells TVNewser‘s Gail Shister: Pelley “burns with the hot, blue fame to report news.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.