For the second year in a row Kim Smith has been named Star Reporter of the Year by the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors.
Smith also won the top spot in the Star Breaking News Report of the Year during the annual contest, which was announced over the weekend in Temple.
Last year Smith’s work on issues on the Odessa City Council and on the heated Landgraf/Gray race for state rep won her the top reporting award.
“Kim’s work on the shenanigans of the city council has been critical to inform the citizens of Odessa about what is really going on in Odessa,” Editor Laura Dennis said. “This award is fantastic and everyone at the OA is proud of the work she continues to produce.”
This year Smith’s continuing work on issues on the city council and also her work on the remarkable story of James Harry Reyos and his exoneration won Smith the top award.
Reyos was convicted of beating Rev. Patrick Ryan, 49, to death at the Sage and Sand Motel in Odessa by an Ector County jury in June 1983 and sentenced to 38 years in prison. He served 20 years before being paroled. In 2023, Reyos, 66, with help from the Innocence Project Texas was exonerated and Odessa Police found evidence linking three dead men to the murder.
It was also the Reyos story that won Smith the top spot in the Star Breaking News Report category.
Smith, along with OA Editor Laura Dennis, won first place in editorial writing.
Both women also shared honorable mention for the Star Investigative Report of the Year for stories holding city officials accountable particularly the mayor, city attorney and various council members. Smith also won second place in the Freedom of Information category, again for work on the city council.
Dennis and Smith shared second place in the Team Effort category.
Odessa American Publisher Pat Canty praised the awards.
“I am so proud of Kim’s accomplishments. Day in, day out, she has epitomized what it’s all about to be a first-class journalist. She’s tenacious, ever-questioning and objective. And she is never afraid to ask the difficult questions to keep public officials accountable to those they serve. She has never pursued a story with a foregone conclusion or agenda in mind. Rather, she has always worked tirelessly to pursue the facts and to let the facts lead her to the story. She is a credit not only to this newspaper but also to the entire industry,” Canty said.
