August Eddy Award winners

For the Digital Eddy, we recognize Kaitlin Durbin for her hard work on the Code 18:Unsolved podcast. It was Kaitlin’s idea to bring a cold-case podcast to The Blade. Along with the creative help of Phil Kaplan, she’s worked on eight episodes detailing the strange disappearance of Alvin Darrow Jr., who is presumed to be dead even without his body found. Kaitlin produced a “bonus” podcast when a witness — a person she previously had tried to track down — came forward to talk with her. The podcast has achieved enough downloads/streams to make it among the top 20 percent of podcast episodes, according to industry benchmarks.

Phil Kaplan also wins a Digital Eddy for his contributions to this podcast, as well as his similar collaborations with others on staff.

Nicki Gorny wins the News Eddy for her efforts on a series of stories, including staying on top of clouded controversy at a local church and writing about a priest from Findlay who was accused of abuse. As part of her coverage, Nicki went to a candlelight vigil that parishioners held and also attended a Mass in which the Toledo bishop spoke about the case. During this same stretch, Nicki also filled in for Mike Pearson in leading the features department.

Kyle Rowland also wins the News Eddy for his coverage of all things golf in Toledo during the midst of the pandemic. For Kyle, this meant working on a special section about the fan-less LPGA, juggling golf coverage with other (breaking) sports coverage, and also playing a round of golf as part of the tournament. While that may sound like fun, read Kyle’s column about taking a coronavirus test first before he could even swing a club.

Abe Kobylanski is recognized in the Desk Eddy category for ensuring the copy desk, on the last Sunday of the month, was prepared for a Blade site maintenance shutdown. This meant Abe had to make sure copy was being edited and laid out in a timely fashion in order to be in front of the midnight deadline. Abe had great command of the situation and juggled other items that evening as well.

Each winner receives either a $50 restaurant gift card or a gas card.