TROY, Ala. – Troy University’s Hall School of Journalism and the Journalism Alumni Association (JAA) honored three outstanding alumni Thursday during the annual Student and Alumni Awards Banquet.

Awards were presented to James P. Reeves Jr. of Birmingham, Ala. in the area of print journalism, Amanda Ober of Orlando, Fla. for broadcast journalism and Cinnamon Bair of Gainesville, Fla. for outstanding service.

The recipients were nominated by fellow alumni, co-workers, employers, friends, family and others.

Reeves, a 1983 TROY graduate, is currently an award-winning correspondent for The Associated Press in Birmingham, Ala. A native of Atlanta, his career stops have included work in the Gwinnett Daily News in Lawrenceville, Ga., The Montgomery Advertiser and the AP bureau in Montgomery. He has been nominated twice for the Pulitzer Prize by the AP and is the two-time winner of the AP “Beat of the Week” award for coverage of the cases against Eric Rudolph and Richard Scrushy. Reeves has also won the AP Managing Editors honorable mention for state reporting and the Excellence in Journalism Award from TROY.

Ober, a 1988 graduate, joined WESH 2 News in Orlando in August 1997. She moved to central Florida from New Hampshire where she was the morning and noon anchor at WMUR-TV in Manchester. Ober has received The Associated Press Best Spot News award for tracking down two of New Hampshire’s top 10 deadbeat dads. She is also an accomplished political reporter, having served as a member of the WMUR team that covered New Hampshire’s presidential primaries in 1992 and 1996. At WESH, she has covered the wildfires of 1998, spent a month on the road in West Palm Beach and Tallahassee covering the 2000 post-presidential election battles and reporting from the coast as Hurricanes Jeanne and Frances hit in 2004.

Bair, a 1993 graduate, has combined her news and public relations skills as editor of the University of Florida’s Florida magazine. She has also been active in the Troy University Journalism Alumni Association since 1993 and is currently serving as president. Under her leadership, Florida received the 2005 Gold Medal from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education after receiving a Silver Medal in 2004. As a reporter, she has covered a variety of beats, including courts, city government and education. She was also nominated for three New York Times Chairman Awards. As a strong supporter of Troy University, Bair has helped recent graduates with contacts, networking and advice when entering the job market.

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