[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 60 (Tuesday, May 10, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E918]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       RECOGNIZING AMANDA BLAKELY

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                          HON. JEB HENSARLING

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 10, 2005

  Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, today, I would like to recognize the 
outstanding achievement of Amanda Blakely of Crandall, Texas, who was 
recently named the winner of the 37th Annual Robert F. Kennedy 
Journalism Award.
  Amanda, who is a graduating senior from Crandall High School is the 
High School Print Winner for her work, ``Ms. Mary and the Big Blue 
House.'' Her work takes readers into the home of foster parents Mike 
and Mary Brooks through moving interviews with three teenagers who have 
been placed in their care by the Texas Children's Protective Services.
  The Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards honor outstanding reporting 
of problems of the disadvantaged. RFK Journalism Award winners have 
covered such diverse issues as child abuse, juvenile crime, bank 
redlining and discrimination against people living with AIDS. Past 
winners of this prestigious award include Diane Sawyer of ABC, The 
Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, National Public Radio, and CBS's 
``60 Minutes.''
  This is the second major national journalism award for Amanda. In 
November 2003, Bob Scheiffer presented Amanda with the Ryan White 
Foundation National Journalist Award at the Journalism Educators 
Association Convention in Washington, DC. Amanda has also received 
national honors from the Los Angeles Times in August of 2004.
  Award-winning work and journalism must run in Amanda's genes. In 
1988, her late grandmother, Jannette Cox, of Athens, Texas, was honored 
by both the Texas House and Senate as well as by United States 
Congressman Jim Chapman for her work with the Athens Creative Center. 
Amanda's grandfather, John H. Cox, now a journalist for the Cedar Creek 
Pilot, once was assigned to cover former Texas Governor, now President, 
George W. Bush for the Jacksonville Daily Progress.
  As Congressman for the Fifth Congressional District of Texas, I would 
like to recognize Amanda and congratulate her grandparents, along with 
her parents Gerald and Lynda Blakely, for her outstanding 
accomplishment.

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