The State Bar of Michigan teamed up with the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame recently to present the Wade H. McCree, Jr. Awards for the Advancement of Justice to an audience of more than 300 in Lansing.

Ken Palmer, of The Flint Journal, offered his award of a $2,000 scholarship to Wayne State's department of communication for print a journalism student. Debra Jackson of Detroit was selected. Palmer studied mass communication and journalism at Wayne State in 1982.

Palmer was the lead reporter for a two-day court reform series, which ran in June 1996. The series, which focused on the Genesee County court system, was tied into the court reform debate being conducted in Lansing.

"Court reform is one of those complex topics that do not easily lend themselves to media coverage," says Palmer. "I'm very pleased that the State Bar committee recognized all the work that went into our series."

Among the factors the series evaluated were the county's 22 judges, work distribution among the judges, distribution of time among the cases and physical court facilities.

Palmer said they decided to look at the county court system through the eyes of an average litigant or court user. The series also included a survey among lawyers to rate the judges on various court-related characteristics.

One of the stories in the series outlined the unified bench concept of the Minnesota Court, which has one court with different divisions and several counties within one region.

"We concluded that Michigan needs to unify and simplify its court system as many other states have already done," Palmer says. "A unified bench would be more efficient and user-friendly."

A result of the Michigan court debate is the family division now included in Circuit Courts throughout the state.

The State Bar awards are given for outstanding print and broadcast reporting about the justice system. They were presented for the first time at the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame Induction Banquet by the State Bar President Victoria A. Roberts.

First place recipients designate Michigan college or university communications programs as recipients of awards in the name of the recipient.

WOOD-AM Radio's Cynthia Pries Martinek won first place in the Broadcast category for "Identity Crisis."

The awards are named for the late judge, law professor and solicitor general of the United States, an early supporter of the awards.

For more information call Jill Salisbury at the State Bar office, (800) 968-1442, or Richard Wright, WSU journalism, at (313) 577-2627.