The Insider: 5.27.15

Dwight Bitikofer, co-founder of The Webster-Kirkwood Times, was recognized with an honorary doctor of letters at Webster University’s commencement ceremony for his award-winning journalism career. Bitikofer, who is currently majority owner of the paper, has received awards from the Missouri Press Association and Independent Free Papers of America. Photo courtesy of Webster University

Former Wells Fargo Advisors CEO Danny Ludeman has partnered with Washington University and local government officials to form an innovative public, private and academic alliance focused on lowering incarceration recidivism rates. Ludeman will serve as CEO and president of The Concordance Academy of Leadership, which will offer services such as education, employment training and mental health treatment for men and women released from prison.

Don Wolff is the first St. Louisan to win a Jazz Hero Award from the Jazz Journalists Association, which honors individuals who keep the musical form thriving in their local communities. Since 1987, Wolff has hosted I Love Jazz on radio station KXOK , which he later expanded to a television show and online radio program. He accepted his award during a ceremony at Grand Center’s Ferring Jazz Bistro in April. Photo: TL Witt

Kirkwood High School grad and University of Missouri student Drew Nikonowicz won the prestigious Aperture Portfolio Prize, which recognizes innovative work by contemporary photographers. Out of 700 submissions from around the world, Nikonowicz earned first place for his portfolio, ‘This World and Others Like It,’ depicting vast, unexplored landscapes. His work will be on exhibit at Aperture Gallery in New York. (pictured above)

Kirkwood resident Blanton Whitmire recently was honored with the Friend of Education Award at the annual conference of the Missouri Association of School Administrators. As parents of two Kirkwood High School graduates, Whitmire and his late wife Peg contributed $250,000 to the science programs and funded the Whitmire-McCallie Collaboration Project between Kirkwood and Joplin high schools after the Joplin tornadoes in 2011, among other contributions. Pictured: Richard Whitmire, who accepted the award for his dad, and Dr. Tom Williams, superintendent of schools