More awards

"The Perfect Mark of the Year" Award simply has to go to Janella Spears of Sweet Home, Ore., who at least supplies the answer to the oft-asked question: "Does anyone really fall for the Nigerian scam?" Because she not only did, she did it to the tune of $400,000. When a story like this begins with "Janella Spears doesn't think she's a sucker," you know you're in for a treat. Among the other notable things in the story (read it here), are:

The scammers told her the FBI Director and President Bush were in on the deal and needed her help...
...which meant sending $8,300 for a promised $26.6 million...
...even though more money was soon being requested...
...even though the emails were riddled with spelling errors...
...and the letter from President Bush himself saying the millions she was promised would otherwise go to terrorists, so she had to do whatever was needed to acquire it...
...so she wiped out a retirement account and mortgaged the house...
...even though everyone she knew, including family, the bank, and authorities told her it was a scam...
...because she believed the scammers when they promised each payment would be "the last one"...
...and in the end, she claimed she just wanted the millions so she could help people in need.

But she's not the only one winning an award today. Anna Song of KATU News deserves something for her attempt at sounding like a real journalist when she begins her introduction of Spears with the confounding need to let us know Janella has "no relation to the well-known pop star."