Following in the footsteps of some of his longtime professional idols, Fulton native John Ferrugia has been announced as a 2012 recipient of the Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism, a prestigious award presented by the University of Missouri's journalism school to honor career-long outstanding service to the craft.
An investigative journalist and news anchor currently working at KMGH-TV in Denver, Ferrugia joins the ranks of many of the journalists he admired growing up in Fulton and attending school at the university, including Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather.
"When I got the letter about this, I actually thought it was an announcement about when the awards would be given," said Ferrugia. "Then it said "we are happy to inform you' and I was sure they had sent this to the wrong person. I had to check the envelope and the header again, and it had my name on it, so I was totally stunned."