Wellington Native Annette Lawless Wins Two Heartland Emmy Awards
By Laura Lombardi
Wellington native, reporter, anchor and actress Annette Lawless is going to need a bigger shelf for her growing collection of Heartland Emmy Awards.
Lawless brought home two more Emmy statuettes during the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) Heartland Emmy Awards ceremony on Saturday, July 18, in Oklahoma City, bringing her career total to six.
While she attended the ceremony knowing two of her 2025 projects had been nominated, one award carried special personal significance, while the other came as a complete surprise.
“We were recognized for our work in storytelling with Flight 5342 at KWCH 12 News,” Lawless said. “My coworker Dylan Domangue hosted and my husband, Tim Steinert, filmed many of the interviews.”
Early in their careers, Lawless and Steinert worked together at the same television station. When their careers took them in different directions, they often talked about one day working together again.
“Truthfully, I didn’t think it would happen,” Lawless said. “I remember telling him it felt impossible. Then life had other plans.”
Their collaboration paid off with an Emmy in the Morning Newscast (4 a.m. to 11 a.m.) category for markets ranked 46 and above. The award-winning broadcast, Remembering Flight 5342, honored the 67 people killed when American Eagle Flight 5342, traveling from Wichita, collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Washington, D.C.
“Getting to celebrate our first Emmy win together, surrounded by our KWCH 12 News and WIBW friends, made the night even more special,” she said.
Lawless’ second Emmy of the evening came in the Spot News – Single Report category for a story she produced while working at WIBW in Topeka. Her report, Stuck But It Didn’t Suck, told the story of a family stranded on Interstate 70 during a blizzard.
“I wasn’t expecting this one to win at all,” Lawless said. “Not that it wasn’t good, but because it was up against reports from much bigger markets like Denver.”
The awards continue a remarkable year for the Wellington native. Last May, Lawless earned two regional Edward R. Murrow Awards. Her documentary Without Warning and the newscast The Day After Flight 5342 are now eligible for national Edward R. Murrow Awards, with winners scheduled to be announced in August.
“I feel so honored. What a blessing it is to get to tell people’s stories,” Lawless said. “The past two years have been some of the most exciting of my career.”