Charlotte Public Relations

Pamela Escobar leaves WBTV (Channel 3) after three years to become community access and outreach administrator for the Mecklenburg County courthouse. … Julianna White joins “News Rising” at WCCB (Channel 18). White was Miss Sprint Cup, Miss New Jersey USA and worked as a product model at QVC shopping channel. She has a degree in communications from the College of New Jersey. …

Micah Smith joins WBTV as a reporter from the CBS affiliate in Johnson City, Tenn. She is a graduate of the University of Missouri. … Anniversary of note: Steve Ohnesorge marks 40 years at WBTV. …

Amber Statler-Matthews joins WJZY (Channel 46) as assistant news director. Previously, she worked at stations in Miami and ran her own media business. … Charlotte Observer writer Elizabeth Leland retires after a 31-year newspaper career. Her stories about the Carolinas coast became a nonfiction book, “The Vanishing Coast” …

Among local winners in the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas awards: Jason Stoogenke and Mike Stolp of WSOC (Channel 9) get first place in consumer news; Jeff Sonier and Doug Stacker of WTVI (Channel 42) get a first in education coverage and Stacker and Jeff Rivenbark get a second place; Sonier and Stacker get a second place in entertainment coverage; Nick Ochsner, Corey Schmidt and Andrew Feather of WBTV get a first place in general news; Dan Yesenosky of WCNC (Channel 36) gets a first place in general news and Xavier Walton of WCNC gets a second place.

Also, Paul Boyd of WSOC gets a first place in investigative; Ochsner, Schmidt and Shaun Donithan of WBTV get a first place in political reporting; Phil Orban of WSOC gets a first place in sports reporting; David Sentendrey and Neima Abdulahi of WJZY are named multimedia journalists of the year; Sonier of WTVI gets second place for news reporter of the year; Ashley Stroehlein of WBTV gets second place for sportscaster of the year; WCNC got first place for sports special; WSOC got first place for public service and second places for news series, best newscast, news website and special report.