The man who leads online and convergence news efforts for the Journal-World and Sunflower Broadband’s 6News is receiving rave reviews for a recent talk at a gathering in Washington, D.C.

Rob Curley, new media director for The World Company, was keynote speaker Friday at the 2004 James K. Batten Symposium and Awards for Innovations in Journalism held at the National Press Club.

“Rob Curley and his shop are the most innovative thing happening in journalism today, and it meant a lot to have him not only as the keynoter for the Batten Awards but also to have him address the audience at the Batten Symposium, which consists of many Beltway journalists, educators (and) think tanks,” said Jan Schaffer, executive director of J-Lab, a center of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland in College Park. “Rob was able to open their eyes to the possibilities of other kinds of journalism.”

The Batten Awards are given annually for journalism that is innovative and engages people in meaningful ways, she said. They are a successor to the Batten Awards for Excellence in Civic Journalism.

Curley’s speech drew attention from the Poynter Institute, a St. Petersburg, Fla.-based journalism school, which published a short review of his talk Monday at www.poynter.org.

Curley “loves being irreverent, as demonstrated 24/7 by the offshoot entertainment site Lawrence.com to the (somewhat) more traditional ljworld.com news site, and the lovingly partisan KUSports.com,” wrote Steve Klein, a Poynter columnist.

Klein is professor and coordinator of the electronic journalism program at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

2004 Batten Award winners¢ $10,000 Grand Prize: KQED’s “You Decide”¢ $2,000 Runner Up: “P.O.V.’s Borders”¢ $1,000 Award of Distinction: “The Nature of Things: The Investigation of Swissair 111,” CBC.ca¢ $1,000 Award of Distinction: “Sing My Song,” USAToday.com¢ $1,000 Award of Distinction: “A Tribute to our Troops,” www.projo.com, Providence (R.I.) Journal¢ More about the awards

“None of these sites are (or should be) a secret in the business these days, especially after the World Company (the name is ironic in itself in that each of the sites are real homebodies) opened its local portals to the world for wildly successful share-and-tell seminars last month.

“So what was the takeaway from Curley’s latest Dennis Miller-style rant on cross-platform journalism? What grabbed me is how Curley totally reverses the paradigm of content delivery online, especially in making and breaking news in blogs.”

Joe Matazzoni, an executive producer at National Public Radio, said he was “impressed by the scope and creativity of the accomplishments of Rob and his inspired team. They provide a reassuring proof that in the digital world, a small but dedicated band of nerds can still shake things up.”

Ralph Gage, World Company chief operating officer, said, “It’s a significant honor to have one of our key people invited to be the keynote speaker at an important occasion like that. We’re just all very proud of Rob.”