Examiner reporter Paul Hammel is inducted into Omaha Press Club Hall of Fame

OMAHA — Paul Hammel, a senior reporter for the Nebraska Examiner, was among six inductees into the Omaha Press Club Journalists of Excellence Hall of Fame on Saturday.

Hammel, a former Omaha World-Herald reporter, has covered Nebraska state government for decades, as well as serving as a roaming regional writer.

A native of Ralston, he started his career with the Omaha Sun and later served as editor for the Papillion Times group in suburban Omaha.

He worked as a sports enterprise reporter for the Lincoln Journal-Star and then a roving reporter in southeast Nebraska before joining the World-Herald in 1990 where he served as a legislative reporter, Lincoln Bureau Chief and enterprise writer.

His reporting has uncovered misbehavior by some of the state’s highest officials, and he reported on many of the state’s most sensational crimes.

Hammel was a founding member of the Nebraska Examiner staff when it launched in January.

Other Press Club honorees this year were: John Chapman, WOWT; Jim Denney (posthumously), Omaha World-Herald; Bill Kelly, Nebraska Public Media; Anne Walsh, internal communications, Union Pacific Railroad; Dave Wingert, Boomer Radio.

Cate Folsom, editor-in-chief of the Examiner, was inducted into the club’s Hall of Fame in 2018.