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BiographyTestimonials:Since 2003, Biga has been interviewing and chronicling a host of sports legends who are native Omahans. Among other athletes, his stories have profiled: Major league baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson; Olympic Gold Medal and NBA team title member Bob Boozer; NFL Hall of Fame running back Gale Sayers; pro basketball "Iron Man" Ron Boone; the NFL's first black quarterback, Marlin Briscoe; the first black coach at a predominantly white university, Don Benning; Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Rodgers; former middleweight contender Art Hernandez; former heavyweight boxing contender Ron Stander; and current NFL star running back Ahman Green. In addition to his journalistic work, Biga has completed many commercial projects (newsletters, brochures, scripts) for such diverse corporate clients as hospitals, universities, energy companies, insurance firms, and arts organizations. His most recebt coporate clients have included the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Children's Hospital, and Valmont Industries. Prior to becoming a freelance writer, Biga served as a public relations practitioner in the arts (at Omaha's Joslyn Art Museum) and athletic fields (as a sports information assistant in the UNO Athletic Department). In preparing projects, he conducts all his own interviews and culls together background materials from archives and libraries. During 2007-2008 he anticipates working on many projects, including: researching and writing a book about the making of an Alexander Payne film; and launching an extensive series for The Reader that examines the status of Omaha's black community through personal profiles of individuals, couples, families, and groups making a difference in key quality of life areas. He also expects to continue his ongoing articles on Holocaust themes. Last year he completed four stories about a German-Jewish emigre in Nebraska who, prior to World War II, sponsored hundreds of family members in Nazi Germany in coming to America. This year alone he anticipates completing some 75 feature story projects for his regular publication clients, some of which he's been associated with since the 1990s. About a third of these will be cover stories. Over the course of a decade he's had some 75 cover stories appear in The Reader alone and more than 100 cover stories total appear in the various publications he writes for. Also in 2007 Biga expects to finish an original play he’s been writing, Shallow Feeders, which he hopes to have produced in the next year or two. An award-winning journalist, Biga is the winner of a 2002 Nebraska Press Association 1st place award in the Single Feature Story category for Piecing Together a Lost Past and a 2003 NPA 3rd place award in the Single Feature Story category for A Rescuer's Story,both published in the Jewish Press. Another JP story, Sisters of the Shoah, won the 2004 David Frank Award for Excellence in Personality Profiles from the American Jewish Press Association in its annual Simon Rockower Awards competition. In 2006 he won a 2nd place award in the Feature Story category of the Omaha Press Club’s Excellence in Journalism Competition for his story Uncle David,” which detailed the good works of the late David Kaufmann. The above recognized work is part of a long-standing commitment Biga has made to telling stories of Holocaust survivors and rescuers. He has also contributed articles to several award winning publications and/ An indication of his broad interests and versatile talents is the fact he is a contributing writer for: Omaha’s largest alternative newspaper, The Reader; the city’s only Jewish and African American newspapers, the Jewish Press and the Omaha Star, respectively; its major senior citizen newspaper, the New Horizons; one of its leading Spanish language newspapers, El Perico; and one of the state’s most prestigious magazines, Nebraska Life. His work is republished in such online publications as jewishmag.com and nebraskastatepaper.com. His work is also widely reprinted. For example, a Reader feature story he did on the Wesley House’s Academy of Excellence was reprinted by the Omaha Star. A cover story he did on Robert Chrisman appears in the current edition of the Black Scholar, America’s leading journal of African American critical scholarship. The Grand Island Independent is negotiating to reprint one of Biga’s Holocaust stories. In addition to the awards his work has garnered, Biga has received accolades and endorsements for his cultural writing/ |
Leo Adam Biga is a senior contributing writer to The Reader, Nebraska's fourth largest newspaper and a vital alternative voice in Omaha since 1994. The author of some 75 cover stories and hundreds more features for The Reader, Biga adds to its pages a wealth of experience, a thoroughness in reporting, and a supple, reflective style. His enterprise in landing hard-to-get interviews and in breaking new stories has led The Reader to entrust him with plum assignments, including a week-long trip to California to cover the making of an Alexander Payne film, one of several notable figures Biga has made the subject of exclusives. |
