SCN writers bring home honors in competition with 21 states

by Agnes Geiger

The Stockbridge Community News earned six awards in this year’s National Federation of Press Women’s At-Large Communications Contest. This is the fourth consecutive year that SCN’s writers were honored in the contest.

“The at-large contest is extremely competitive and (these awards showcase) your amazing writing talents,” said Teri Ehresman, of Idaho, NFPW contest director.

SCN’s winning entries were:

• Joan Tucker and Laura Tucker Honig, first place, Specialty Articles, cooking, “For the love of bread: A tribute to John Savanna, owner and founder of Mill Pond Bakery (Parts 1 and 2). The judge said, “Nice story about an interesting man. I would love for you to post one of his recipes with the story.”

As a first-place winner, this entry will continue on to the NFPW national contest and compete with other first-place entries from across the country. National contest winners will be notified in May, and recognized during an online awards presentation from 6 to 8 p.m. (Central time) Friday, June 11.

• Patrice Johnson, Judy Williams, Ron and Arlene Kaiser, and Mary Jo David; second place, in-depth reporting. The entry was for their Women of Note series and included the following six articles: David’s “Lisa (Iovannisci) McClain: Small-town encouragement leads to major successes in business and the community”; Johnson’s “Audrey Price dances through life”; Williams’ “From horse and buggy to space travel, Kathryn Humrich has seen it all”; Williams’ “Wendy Hause crashes stereotype of women’s work with her new promotion”; the Kaisers’ “Clara Barton’s American Red Cross and Michigan”; and Johnson’s “SCN: Its birth and the people who parent it.”

The judge said the package was a wonderful way to tell the stories of some amazing women from the community. “The stories are filled with great details and anecdotes about each woman, capturing their personalities beautifully.” The judge continued, “A great idea for a Women’s History Month project!”

• Patrice Johnson, second place, Specialty Articles, social issues, for “Stockbridge native, no stranger to trauma, serves on COVID-19 team.” The judge commented, “Congratulations on a well-written article. Great job.”
• Mary Jo David, second place, online feature, “Filling the COVID time warp: We’ve asked area residents, ‘What’s your secret?’” Judge noted the work was a nice overall compilation on a timely topic, saying, “I appreciated the diverse activities profiled”
• Mary Jo David, honorable mention, personal essay, “To the mom who had everything. From her favorite child!” From the judge: “Very nice opening. Well organized, conversational, humorous. Beautifully wrapped up in the conclusion.”
• Mary Jo David, honorable mention, general column, StockBIZ entries: “Hair salons in Michigan re-open” and “Local business helps keep creatures from invading your space.” The judge said the work had a very nice opening and good organization. “Informative with wonderful incorporation of interview. Good vocabulary. Personal and relates nicely to community news,” the judge continued.

In the at-large division of the NFPW Communications Contest, media professionals competed against entries from states that do not have an NFPW chapter. “We had great participation again this year, with entrants from New York, Oregon, Ohio, Colorado, New Hampshire, Washington, D.C., Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Jersey, Minnesota, Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, Maryland, Florida, South Dakota, Louisiana, Tennessee, Iowa, Kentucky and Washington,” said Ehresman.

According to Ehresman, entries were judged and ranked by professional communications experts from throughout the United States. The names and professional information of the judges are not made public.

The awards usually are presented during NFPW’s national conference, but the in-person event, set for Little Rock, Arkansas, on June 11-12 was canceled because of the pandemic. Instead, it now will be held in a virtual format on the scheduled dates.

NFPW is a nationwide organization of women and men pursuing careers across the communications spectrum, including print and electronic journalism, freelancing, new media, books, public relations, marketing, graphic design, photography, advertising, radio and television.