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JOIN US IN SANTA MONICA FOR THE 2002 AWARDS BANQUET
By Debra Bade
The Hotel Casa del Mar will be our spectacular setting for the News Division’s
2002 Awards Banquet – I hope many of you will be able to attend. Located next
to the Santa Monica Pier, Casa del Mar is a beautiful beachfront property and
is already gearing up to host the News Division. We’ll begin with cocktails
and conversation outdoors on the beachside patio (this cocktail reception is
once again sponsored by our friends at ProQuest). Then, as the sun sets, the
party will move upstairs to the elegant ballroom overlooking the ocean where
our award winners will be honored.
Gracing our Awards Banquet this year will be a truly exceptional slate of award
winners: M.J. Crowley, who will be honored with the Joseph F. Kwapil
Memorial Award, highest honor of the News Division; and Jim Hunter
and Sharon Clairemont, who will be recipients of the Agnes Henebry
Roll of Honor Award.
THE KWAPIL
M.J.
Crowley (who wants us to call her Maria Jose now after her recent trip to
Nicaragua to study Spanish) is currently the Information Editor for the Star-Ledger
(Newark, NJ), a role she has been in since 1996. But did you know that she
started out as a school librarian after earning her M.L.S. degree from the University
of Michigan in 1971? School library gigs took her to Indiana and New York before
fate led her to Philadelphia in 1981. This was obviously a smart move for M.J.
and for the News Division because two years later, she became Library Manager
for the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News,
a position from which she learned all about news research, budgets, staffing,
and technology. Twelve years later an opportunity to build a virtual library
lured her to the Star-Ledger in Newark. She has led the way to that virtual
library and implemented major training initiatives along with many other projects
at the Star-Ledger.
That is only part of the story however. M.J. has also given much of her time
and energy to the News Division. As Division Archivist from 1987-2001, she organized
the large collection of archival material related to our organization and in
the process became the expert on News Division history. In addition, M.J. has
spoken frequently at annual conferences on a wide variety of topics - her professionalism
and creativity are over the top in every way. Congratulations M.J.
HENEBRY WINNERS
Sharon
Clairemont is Director of Content Research, Metro Division, for Freedom
Communications, Inc. and heads up research services for newspapers, magazines,
web sites and special publications in Orange County, Colorado Springs, and Mesa,
Arizona. She started out at the Orange County Register back in 1983 and
quickly became active in the News Division, hosting a regional conference in
1987. Sharon was Chair of the News Division in 1989-1990, planning the conference
program in New York in 1989. Sharon has been a frequent panelist for conference
programs on topics such as space planning, revenue centers, and copyright.
Jim
Hunter has been Library Director of the Columbus Dispatch since 1974.
Jim’s enthusiasm for archiving and technology projects is well known and he
has given much of that enthusiasm to both the Columbus Dispatch and to
the News Division. He was an early adopter of computer assisted reporting techniques
and is heavily involved with providing access to CAR data over the Dispatch
intranet site. Jim earned his M.L.S. at Kent State University in 1973, and has
maintained ties to library education via his work as a part-time faculty member
at Kent State and Otterbein College.
Those of us who know these award winners personally are indeed fortunate to
have benefited from their expertise and knowledge over the years.
OTHER AWARDS
- The Vormelker-Thomas Student Stipend Award will go to Hannah Sommers,
a library school student at the University of Texas in Austin (you’ll read
Hannah’s essay "From Tasini to Goodwin: It’s All About Credit"
in this edition of NLN). Hannah already has some news experience, having worked
as an intern with National Public Radio in Washington, D.C.
- Jody Habayeb will be honored for her service as Chair of the News
Division in 2001-2002 with the Ralph J. Shoemaker Award of Merit. Thanks
for all the hard work as a conference planner and Chair, Jody.
Please join me in congratulating all of our award winners and plan to join
us for this gala event in Santa Monica. Thanks to members of the awards committee:
Ron Larson, Kathy Foley, Patti Graziano and Tom Lutgen.
Debra Bade is Past Chair/Director of Awards for the SLA News Division and
Deputy Information Editor at the Chicago Tribune. You can contact her at dbade@tribune.com.
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