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2013 NMPW Communication Contest Results
1A, News story
HM, Leota Harriman, “Sheriff defuses shooter who made bomb threat,” The Independent
2, Continuing Coverage or Unfolding News
1st, Sherry Robinson, “Witnesses testify in Mendoza,” and others, Gallup Independent
2nd, Rosalie Rayburn, “End for Mariposa?” and others, Albuquerque Journal
3rd , Leota Harriman, “Is Torrance County gunning for SASS?” The Independent
5 Special Series
1st Kate Nash, “Century of Statehood,” Santa Fe New Mexican
2nd, Sherry Robinson, “RMCH struggles to survive,” and others, Gallup Independent
3rd, Martin Willes, “Starry Messenger,” The Independent
HM, Rose Marie Kern, “History of Air Traffic Control,” Atlantic Flyer Magazine
7A Editorial and Opinion
1st Sam Moorman, “City Has Blind Eye for Good Planning,” Albuquerque Journal
2nd and 3rd, Leota Harriman, editorials, The Independent
HM, Loretta Hall, guest column, “Support Our Spaceport,” Socorro Defensor Chieftain
8A Feature story, print
1st, Leota Harriman, “Goddess Girls Magazine,” The Independent
2nd, Carolyn Gonzales, “El Mezquite Golf Tournament Benefits UNM Students,” UNM Today
3rd, Sharon Niederman, “Little Town Dreams Big,” Trinidad Times Independent
8B Feature story, magazine
1st, Lyn Bleiler, “Martina’s Hall,” Trend
2nd, Kendra Loring “Reflections of a Foaling Season,” Horse Connection Magazine
3rd, Loretta Hall, “Spaceport: A Far Out Vacation,” New Mexico Magazine
HM, Nancy Marano, “Internet Help for Lost and Found Pets,” PETroglyphs
8C Feature story, online pub
1st, Karen Wentworth, “The Friday Afternoon Breakthrough,” UNM Today
2nd Nancy Marano, “TNR is a Success in Albuquerque,” PETroglyphs
3rd Loretta Hall, “Getting Spaceport America Off the Ground,” NewSpace Online Magazine
9A Personality Profile
1st Jessica Curry, “Captain Courageous, Cancer as a Gift from God,” The Independent
9B Personality Profile
1st Nancy Marano, “Samantha Martin,” PETroglyphs
2nd Vicky Ramakka, “Back to the Land,” Majestic Living
3rd, Margaret Cheasebro, “Oh, You Beautiful Doll!” Majestic Living Magazine
10C Specialty Articles, Arts & Entertainment
1st, Margaret Cheasebro, “Movement in Bronze” and “The Call of the Theater,” Majestic Living
2nd, Kathryn Córdova, “Away in a Manger,” and “Olivia Johnson’s Christmas Celebration,” Christmas in Taos
3rd, Lyn Bleiler, “2012 Year of Remarkable Women,” and others, Trend
HM Daniella Wiedel, “Red hot blues & strings meet flute,” Las Cruces Sun-News
10D Specialty Articles, Business
1st, Margaret Cheasebro, “Change is Constant” and “Global Introduction,” Majestic Living
10E Specialty Articles, Education
1st, Margaret Cheasebro, “Back Where It All Began” and “She’s Got to Move It,” Majestic Living
2nd Ellen Zieselman, “Museum Scavenger Hunt” and “You Call that Art?” Tumbleweeds
10G Specialty Articles, Food
HM, Kathryn Córdova, “Visions of Sugar Plums” and others, Christmas in Taos
10H Specialty Articles, Politics
1st, Sherry Robinson, “Lawmakers study ways to save employee benefit funds,” and “Martinez unleashes veto pen,” Gallup Independent
10I Specialty Articles, Environmental
1st, Lyn Bleiler, “Green Beer on Tap” and “An Artful Adventure in Sustainable Living,” EcoSource Guide to Sustainability
10J Specialty Articles, History
1st, Margaret Cheasebro, “Living History,” Majestic Living, and “”Al Kendrick,” Basin Resources
2nd, Sherry Robinson, “The Best Jobs in yesteryear,” Albuquerque The Magazine; “New Mexico’s Long Journey to Statehood,” Raton Range
HM, Kathryn Córdova,“Taos History Museums Light Up” and “Los Pastores Production,” Christmas in Taos
10M Specialty Articles, Self-help
1st, Sherri Burr, “Time Management,” and “Having It All,” Southwest Sage
“A good grasp of the subject matter and interesting topics make these entries award winning.”
10P Specialty Articles, Science and Technology
1st, Margaret Cheasebro, “Finding Vlavenoids,” and “Working Together,” Majestic Living
“Extremely informative stories that combine good writing with good topics to equal great stories. Good use of quotes also moved the stories along and made the story subject matter easier to understand in some cases.”
HM, Bud Russo, “Are you using the sun,” Southwest Senior
10Q Specialty Articles, Social Issues
1st, Margaret Cheasebro, “Working off the grid,” and “Senior Companions,” Majestic Living
2nd, Sherry Robinson, “Lawmakers can’t ignore history in Navajo water settlement,” “Making war on DWI comes with complications,” New Mexico News Services
3rd, Kathryn Córdova, “Taos Feeds Taos” and “Gift Certificates Help the Weary,” Christmas in Taos
HM Kathryn Cordova, “Embroiled in Witchcraft,” High Country Magazine; “Toney Reyna’s Christmas,” Christmas in Taos
10R Specialty Articles, Sports
1st, Margaret Cheasebro, “Game, Set and Match,” and “Going for the Gold,” Majestic Living
10S Specialty Articles, Travel
1st, Bud Russo, “Fall may be just the time” and “Enjoy a walking tour,” Southwest Senior
“By writing about places in one’s backyard, that are as exotic as a far away place, it’s even better because it encourages people to explore their own region.”
HM, Cheryl Fallstead, “Tombstone full of Old West history,” Southwest Senior
11A Columns, Humorous
1st Wendel Sloan, “Downsized Dreams Easily Achieved,” and “Be Wary Whilst Traveling,” Portales News-Tribune
2nd, Jim Belshaw, “Coffee Klatch or men’s club?” The Independent
11B Columns, General
1st Nancy Marano, “Cat Chat: Adopted Cats Equal Happy Cats” and “A Rock’n Cat Good Time,” PETroglyphs
2nd, Wendel Sloan, “Nature Opens Up” and “Ancestors Would Be Proud,” Portales News-Tribune
2nd, Claudette Sutton, “Act V” and “The Queen Bee is Dead!” Tumbleweeds
3rd, Kathryn Córdova, Know Your Neighbor, Taos News
3rd, Jacqueline Boyd, “The Tools for Schools,” Women in Aviation
11C Columns, Informational
1st, Sherri Burr, “The Joy of Interviewing” and “Avoiding Conflicts of Interest,” Southwest Sage
“The two columns are strongly written and you display a command of the subject matter and you write with an authority that makes the writing both enjoyable and sincere.”
11D Columns, Personal Opinion
1st, Merilee Dannemann, “TV advertising comes to the Legislature” and “Secret thoughts from a member of the jury panel” New Mexico News Services
2nd, Sherry Robinson, “Too Much Government Help” and “Cleaning up Dodge – again and again,” New Mexico News Services
3rd, Wendel Sloan, “Facebook Attacks Reveal Hypocrisy” and “Save Us from Rednecks, Racists and Zealots,” Portales News-Tribune
3rd, Wally Gordon, “Banning Shakespeare in Arizona” and “No Laughing Matter,” The Independent
14A Supplements regularly edited
1st and 2nd, Leota Harriman, Holiday Haven and Last Minute Shopping Guide, The Independent
15A Newspaper regularly edited
2nd, Cheryl Fallstead, Southwest Senior
15B Magazine or newsletter regularly edited
1st, Claudette Sutton, Tumbleweeds
3rd Ruth Friesen, Wagon Tracks
HM, Sharon Niederman, Beef Council Bullhorn, NM Beef Council
18 Photo Essay
1st, Leota Harriman, “Flamenco,” The Independent
“Shooting a live performance is always a challenging assignment… Nice effort.”
2nd, Reed Haviland, “Centennial History,” The Independent
20 Graphics (new category)
1st, Marilyn Stablein, Time on My Hands, Malpais Review
“Nice graphic image… I like how the colors pop…”
23A Special Programming, Radio
1st, Cheryl Fallstead and Bud Russo, “New Mexico Mile Markers,” Explore! New Mexico
23B Special Programming, Television
1st Glenda and Jason Balas, “Sam Becker: A Profile in Leadership,” vimeo
24 Interview, Television
1st, Sherri Burr, “Arts Talk with Don Bullis and Slim Randles,” UPublic TV
24 Interview, Radio
1st, Leora Zeitlin, “The Beijing Guitar Duo,” KRWG-FM
2nd “New York Dancer-Choreographer Bill Hastings,” KRWG-FM
3rd “Happy Birthday, John Cage,” KRWG-FM
25 Talk Show
1st, Sherri Burr,
“Arts Talk,” UPublic TV
27 Writing for the Web
1st, Sherry Robinson, “City of Albuquerque,” Mid-Region Council of Governments
2nd, Kathryn Córdova, The Remarkable Women of Taos
28A Website edited or managed
1st, Wendel Sloan, “Monday Memo,” ENMU
“I loved the variety of content and use of photos. The information was clearly presented.”
30A Blogs, nonprofit
1st Marriah Nissen, Lorena Hughes, and Stephanie Nakhleh, “Fifty Shades of WTF?” and “The Story of a Navajo Code Talker” and “The Appeal of the Supernatural”
2nd Lisa Hase-Jackson, 200 New Mexico Poems
“200 New Mexico Poems: 100 Poems Celebrating the Past, 100 More for the Future”
3rd, Kendra Loring, “Just when you think you have it all figured out” and “A New Chapter,” Pony Up Kentucky
30C Blogs, personal
1st, Merilee Dannemann, Triple Spaced Again
32C Website videos
1st, Melody Groves, Border Ambush Book Trailer
“Great use of art and words to impart a sense of urgency and adventure.”
34 Advertising campaign
2nd, Kathryn Córdova
36B Television advertising
2nd, Wendel Sloan, ENMU TV spot
37 Community relations campaign
1st, Kathryn Córdova
“This is a robust entry. I really like the theme, “We are here. We are visible.” Kathryn executes well to drive visibility and manage continuity in line with this theme.”
38 Public Service Campaign
1st Liz Hamm, My Vote Center
39 Marketing program
2nd, Kathryn Córdova
41 PR Materials, report
2nd, Sherry Robinson, “Optics and Photonics,” City of Albuquerque
3rd, Diana Sandoval-Tapia, New Mexico Workers’ Compensation Administration 2011 Annual Report
“It can be a challenge to take a number of data tables and make them readable and easily accessible. This report does a nice job of laying out information in a clean, digestible and easy to follow format.
42 PR Materials, magazine
2nd, Cheryl Fallstead, Sierra County Official Visitors Guide
“Beautifully designed and packaged.”
43 Magapapers or tabloids
1st, Sari Krosinsky, Jana Fothergill and Carolyn Gonzales, UNM Today
“Easy to read, consistent layout. Information is clearly presented and reflects this community. Good use of photography and color, as well. Stories were well edited and just the right length.”
44A Newsletters
1st, Kathryn Córdova, The Wagon Wheel, Taos Historic Museums
“Relevant and interesting stories about the museums and its members in an eye-pleasing format.”
2nd, Diana Sandoval-Tapia, NM Workers’ Compensation Administration Quarterly Bulletin
48 News release
3rd, Wendel Sloan, “Graduate with Guilty Conscience,” ENMU
51 Speeches
1st, Loretta Hall, “Vengeance to Vibrance,” Convivial Studio
“Full of information but not overwhelming. Nice use of images with the PowerPoint slides.”
2nd, Melody Groves, “Historic Saloons,” Silver City Museum
56 Novels
HM, Martha Egan, An Apricot Year, Papalote Press
HM, David Sutliff, The Directors, Westbow Press
57A Nonfiction, biography
1st, James McClure and Ezequiel Ortiz, Don Jose, An American Soldier, Sunstone Press
2nd, Pauline Eisenstadt, A Woman in Both Houses, UNM Press
3rd, Kathryn Córdova, Crossroads: The Story of the Antonio Sr. and Luisa Quintana Family
57B Nonfiction, history
1st, Lyn Bleiler and Charles Strong, Santa Fe Art and Architecture, Arcadia Publishing
2nd Martha Shipman Andrews, Out of the Shadows: The Women of Southern New Mexico, Rio Grande Books
3rd, Francelle Alexander, Among the Cottonwoods
“Organization and writing are fine. Lots of good information and well written.”
57C Nonfiction, humor
1st Slim Randles, Home Country, Rio Grande Books
57E Nonfiction, general
1st, Maggie Macnab, Design by Nature, New Riders Press
2nd, Sharon Niederman, Signs and Shrines, The Countryman Press
3rd, Dave DeWitt, Chile Trivia, Rio Grande Books
58A Children’s books, fiction
1st Rudolfo Anaya,t How Hollyhocks Came to New Mexico, Rio Grande Books
61A Creative Verse, single poem
1st, Lisa Hase-Jackson, Prairie Rumors, Kansas City Voices
2nd, Marilyn Stablein, “How to Build a Descanso,” New Mexico Poetry Review
61B Creative Verse, book
1st Steve Ausherman, Creek Bed Alive, Encircle Publications
2nd, Jane Lipman, On the Back Porch of the Moon
2nd, Jacqueline Murray Loring, The History of Bearing Children, Quercus Publishing
3rd Sari Krosinsky, god-chaser, CW Books
64 Book edited by entrant
1st, Shirley Patterson and Susan Cho, Turning Points in Women’s Lives, Nuevo Books
Overall Excellence
The NMPW awards for overall excellence go to the entrants with the highest point score for achievement in individual categories.
Sherry Robinson, an Albuquerque freelancer, won third place.
Kathy Cordova, of Taos, won second place.
Margaret Cheasebro, of Aztec, won first place.
The institutional awards for points earned by employees or associates:
Rio Grande Books, of Albuquerque, was third.
In second place is The Independent.
First place goes to Majestic Living magazine, of Farmington.
Zia Award Recognizes Three Outstanding Fiction Authors
Three outstanding New Mexico women writers were honored for their work in fiction on Saturday, April 27, at the Courtyard by Marriott, Journal Center, in Albuquerque. The 2013 Zia Book Award winner was Nancy Wood for The Soledad Crucifixion. Honorable Mentions were awarded to Sue Boggio and Mare Pearl for A Growing Season and Lynne Hinton for Pie Town.
The award is presented by New Mexico Press Women. The awards were presented during the organization’s annual conference, “Riding Out the Storm: Communications in a Changing Market.”
WINNING BOOKS AND THEIR AUTHORS
“The Soledad Crucifixion” (UNM Press)
“This is a beautiful story, told in prose that is almost poetry. The cast of characters paints a compelling picture of the historic roots of New Mexico,” writes one of the judges.
Nancy Wood has produced more than twenty-five books and 25,000 photographs of the Southwest. She writes fiction, nonfiction, children’s fiction, and poetry. Her work chronicles the daily life of the people of Taos Pueblo, Ute Mountain and Southern Ute communities, Colorado ranches and small towns, and Pie Town, New Mexico, in the 1970s and 1980s, a time before casinos, cell phones, and factory farms.
About “The Soledad Crucifixion”: High in the New Mexican village of Camposanto, a priest is tied to a cross as its uneasy Indian inhabitants wait to bid him farewell. It is a chilly Good Friday in April 1897, but for Father Lorenzo Soledad there will be no resurrection. He alone knows why. Into his fading consciousness flashes the truth of his existence. For the Calabazas, who gather at the base of the cross, Father Soledad represents a different kind of reality. Is Soledad a martyr? A saint? A suicide? This sweeping tale of sin, guilt, and redemption captures the ironies in social and religious graces.
“A Growing Season” (UNM Press)
“I loved this book. The characters were complex and multi-layered. The story is heartwarming,” writes one of the judges.
Authors Sue Boggio and Mare Pearl work at the University of New Mexico, Sue as a registered nurse and Mare as a mental health technician. They grew up in West Des Moines, Iowa, where they began writing stories together at the age of ten. After high school, their paths diverged as each married and they pursued different careers. In 1980, they reconnected and by 1990 they were both living in Albuquerque, where they reignited their passion for co-writing fiction.
About “A Growing Season”: The town of Esperanza, New Mexico, faces a devastating drought that threatens the farming community’s survival. Vultures circle in the form of developers who see failing farms as ripe pickings. Court battles pit the endangered silvery minnow against the farmers as the once mighty Rio Grande shrinks from its banks even as demand for its precious water increases. Abby Silva and her adopted son Santiago must heal from the violence of the past to claim their futures. CeCe and Miguel Vigil must care for CeCe’s octogenarian Jewish parents, who disapprove of their marriage. Their daughter Rachel finally confronts the Jewish half of her ethnicity. Love is risked and secrets are revealed as the community struggles to preserve its traditional way of life despite overwhelming odds.
“Pie Town” (HarperCollins)
“A wonderful story of redemption and love cast against a small New Mexico town. The town’s geography didn’t play a huge part, but its size and characters made me hope, cry, laugh, and believe,” writes one of the judges.
Lynne Hinton, a retreat leader and writing teacher, lives in Albuquerque. She has written a book of meditations and fourteen novels, one of which was a New York Times Bestseller. She also writes the Shady Grove mystery series, under the name Jackie Lynn.
About “Pie Town”: Pie Town, New Mexico, was once legendary for its extraordinary pies. But it’s been a while since these delectable desserts graced the counter at the local diner. The townspeople—a hearty mix of Anglos, Hispanics, and Native Americans—like to think of themselves as family, especially when it comes to caring for Alex, a disabled little boy being raised by his grandparents. But, unforeseen by all, Pie Town’s fortunes are about to take a major turn—due to the arrival of a new priest, Father George Morris, who seems woefully unprepared for his first assignment, and the young hitchhiker Trina, who some townsfolk just know is trouble.
JUDGES
Each entry was read by two of the following judges:
Judith Schiess Avila worked as a social worker, an air traffic controller, and a computer consultant before discovering writing. “Code Talker,” a memoir she co-authored with World War II veteran Chester Nez, won a 2012 Zia Book Award for nonfiction.
Sarah H. Baker works as a civil engineer for the US Forest Service in Albuquerque. She writes mysteries under the name S.H. Baker and romance novels under the name Sarah Storme. Her book “Murder in Marshall’s Bayou” was recommended for an Edgar Award.
Pari Noskin Taichert has garnered two Agatha Award nominations for her mystery series “The Socorro Blast,” “The Belen Hitch,” and “The Clovis Incident,” all of which humorously celebrate the Land of Enchantment while exploring the deeper human condition. She founded the Anthony-nominated blog Murderati.com, and she is an award-winning freelance features writer.
Sabra Brown Steinsiek is a native New Mexican who worked as a librarian until she took a chance in 2003 and quit her job to focus full time on her writing. She writes fiction, nonfiction, children’s fiction, and poetry. Her books have won several awards, including Best Romance in the 2008 New Mexico Book Awards.
ZIA AWARD
The Zia Award was started in 1953 to honor an outstanding woman in New Mexico media. Each year the award rotates to one of three categories: nonfiction, fiction, and children’s literature.
The 2014 Zia Book Award will be given to the author of an outstanding children’s book published in 2011, 2012 or 2013. The contest is open to all sub-genres of children’s literature. Details will be posted on NMPW’s Web site in the fall.
NEW MEXICO PRESS WOMEN
NMPW, New Mexico’s largest inclusive media organization, is open to both men and women. It is an affiliate of the National Federation of Press Women, providing professional development, networking and First Amendment rights protection to professional journalists and communicators.
