Communicators in New Mexico have won a slew of awards — nine first-place awards, six second-place, six third-place and seven honorable mentions — from the 2016 National Federation of Press Women annual communications contest. The official awards will be given at NFPW’s national conference in Wichita, Kansas Sept. 8-10, 2016.

1^st place winners

• Ross Van Dusen, Children’s books
• Heath Haussamen, Investigative reporting
• Megan Kamerick, Talk show (radio or television)
• Mandi Kane, Personality profile 500 words or fewer
• Richard Melzer, History nonfiction for adult readers
• Sharon Niederman, Cookbooks nonfiction for adult readers
• Peter St. Cyr, News story – print-based newspaper
• Kelly Urig, General nonfiction for adult readers
• Catherine Wanek, Book editing

2^nd place winners

• Mary-Charlotte Domandi, Interview for radio or television
• Kathleen McCleery, Prepared report for television and special programming for television
• Sherry Robinson, Specialty articles – green/environmental
• Diane Thomas, Novel for adult readers
• Ross Van Dusen, Children’s books

3^rd place winners

• Margaret Cheasebro, Specialty articles – business
• Merilee Dannemann, Personal blog
• Bob Diven, Graphics
• Ruth Friesen, Book design
• Mary Alice Murphy, Photo essay
• Diana Sandoval-Tapia, Reports

Honorable mentions

• Nicolás Cabrera, Feature story – online publication
• Margaret Cheasebro, Specialty articles – history
• Ariana Kramer, Specialty article – arts and entertainment
• Tara Lumpkin, Website editing/management
• Sherry Robinson, Continuing coverage or unfolding news
• Marsha Scarbrough, Biography or autobiography
• Peter St. Cyr, Enterprise reporting

New Mexico Press Women would like to congratulate all of the winners listed above for your remarkable achievements, and thank you for representing our state and our organization so well!

 

Download the news release in case members would like to include it in your publications.

 

National Federation of Press Women is a dynamic nationwide organization of professional women and men pursuing careers across the communications spectrum. NFPW is comprised of affiliate organizations across the United States. Learn more at www.nfpw.org.

by Diane J. Schmidt, 2015 Excellence in Communications Contest Chair

     The National Federation of Press Women Excellence in Communications Contest results have just been announced and the New Mexico Press Women state affiliate has won 43 Awards: 18 First-Place Awards, 11 Second-Place, 7 Third-Place and 7 Honorable Mentions. Twenty-five states submitted 405 first-place entries. New Mexico submitted 64 entries of their state’s 65 first-place winners. Award announcements are going out by email to each individual from NFPW this week, and the results are listed below. Certificates will be mailed out in September following the national conference in Alaska.

     Highlights of the New Mexico wins include first place author awards: to Norma Libman for her adult novel, “Lonely River Village”; to Janie Chodosh for her young-adult novel “Death Spiral, A Faith Flores Mystery”; and to Daniel Gibson and Kitty Leaken for their biography of Native American artist “Kevin Red Star.” Hats off to Winter Ross, for her short story, “Orienting Heaven” and to Nicolas Cabrera for his single poem, “La Yerbabuena.”

     Salutes to print reporters for their hard-won first place awards, notably to Peter St. Cyr for two first place wins, for his news story “Ticket to Nowhere” on immigrants being scammed, and for his investigative reporting piece “Rx Test” on the potency of medical marijuana products being sold. Congratulations to reporter Lindsey Anderson for her coverage of the most difficult subject, child abuse. Hats off to Mary Alice Murphy for winning first-place in the 500 word personality profile category for “A determined and dedicated 4-Her does not let injury deter her.” Acclaim to Albuquerque Journal’s long-time “Sage” editor Carolyn Flynn, and to Donna Olmstead on another difficult topic, addiction, with “Recovery Road.” Marissa Bond walks away with top awards for her writing, Claudette Sutton garners two first place awards, one for columns and another for the book trailer for her award-winning book “Farewell, Aleppo.” Ellen Berkovitch snags another first-place for her website Adobe Airstream, with a mysterious-sounding pod piece – I just love that title “Blue Curry on Tourism and sitelines,” and a really big win for Tara Lumpkin’s website, “Voices for BioDiversity” won first for websites, and TV awards to Kathleen McCleery and Megan Kamerick for their quality productions. You all make New Mexico look good for all of us!

     2015 New Mexico Press Women Communications Chair Diane Schmidt says “Congratulations to everyone! this is a real honor to be recognized among your colleagues.” Award announcements are going out by email to each individual from NFPW this week. Certificates will be mailed out in September following the national conference being held this year in Alaska, where Anne Hillerman will be representing New Mexico as this year’s New Mexico Communicator of Achievement.

     For your convenience download press release or formatted excel listings by category, name, placement, entry titles. Here is the complete list of NFPW contest winners.

     Here are the awards won by New Mexico authors in the 2015 National Federation of Press Women Contest as follows:

*Congratulations to the 13 UNM undergraduates and their instructor:

Liam Cary-Eaves

Micaela Eldridge-Lane

Kyle Lord

Jessi Mace

Michael Warren

Kendra Williams

Aaron Anglin

Priscilla Banuelos

Moriah Carty

Marcus Jaramillo

J.R. Oppenheim

Jillian Roach

Kate Nash, Instructor