Some of you know that I’m the president of the Rhode Island Press Association. In addition to such events as RI High School Journalism Day, we also host an annual awards celebration where we journalists pat each other on the back for our hard work and a job well done over the past year.
I’ve always been one to believe that you don’t write for the awards, you write and take photos with daily professionalism and quality and then you check out what you produced over the past year and find items that might be worthy.
I recently learned that I’ve placed in the top three for three writing categories, and will find out where I came in during our annual banquet celebration later this month.
I placed for overall headline writing, which has always been a point of pride, as well as in the local tourism category for my story on TEN31 Productions getting back to its roots, and for reporting on the economy for my story on how reimbursement changes impacted a local pharmacy here in Cumberland.
It was nice to again get some validation that after so many struggles over the years, this career that I love was the right choice.
My three awards were among 13 awards won by people working for The Breeze, including three writing awards from my friend and fellow reporter Sofia Barr, who is now with Ocean State Media. Those 13 tied a record we set in 2020 (for 2019 work) and 2024 (for 2023 work). Congratulations to everyone who was part of it.
I’m happy that I can continue to focus in on work that readers deserve, as mentioned in this great article by Zane Wolfang. When it’s not perfect, I hope you’ll let me know. When I recently encountered a former reader during a stop at Franklin Farm, she mentioned how sad she was to not get to read my writing anymore. I was able to share that she can keep reading it right here.
I hope you’ll continue reading the stories we started producing a month ago today. Help us improve, give us tips, and perhaps we’ll all be part of more awards in the future.
