Soni Dimond, President
Hello, friends and members of Press Club of Southwest Florida! Happy summer of 2017!
I’d like to thank all of our Press Club of Southwest Florida members who have worked so diligently this year to make NPC such an outstanding organization!
At this halfway point of the year, I am pleased to report we have been accomplishing and exceeding our goals, which include a promise to improve what we members of the media just love to do: communicate!
I will continue the transparency of our board’s communication, and I will encourage all board members to copy me on their exciting plans and projects, so I may share them with you!
I am extremely proud to say that our Press Club of Southwest Florida is developing a much more vigorous series of scholarship programs to serve young journalists.
Here’s the latest SCOOP: We will honor and award Young Journalist Winners on June 1. The Press Club of Southwest Florida instituted a Young Journalist’s Award for the first time this year, and we are thrilled to tell you that excellent reporting, writing and presentation are alive and well in southwest Florida. We recruited candidates, who needed to be within five years of their college graduation, from local newspapers, magazines, and TV and radio stations, asking supervisors to send us their most talented pupils.
The committee, which was comprised of NPC board members Bob Orr and Cary Barbor, along with our outstanding new NPC member Mark Young, assessed the candidates and chose a winner from among the print journalists and one from the broadcasters. (We’re intentionally keeping the winners’ names under wraps until the presentation on June 1.)
The print journalist we chose displayed thorough reporting and compelling writing. The judges appreciated an eye for detail and an ability to find the poetry in quotidian news and feature reporting. We found the work very impressive, and we look forward to seeing more from this reporter.
The TV journalist, too, demonstrated solid writing and performance skills. This broadcaster is clearly the “go-to” person at the station for late breaking news, consistently presenting concise and timely stories on demanding deadlines. This reporter shows a passion for the work and a dedication to the excellence of journalism.
You are welcome to join us in congratulating the winners when we present each of them with a $500 honorarium at the June 1 NPC meeting.
You won’t want to miss that June 1 luncheon, not only because of these special award presentations but also because this program will prepare us for hurricane season. Yes, it’s that time of year again: the Atlantic Hurricane Season begins June 1 and runs through November 30. We’ve been fortunate not to have a major storm for several years. Will this be the year? How ready are we? Our two speakers—NBC-2 meteorologist Jason Dunning, and Collier County Emergency Services Manager Dan Summers—will update us on the latest storm predictions and how to prepare ourselves if a storm targets our area.
Additionally, NPC’s deep appreciation goes to our valued Board Member Connie Kindsvater, who created all of the notices about our NPC scholarships and provided the information for the scholarship committee’s interview process. Connie selected each year’s top tier of NPC Journalism Scholarship students, putting them together with mentors, and making sure that one member of our committee was on hand to distribute Scholarship Awards at special “high school honors nights” in May. Connie arranged and organized scholarship committee meetings, invited the students to attend our lunches, and introduced them to our members. Connie received regular reports from our students and confirmed that their grades continued to meet specifications for receiving one of our scholarships. At our June 1 luncheon, she will introduce renewing scholarship recipients as well as new ones selected this year. A special NPC thanks goes to hard-working Connie Kindsvater, who always smiles and says “It’s a lot, but it’s a labor of love!”
We hope you enjoy this monthly peek into the generosity of our NPC members’ time, finances and community spirit. There is never a dull moment at Press Club of Southwest Florida!
Although the June 1 meeting is our last official gathering for this year, your NPC board never stops working! We will be convening for our annual Planning Retreat on Saturday, June 10, and we are eager to share our dreams for the future.
Stay tuned!