Three Journalists Join Board of Governors, and NBC-2’s Sean Martinelli Receives Young Journalist of the Year Award
On December 10, the Press Club of Southwest Florida successfully held its first-ever virtual annual meeting, conducting elections and celebrating this year’s Young Journalist Award winner.
Press Club members approved officers and nominees for the Board of Governors, as presented by the Nominating Committee, led by our vice-president of administration, Bob Orr, along with our membership chair, Karla Wheeler, and Press Club member Linda Blackman.
The election results are as follows:
Press Club Officers for 2021:
Julie Pedretti, President
Pam Fultz, Secretary
Iris Shur, Treasurer
Serving on the Board of Governors for a New Term (through 2022):
Karla Wheeler, Membership Chair
Connie Kindsvater, Scholarship Chair
Phil Beuth, Governor-at-Large
Marqueeta Curtis-Haynes, Governor-at-Large
Tom Marquardt, Governor-at-Large
Gregg Ramshaw, Governor-at-Large
Sandra Dee, Governor-at-Large (thank you for your service as our secretary)
New Members of the Board of Governors (through 2022):
Laura Greanias, Governor-at-Large, Investigations Editor USA Today Network – Florida
Chris Cifatte, Governor-at-Large, Anchor & Reporter WINK-TV
Delia D’Ambra, Governor-at-Large, Investigative Reporter, Audiochuck Podcast Network
Officers and Governors Whose Terms Are continuing (through 2021):
Bob Orr, Vice President–Administration
David Silverberg, Vice President–Programs
Rhona Saunders, Press Club Co-Founder and Governor-for-Life
Mark Young, Communications Chair
Jill Jaffe, Governor-at Large
Jeff Margolis, Governor-at-Large
George Lehner, Governor-at-Large
Joel Banow, Governor-at-Large
Frank Cipolla, Governor-at-Large
Members also approved the club’s bylaws, which were updated to reflect our name change from the Naples Press Club to the Press Club of Southwest Florida. Many thanks to Bob Orr for leading that effort.
After the business portion of the meeting was complete, Bob Orr, who served as chair of the Young Journalist Awards Committee, presented the Young Journalist Award. He expressed his gratitude to the members of the committee: Marqueeta Curtis-Haynes, Karla Wheeler, and judges: Gregg Ramshaw, Mary Ramshaw, George Lehner and Carole Greene.
Sean Martinelli
Bob announced that the winner of our 2020 Young Journalist Award is Sean Martinelli of NBC- 2. He described Sean is an enterprising feature reporter and storyteller who specializes in finding interesting people with off-beat tales to share, in a segment called Story2Share. Take a few minutes to watch this 8-minute reel and you’ll see why Sean was the clear winner of the Press Club’s 2020 Young Journalist of the Year.
Sean talked about his passion for his work—the stories. He also graciously responded to questions from members on the Zoom call.
While this event was a success, we hope to see you all in person at next year’s Press Club annual meeting.
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