President's Perspective
Front Page Awards Get New D.C. Location

(March 5, 2010) Here's an important message for all of you who saved your "Official 2010 Membership Meeting Notice" postcard mailed by the local Guild just after Christmas. Come to think of it, it's important for all Guild members who lost their postcards or (gasp!) threw them aside without marking their calendars.

We've switched the site for the March membership meeting, which features the Front Page Awards and Guild Service Awards ceremony. Instead of being in Baltimore, it's going to be held in Washington, at the D.C. office of the local, 1100 15th St. NW (at the corner of L St. NW), Suite 350. The date is still Thursday, March 25. The reception begins at 6:30 p.m. and the awards ceremony starts at 7:30 p.m.

Why the switch? For the first time in at least two decades and probably longer (and quite possibly EVER), Guild members from our Washington-area units swept the Front Page and Guild Service competitions. At the midpoint of the previous decade, we started presenting the awards in Baltimore every other year because Guild members from the Sun were copping a substantial majority of the awards, and we were expecting more of the same. We were surprised at the resurgence of our Washington-based units – or should we have been? Our journalists and professionals consistently produce terrific work; it's just that they haven't entered the Front Page Awards as consistently.

Here's who we'll be honoring and what we will honor them for::

Front Page Awards
GRAND PRIZES
Bill Pryor Memorial Grand Prize For Writing: Joe Stephens and Lena Sun (Washington Post), “Metro Safety” series
Bill Pryor Memorial Grand Prize For Photography: Mark Gail (Post), “Missing More Than a Meal”

Writing
Bernie Harrison Memorial Award for Commentary: Mark Gruenberg (At-Large Members), “Goodbye, Good Riddance”

Feature Writing: Mark Gruenberg, “Homestead, PA.”

Morton Mintz Award for Investigative Reporting: Joe Stephens and Lena Sun (Post “Metro Safety” series)

Frank C. Porter Memorial Award for Labor and Business Reporting: Cathleen O’Connor Schoultz (BNA), “Data Security”
(Honorable mention: Michelle Amber and Sheila R. Cherry, BNA, “Carpenters Disaffiliate”)

Non-Daily Specialized and Technical Reporting: Cathleen O’Connor Schoultz (BNA), “Difficult Employees”
(Honorable mentions: Ken Doyle, BNA, “FEC Enforcement”; Ray Lane, BNA, “Green Workplaces”

Photography
Feature Photography: Tracy Woodward (Post),“Snow Bride”
National News Photography: Mark Gail (body of work for the Post)
Sports Photography: (Honorable mention: Mark Gail, body of work for the Post)

Design
Web Site Design: Alexandra Goldschmidt (Change to Win)

Customer Service
Customer Service Professional of the Year: Charlotte Sherrod (Catholic News Service)


Guild Service Awards
Each year, we also honor top leaders and activists in the local through the Guild Service Awards. The Washington-Baltimore Guild's officers decided the winners in early March. They are:

Dan de Souza Memorial Award for Member of the Year: Reza Namdar (BNA)
Nadine Grinder Memorial Award for Shop Steward of the Year: Andre Roberson (United Food and Commercial Workers)
Unit Officer of the Year: Ann Kelly (AFL-CIO)
Organizer of the Year: Steve Cook and Laura Francis (BNA)
Herb Block Community Service Award: Sheila Lindsay (American Nurses Association)
"Build the Guild" Award for Bargaining Unit of the Year: Working America

Reza Namdar's case is special. He was nominated for the Unit Officer of the Year honor. But with 22 members (and non-members, even!) putting their signatures to the nomination, it was an easy decision to instead award him the Member of the Year prize.

Parking meters in downtown D.C. now cost $2 an hour (a quarter for 7.5 minutes), and the "hours of operation" now extend past the old standard of 6:30 p.m., so if you don't know of any of the non-metered spots (many of which open up at 6:30 p.m.) near the Guild office, you may do best by parking in one of the three garages on the other side of 15th Street from the Guild office. Or you may want to take the Metro; Farragut North (L Street exit) on the Red Line; McPherson Square on the Orange/Blue ("White House" exit).

I look forward to seeing you there – regardless of what became of your postcard.