eChaser: June 2012 / p3

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PEOPLE & PLACES

Three TCU student journalists — senior Lexy Cruz and sophomores Bailey McGowan and Ryan Osborne — are the first recipients of the Jay Milner Distinguished Student Journalism awards presented by the TCU Schieffer School of Journalism. Cruz, editor in chief of the TCU 360 news website during the spring 2012 semester, was named editor of the year. McGowan was honored as reporter of the year, and Osborne was recognized for producing the story of the year. Judges comprised TCU journalism faculty and news media professionals. Milner, a former TCU journalism professor, died in December 2011 at age 88. He gained prominence as a reporter in Mississippi covering the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s. Following the publication of his novel, “Incident at Ashton,” in 1961, he returned to Texas following a stint at the New York Herald Tribune and joined the circle of Texas writers that included Larry McMurtry, Larry L. King and Dan Jenkins. Although influential in the outlaw music scene of the 1970s that flourished around Austin, he was “probably at his best as a college journalism teacher,” noted former Lufkin Daily News publisher Joe Murray, for whom Milner later wrote newspaper columns. A gift from Milner’s widow, Gail Brown Milner, established the student awards. “TCU and Jay have made a lot of good impressions on a lot of kids,” she said. “I think Jay would be thrilled and amazed at what we’re doing.”

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NEW AND RETURNING MEMBERS

SPJ ... Chris Blake, KXAS-TV ... Keith Ryan Cartwright, Professional Bull Riders

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PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

Allyson Cross, Greater Fort Worth PRSA

It was all soft candlelight and red rose petals as Greater Fort Worth PRSA recognized the year’s best in public relations work at our inaugural — and quite successful — Worthy Awards banquet. Wow, what a night!

I’m so proud of the work our chapter submitted. Winning entries addressed two multimillion-dollar bond programs, a media event and exhibit celebrating a Supreme Court justice, a media relations campaign for a Texas-based vodka, the release of a book related to international crisis communications, a 9-11 tribute event, and social media programs and tactics for brands like Justin Boots and Cash America.

Gigi Westerman, APR, and Sandra Brodnicki, APR, took best in show for an integrated marketing communications program developed for the Money School. This previously underutilized Catholic Charities program targets county residents earning less than $50,000 a year. After Gigi and Sandra worked their magic, the Money School experienced a 200 percent increase in clients and a 700 percent increase in clients creating an emergency savings account.

Our first Worthy Communicator of the Year is City Councilman Joel Burns for his suicide prevention anti-bullying and efforts after the launch of his It Gets Better video (which has received several million hits on YouTube). Councilman Burns subsequently appeared on NBC’s “Today Show” and “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”

There are so many people to thank, chief among them our sponsors and donors: Concussion, Open Channels Group, Tarrant County College, Lockheed Martin, Texas Christian University, J.O., Ratio Digital Media and Cockrell Enovation. And how could I not recognize the tremendous Worthy Awards committee: Carolyn Bobo, APR, Fellow PRSA; Michelle Clark, Liz Heck, Megan Murphey and Margaret Ritsch, APR. Because of their hard work, we exceeded our goals for number of entries submitted — anticipated 40, received 49 — and attendance at the banquet — expected 40-50, seated well over 100.

What a night. Did I say that already?

And this month we welcome back one of our own, Kristie Aylett, APR, to present a program on crisis communications. The hits just keep coming. I look forward to seeing you at Colonial on June 13.

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OVER & OUT

John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ

Even in a stinko economy, journalism jobs can still be found, if perhaps in places you wouldn’t think to look. Join SPJ board member Michael Koretzky at 10 a.m. Wednesday, June 13, for SPJ’s first webinar, on how to find jobs, apply for them and separate yourself from the competition — all the lessons he had to learn the hard way. Register here. Koretzky is Region 3 director, a former at-large SPJ director and a former hiring editor at a Top 50 newspaper company, national website and international magazine. For the past 15 years he has run a weekly media job list in one of the nation’s largest markets. ...

Labor Day weekend will mark the fourth annual Will Write for Food, when 20 student journalists spend a long weekend reporting on a homeless shelter in south Florida and assembling a 24-page newspaper in 36 hours. Do something for folks who can’t pay you back — oh, and for yourself, too. ...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh District handed down a victory for the American Civil Liberties Union in ACLU v. Alvarez, ruling the Illinois Eavesdropping Act unconstitutional. SPJ joined the amicus brief last year in support of ACLU’s defense of citizens’ and journalists’ right to gather information in the public domain.

Caught my eye. Last 12 months were hottest on record for U.S. ... Many news orgs must choose between ‘radical restructure and outright collapse.’ ... First solar project on public lands begins delivering power. ... NC ignores science, tries to make sea level rise illegal. ... One in 10 U.S. veterans lacks health insurance. ... California smog threatens world’s oldest trees. ... Michigan principal punishes students for biking to school. ... Want to understand Congress? Follow the money. ... Chemical reaction eats up CO2 to produce energy. ... Five invasive plants you can eat. ... Navy thinks renewable energy is the future, but House Republicans balk. ... Saudi Arabia vows $109 billion in solar power investment. ... 100-foot subsea turbine successfully installed at world’s first tidal farm. ... Siemens to test “eHighway” overhead electric lines for trucks in California. ... Biochar promises to provide carbon negative fuel and better soil. ... Seven major corporations dump shady Sustainable Forestry Initiative.

Closing words: “A writer out of loneliness is trying to communicate like a distant star sending signals. He isn’t telling or teaching or ordering. Rather he seeks to establish a relationship of meaning, of feeling, of observing. We are lonesome animals. We spend all life trying to be less lonesome.” — John Steinbeck ... “I loved, I was loved, my health was good, I had a great deal of money and I spent it, I was happy and I confessed it to myself.” — Giacomo Casanova ... “If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn’t help the poor, either we’ve got to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we’ve got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don’t want to do it.” — satirist Stephen Colbert, quoted in an article on Gov. Rick Perry and God

Closing words II, bigotry bracket: “There is an absolute historical pattern to the bigotry of social conservatives. They rally using terms of moral Armageddon against the freedoms sought by some despised or condescended to Other, whether that be a woman wanting to work outside the home, a Jew seeking to join the country club, an African American trying to get home on a city bus. Then the freedoms are won, and people — even socially conservative ones — realize the world kept spinning after all. Armageddon did not come. Only change.” — Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Leonard Pitts, on failed Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum’s opposition to gay marriage ... “Bigotry disguised as religion is still bigotry.” — El Paso Mayor John Cook, referring to a group that fought to end health benefits for gay and unmarried partners of city employees and then tried to recall him after he voted to restore the benefits