Fabulous 1st day back

I could not have asked for a better 1st day back after an excellent vacation!

I walked in and one of my favorite interns, Kelsey Fisher, was sitting up at the news assignment desk! What a treat! Kelsey just graduated and is heading back to L.A. to take the west coast by storm! After Kelsey interned for wkyc, she made the leap and had a terrific internship with 'Scrubs' and 'Cougar Town.'

I wish her well and hope she calls often with updates! She's my bud!

Then Howard, my assistant news director, reenacted an awards presentation giving me my Emmy award and my Press Club award. How thrilling! It's always an honor to be nominated and possibly win but an even bigger honor when you believe in your heart of hearts that you did your absolute best work.

I really did a lot of leg work and background research for Eric Mansfield on his Project AED series. When I was done, I felt I had contributed so much. I was humbled and honored to be part of the group who took home honors.

Then Mike O'Mara and I won a 2nd place Press Club award for our W. 89th murders story. I know, very sad, but we really blew the competition out of the water with this story from the get go. Again, so nice to be recognized when you gave it your all.

It's always a team effort with any award.

Many wkyc'ers won awards over the weekend. I tip my hat to all of my colleagues who took home honors from both awards ceremonies and raise my glass to everyone nominated and winning! Kudos to you all!!

Here's a rundown:

Carrie Young won for Channel 3 News at 6, 11/3/09 --Evening Newscast Market 1-20

Project AED, Continuing Coverage:

Romona Robinson

Eric Mansfield

Monica Robins

Rita Andolsen

Me

Kim Wendel

Hardball Cash, Business/Consumer:

Tom Meyer

Sarah Montgomery

To the Moon: Ohio's Journey, Documentary --Jeff Reidel

On Camera Talent Anchor for Weather --Betsy Kling

STO took home a number of honors as well!

Indians on Deck, Sports Program:

Mike Bachmann

Steve Warren

Al Pawlowski

Senior PGA Championship Preview, Sports Special:

John Zaccardelli

Jim Donovan

Jimmy Hanlin

Greg Golya

Joseph Von Enck

Ian Zeigler

Patrick Kilkenney

And during Friday Night's Press Club Awards--

John Demjanjuk's deportation, General News, Dick Russ and Mike Greene

West 89th murders, Spot News, Mike O'Mara and me

Click the link if you'd like to take a look at all of the 2010 Emmy Award winners.

And for the 2010 Press Club Award winners, CLICK HERE!

Sprinting to the finish line

Today at 5pm is the deadline for submitting entries for the 2010 Press Club of Cleveland 'Excellence in Journalism' awards.

I felt as if I were back in college. You've all been there. You get your syllabus at the beginning of the class with an outline of what will happen that semester including when the big term paper is due....and wait until the last second to either write it or hand it in or BOTH!

Well, I did not wait until the last minute, exactly. I had everything I was hoping to submit done, in order, tapes dubbed, paperwork filled out....I was just waiting to see what stories the station submitted.

Once we got that info, we all had the green light to submit anything the station may not have entered.

Not gonna tip my hand.....

Suffice it to say, I was sprinting up the street before my shift to hand in my entries.

Fortunately, one of the Press Club officers works a few buildings down. Quite helpful and a mini work-out as well!

Good luck to all who entered this year!

I'm not sure when we may hear if we've even placed, but the awards ceremony is Friday, June 18, 2010.

Weekly Feature: Hidden Gems

Today's Hidden Gem: Manny Acta

I attended a luncheon today sponsored by The Press Club of Cleveland and The Cleveland Indians where new Cleveland Indians' manager, Manny Acta, spoke and then fielded questions from the audience.

Stealing a line from a very famous movie, he "had me at hello!"

Today's event was the final leg of the Cleveland Indians' Press Tour Caravan, which has been going on all week.

During these caravans, players, management, broadcasters, and other staffers hop on buses and criss-cross Ohio and Pennsylvania meeting and greeting fans and trying to reel them in for the season ahead.

I was not kidding. When Mr. Acta began speaking, he had me. Within minutes, the audience witnessed what a savvy baseball man the Indians hired. You could say he is a student and teacher of the game of baseball. Acta combines his charisma, honesty, and humor making him a great speaker who wows a crowd.

He prefaced his speech by saying he knows the stats from his last gig are not the greatest for a resume but he looks forward to coming to the Indians because they have much talent already. They are not starting from ground zero. Acta said the Indians already have most pieces in place and he's excited at the prospects currently in the Indians' minor league system. He also brought the audience to laughter by saying if this job does not work out, he'll be handling paper and plastic at WalMart.

Acta said, 'Give these guys a chance and stay behind us. Good things are coming to Cleveland.' Acta refuses to be a realist and expects nothing less than the best. He promised to the sell out luncheon crowd, 'we're going to give everything we have.'

Acta said the top three questions commonly asked during the press caravan were:

• Will there be a set line-up this year?


• Where will Grady bat? Ever bat 3rd in the line-up?


• Will he use the word grind?

In regards to the line-up, Acta first gave high praise to former manager Eric Wedge. He said Wedge had many injuries which is why he had to mix up the line-up on a regular basis. However he did go on to say he really would like to have a set line-up day in, day out.

As to Grady's role --he will continue being the Indians' lead-off hitter and may gradually, as let's say Brantley gets more experience, move to the meat of the order.

And he really never touched on whether or not he will use the 'wedge-ism' --GRIND!!!

At the end of his speech, Acta left the audience feeling hopeful for the 201o season as he said, "I'm not here to compete, I'm here to win!"

I expanded on the Manny Acta luncheon on wkyc.com. To read that story, CLICK HERE!

I believe Manny Acta is the right fit for the 2010 Cleveland Indians. As Spring Training progresses and the Season opens, I hope you too will see why Manny Acta is this week's Hidden Gem!

Swing By and Spray recognized by Press Club

I'd like to thank my readers for your continued support.

Swing by and Spray is a labor of love, as you all well know.

I pride myself in everything I do in life--trying to be the best person I can be, the best daughter, friend, Assignment Editor, WKYC /Gannett employee, and writer.

I graduated with degrees in English and Communications.

I have always taken great pride in everything I set out to do and that includes my writing, even though at times, there is so little time to perfect this craft.

However, a number of years ago when I was in charge of birddogging the wkyc website during my shift, I decided to get back in the swing and fine tune my writing skills.

Ever since, I've been striving to become a better writer on a daily basis on the Channel 3 website, assisting on writing stories for the 11pm show, and of course with Swing By and Spray and Grand Slam Kind of Day.

Well, Friday night, I'm beaming and proud to say that Swing By and Spray was actually recognized by the Press Club of Cleveland's 'Excellence in Journalism Awards.' It came in 2nd place under the category of New Media/Blogs behind Carl Weiser and his Politics Extra on Cincinnati.Com.


I'm humbled to say I also won 2 other Press Club awards with several comrades from WKYC.


Television/Spot News:

• First Place--Reporter Paul Thomas, Videographer Mike Greene, Assignment Editor Danielle Fink for 'Officer Owens Shot'


• Second Place --Assignment Editor Danielle Fink, Videographers Brian Johnson & Randy White for 'Fuel Tank Rescue'

And yet more awards for Channel 3:

• General News-2nd place for Reporter Dave Summers --'At the end of the day'


• Human Interest-2nd place for Health Anchor Monica Robins, Videographer Shane Snider, Editor Sarah Montgomery and their 'Sleep Deprivation' piece

I thank my readers again for helping Swing By and Spray take home this great honor.

I am proud of coming up with the concept, with sharing a little slice of my television world with those that want to hear what it's like on a news assignment desk, and with every story I've written. But I am more impressed with the amazingly, positive feedback I've received from numerous readers and so many fellow colleagues on a consistent basis.

Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I can not thank you enough for your kindness.

I would be remiss not to raise a glass to every other winner in this year's 2009 Excellence in Journalism Awards! Ohio, particularly Northeast Ohio, has some of the best journalists, writers, broadcasters, television and print folks around. And they are nice people to boot! A job well-done to you all!

For a complete list of the 2009 Press Club of Cleveland Winners, CLICK HERE!