Tops in Community Service

The Texas Press Association today awarded my newspaper First Place in its annual press contest for Community Service.

Because of deadline issues, I wasn't able to attend the luncheon (it was over 300 miles away). I found out when they posted the winners on-line this afternoon.

In the 20 years I have been a newspaper editor in Texas, this is the first time I've ever taken a first place. The closest I ever came before was a second place in General Excellence in 1989.

The Pentagon wanted to close the Red River Army Depot last year as part of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process last year. That would have ripped the guts out of this county, and we fought it tooth and toenail.

Here's what the judges said about our effort:

"This newspaper committed resources from every department to keep the community's spirits up. Its multifaceted approach not only kept the community informed in each issue, but led the battle to get its readers to do something about the problem. And then the newspaper gave the credit to someone else for the success of the battle."

This is the nicest news I've had in a long time. I only became a published s-f author three years ago (my first story, "Silvern", was published in Revolution SF in June 2003), but I've been writing for newspapers for 30 years.