I attended the Louisiana Press Association’s annual awards conference this past weekend in Biloxi, where the newspaper people of our world take a day to highlight the top stories, photos and ads from the past year.
I have jokingly called it the “Newspaper Academy Awards” since it really is the one time each year our industry pats each other on the back and says, “that’s a good job.”
I always used to think about that with the Academy Awards. Isn’t it actually the people in the film industry simply telling each other, “you’re so great,” “no, you’re so great,” or “oh no, YOU are really the greatest.”
My wife and I recently got into a discussion about the human condition that has virtually all of us wanting some form of praise for who we are, how we look or what we do.
Most people want to be recognized for something that validates who they are or what they are trying to accomplish. For others, the validation is all about looks, and how beautiful or handsome you might be.
I quit worrying about that one a long time ago when I was a long-haired hippie kid in my 20s who stood 5-10 and weighed about 129.
Thankfully I’m not a guy who worries about being Mr. America. I’m just very happy that I was blessed with a wonderful wife, along with plenty of kids and grandkids. And after 38 years of marriage, I know there is nothing that I need to be so unhappy about.
I’ve been involved with the LPA awards thing for many, many years. I was a sport editor when I started my career, and tried to win a few awards for sports during the first 13 years, then I moved to the newsroom and really got into the middle of competing for many different awards involving writing or photos.
I wasn’t going to say anything about ALL the awards our staff won in the past, but since you insist—yes, we did win dozens and dozens of them, and yes, I had the best sports section in the state almost every year, and well, yes, since you ask, our news staff did won the state’s best newspaper award so many times I can’t really count them all.But of course, awards don’t matter to me.
With that blatant bragging now behind me, I’ll agree I am like most people in that I don’t mind getting a pat on the back, or public recognition that I’ve done something of value in my profession.
But as I have aged, and after reading that familiar book known as the Bible, I try to put the need for recognition and praise far to the back burner of my life. I love the Scripture in Psalms 37 that simply says, “Trust in the Lord and do good,” and that’s really what I try to live my life by.
As for the awards this year, we did win a handful again, but I was honestly most happy to see my designer, Brittany Livaccari, win four first place plaques for her great work building ads for our newspapers, and for my daughter, Chrissy Smith, who won the award for the best special section in the state with her annual highschool football preview.
Yes, I’m getting a little old to worry much about awards anymore, I can honestly say that. Now, I’m happy to win the award each day that says, “congratulations, you got out of bed again and get to live another day.”
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Speaking of my years with the newspaper, I had a most interesting experience last week as Chrissy and I attended the St. Tammany West Business Expo.
Sitting in the booth next to us was a man who surprisingly said to me, “do you remember that you took my picture in the late 70s when I was a kid?”
I was shocked, as you can imagine—not because he asked the question, but because he remembered the incident so well. The man’s name was Paul Amison who related a story of when I was working at the Slidell Sentry-News, and had driven by Paul and two young buddies playing at their house, throwing the football.
As I frequently did, looking for any pictures of locals for the paper, I saw the kids in the front yard, whipped my car around, pulled up to the house and asked if I could take their picture. They ended up being in the paper and he never forgot it.
Paul works for Blue Bell icecream now and is married with three daughters, but I really loved his story since it reminds me how much people still enjoy being in the paper, or seeing someone in the paper that they know.
So much for all those folks still trying to predict the demise of newspapers. Maybe the big city papers are having their challenges, but as for community papers, it is very clear to me that there is still a long life for them all.
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There is a neat state program called “Honor Vets…Vote.” If you go online to sos.la.gov, then click “Honor Vets” you can fill in your name, mailing address and email, plus the name of a vet you want to honor, and their branch of service.
You will receive a lapel pin and bumper sticker indicating you are honoring a vet—and it’s free. It has a picture of the state of Louisiana, with an American Flag overlay—pretty neat.
Kevin Chiri can be reached by e-mail at kevinchiri@gmail.com.