One Week to Touchstone Entry Deadline

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One week left!

You’ve done great work and we want to see it!! Each year, the Press Club of Toledo honors the best of journalism and community service in our area at the Touchstone Awards. This year, we have expanded the number of journalism categories to recognize even more of the excellent work produced in the Toledo region. We invite you to enter your work!!

An independent panel of judges will be evaluating stories from newspaper, radio, TV and internet journalists, as well as a new category for PR campaigns.

The 2020 Touchstone Awards Call for Entries is here (2020 Touchstone Awards Call for Nominations). It’s easy to enter and there’s no limit to the number of entries you can submit, but you must not delay! The deadline to enter this year’s Touchstones will be August 21, 2020!

Our 22nd annual Touchstone Awards Ceremony will be held on October 21 at the Toledo Club, with Dr. Nicole Kraft (author of “Always Get the Name of the Dog”) as guest speaker. In the meantime, please look over your work published between June 30, 2019 and June 30, 2020 and submit your best!

We will look forward to celebrating your journalism contributions at our 22nd annual Touchstone Awards!

 

Beyond George Floyd Pressing Issues a Success!

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Thank you everyone for the wonderful Pressing Issues Virtual Town Hall which was held last night.  It was a huge success.  Over the course of the night, more than 70 people were online and they represented all elements of our community. 

What they heard was insightful and inspiring.  Our panelists provided a rich description of the challenges they face, including–but not limited to–the under-representation of minorities across the newsroom.  The Press Club of Toledo thanks them for their time and their willingness to share their wisdom and experience.

We have received great feedback for people who were in attendance.  This is a good example of what the Press Club exists to do.  Together, we can elevate our profession and our community.

We will be in touch soon with information on our next pressing issues.  In the meantime, if you’d like to help us provide more programming like this, please consider joining the Press Club of Toledo.  The cost for a new membership is only $30.

https://toledopressclub.com/wp-content/uploads/Press-Club-Membership-App.pdf

 

Pressing Issues: Beyond George Floyd, Covering and Responding to Nationwide Civil Unrest

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Beyond George Floyd

Covering and Responding to Nationwide Civil Unrest

A Toledo Press Club Virtual Conference

July 15, 7:00 PM (RSVP pressclub@bex.net for login instructions)

The killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police has sparked the greatest civil unrest in a generation with nationwide protests calling for police reform and social justice. The Press Club of Toledo invites you to a Pressing Issues virtual conference on Wednesday, July 15 at 7 p.m. Hear from a panel of journalists on the front lines of the coverage and communicators charged with formulating responses for their companies and organizations. Together, we’ll explore:

  • The challenges faced by members of the media as they increasingly become targets of law enforcement or protestors while covering demonstrations.
  • The unique challenges facing black journalists and communicators.
  • The choices being made by companies and organizations as they consider how or if they should take a position and respond. Who did it well and who fell short? Does a lack of diversity in corporate communications and public relations hinder those efforts? Are we entering a new age of corporate activism?

Moderator-

Rhonda Sewell, Manager Governmental and External Affairs – Toledo Lucas County Public Library

 

Panelists-

Brandy Jones APR,  Vice President of External Affairs – Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority

Andrew Kinsey- News Anchor- WTOL 11

Precious Fondren- Features Reporter- Toledo Blade

Bri’on Whiteside- Education Reporter- Toledo Blade

Charles “Charlie Mack” Welch Radio Show Host and Program Director, WJUC FM 107.3

Dr. Nicole Kraft to Keynote Touchstone Ceremony

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We are excited to announce that Dr. Nicole Kraft will be the keynote speaker for the 2020 Touchstone Awards, scheduled for October 21.  As a working journalist, an author, and an educator, she is the perfect choice for our event, which recognizes excellence in local journalism and awards scholarships to local journalism students.

Dr. Kraft spent 25 years as an award-winning reporter, editor and magazine journalist, while working also in public relations for professional sports and government communications.

She joined the Ohio State School of Communication in 2010, and her areas of expertise include news, sports and feature writing, social media, sports communication, media law and ethics, and academic use of mobile technology. Her focus in teaching and research has been in utilizing technology in journalism and global education, as well as the intersection of sports and society. Her dissertation developed a grounded theory regarding academic use of mobile technology among student-athletes.

Dr. Kraft is co-director of Ohio State’s Sports & Society Initiative, and as part of the Global One Health Initiative she teaches annually in Ethiopia. In 2015 she was named an Apple Distinguished Educator, and consults with and trains athletic departments around the country in how to better engage student-athletes into academics using mobile technology.

She is also an active journalist, covering sports for the Associated Press and Columbus Dispatch. Her new book, “Always Get the Name of the Dog: A guide to media interviewing,” was released by Routledge in 2019, and in 2020 she authored the digital textbook, “Writing Fabulous Features.”

Touchstone 2020 Date Announced!

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The date for the 2020 Touchstone Awards has been announced.  The ceremony will take place on October 21, 2020.  More details to come…we’ll be announcing our speaker and community awards in the coming days and entries for the journalism awards will be open soon.

Please Nominate Someone Who Has Made A Positive Community Impact

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The Press Club of Toledo is proud to recognize the achievements of local journalists and community leaders each year at the annual Touchstone Awards dinner. We are now accepting nominations for our three community awards:  Lifetime Achievement Award, Touchstone Contributor, and Golden Touchstone. 

 

  • The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes long-term efforts to enhance the quality of life in Northwest Ohio.  This award goes to those who have made an impact through professional and/or philanthropic achievements throughout their lives. 
  • The Touchstone Contributor Award also recognizes outstanding contributions to the community, but specifically someone who has made a significant impact on the quality of life in the Northwest Ohio region over the past year.    
  • The Golden Touchstone Award recognizes lifetime achievement in the field of journalism in Northwest Ohio. 

There are many worthy candidates for each of these awards, especially during these extraordinary times.  Won’t you please take a moment to nominate someone you have seen make a difference?   Please submit the person’s name, title, and a brief paragraph on why you think they deserve the award and send to pressclub@bex.net.   You may also send any questions or inquiries to that address.  Don’t hesitate! The deadline for nominations in these three categories is June 3, 2020. 

The recipients will be announced in June and will be honored at the annual Press Club Touchstone Award dinner in October.   

Entries for Press Club of Toledo journalism awards will open in June.  These awards recognize work published between July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020.  Start looking through your work now to be ready to submit!