VOSD Reporter Honored With National Recognition
Emily Alpert works really hard. That seems to be getting noticed.
The Scripps Howard Foundation last week named Alpert a finalist in the Community Journalism category for her work on the education beat throughout 2009.
Alpert's work included her Insert Teacher Here series examining the classroom impacts of the district's rigid teacher placement system, her watchdog work on the County Office of Education and stories analyzing the departure of Superintendent Terry Grier and the battle for a South County school.
The winner was Daniel Gilbert of the Bristol Herald Courier in Virginia. (Who turns out to be Alpert's former classmate and neighbor.)
Scripps Howard doesn't always name finalists in each category but does when it finds exemplary work. So it's kind of like Alpert won the silver medal in an event they don't always award a silver medal in.
She was also recognized recently with a special citation in the National Awards for Education Reporting from the Education Writers Association for beat reporting in publications with a circulation of less than 100,000. Last year, she won EWA's first place award for investigative reporting.
Congrats, Emily. You deserve all the recognition that you receive (and more).
-- ANDREW DONOHUE
Showing posts with label awards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label awards. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Monday, March 08, 2010
Oscar lesson: take all awards with a grain of salt; Sandra Bullock wins a Razzie for Worst Actress and an Oscar for Best Actress in the same weekend.
Bullock embraces the Oscar -- and a Razzie
By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
Sandra Bullock showed a humble side over the weekend that's going to play well with movie audiences in the future. It was a great career move for an appealing actress.
Second things first:
On Sunday, Bullock won the Best Actress Oscar for "The Blind Side." She had been a co-favorite along with Meryl Streep, but still discounted a bit given her past as an actress with a history of fluffy comedic roles (although the pretty good "28 Days" was definitely an exception).
Bullock on Sunday night gave an emotional acceptance speech that talked about all the great actors she had been up against in the competition, thanked her mom and paid homage to people who accept others into their lives, as her character did in "Blind Side."
Long gone are the days of "Miss Congeniality," it appeared.
But it was what Bullock did Saturday that also caught my eye.
She actually showed up at the Razzies, a low-brow "award" show that proclaims which actors and movies were the worst of the past year.
Bullock "won" a Golden Raspberry for worst actress for her performance in "All About Steve."
In good humor -- but with remarks tinged with some tartness -- she said she wasn't sure enough judges had actually seen her work in the show, and she offered to give all audience members DVDs of the movie.
The publicity-getting move showed Bullock doesn't always take herself so seriously. It's the kind of step that could endear her even more with audiences.
By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
Sandra Bullock showed a humble side over the weekend that's going to play well with movie audiences in the future. It was a great career move for an appealing actress.
Second things first:
On Sunday, Bullock won the Best Actress Oscar for "The Blind Side." She had been a co-favorite along with Meryl Streep, but still discounted a bit given her past as an actress with a history of fluffy comedic roles (although the pretty good "28 Days" was definitely an exception).
Bullock on Sunday night gave an emotional acceptance speech that talked about all the great actors she had been up against in the competition, thanked her mom and paid homage to people who accept others into their lives, as her character did in "Blind Side."
Long gone are the days of "Miss Congeniality," it appeared.
But it was what Bullock did Saturday that also caught my eye.
She actually showed up at the Razzies, a low-brow "award" show that proclaims which actors and movies were the worst of the past year.
Bullock "won" a Golden Raspberry for worst actress for her performance in "All About Steve."
In good humor -- but with remarks tinged with some tartness -- she said she wasn't sure enough judges had actually seen her work in the show, and she offered to give all audience members DVDs of the movie.
The publicity-getting move showed Bullock doesn't always take herself so seriously. It's the kind of step that could endear her even more with audiences.
Monday, September 01, 2008
If they win an award, they must be good--right?
Here are two stories about awards.
The first award is for a school district, and the second is for a restaurant. I learned a few years ago that awards are very often based on political connections rather than merit.
But there is another way of choosing winners: awards are sometimes based simply on what the applicants claim about themselves.
The award in story #2 below may have been a result of a combination of these two strategies. Maybe there was a deadlock regarding the real restaurants, so the secretly fake one was chosen because the judges wanted to escape a difficult choice.
AWARD #1
CVESD CHOSEN AS FINALIST
Apparently CVESD didn't tell the NSBA about the millions the board has spent covering up wrongdoing. Or maybe they did--and NSBA, which is connected to the Council for School Attorneys--thought it was a terrific accomplishment.
From CVESD's website:
"...National School Boards Association to honor District as a role model for excellence in Board governance
"The National School Boards Association’s Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE) has named Chula Vista as one of three finalists for the association's Annual Award for Urban School Board Excellence.
"The Chula Vista Elementary School District, the Brownsville Independent School District in Texas, and the School District of Omaha in Nebraska are each candidates for CUBE’s prestigious annual award. The prize honors urban school districts that demonstrate progress in educating children and that serve as role models in school board governance...
“These finalists illustrate how essential successful board governance is for urban achievement, and we are proud to recognize these districts for their exemplary leadership,” said Anne. L Bryant, executive director of NSBA...
"A panel of judges selected finalists based on the school districts’ submissions and independent research..."(emphasis added).
[Blogger's note: CVESD got (or gave to itself?) an NSBA/CUBE award in 2004.]
AWARD #2
NON-EXISTANT RESTAURANT WINS AWARD
NEW YORK TIMES
By Stanley Fish
August 31, 2008
Fooled Again
Last week the New York Post’s Page Six picked up on a story that had been widely circulated on the blogosphere. The magazine Wine Spectator was the victim of a hoax when it came out that its “award of excellence” had been given to a restaurant that did not exist. Robin Goldstein, a wine critic who said that he wanted to expose the lack of any foundation for many food and wine awards, had submitted an application that included the menu and wine list of a fictitious restaurant he named Osteria L’Intrepido. Goldstein revealed the hoax within a week or so of the announced award and declared that what he had done proved that “the level of scrutiny” that accompanies such awards is “insufficient.”
The first award is for a school district, and the second is for a restaurant. I learned a few years ago that awards are very often based on political connections rather than merit.
But there is another way of choosing winners: awards are sometimes based simply on what the applicants claim about themselves.
The award in story #2 below may have been a result of a combination of these two strategies. Maybe there was a deadlock regarding the real restaurants, so the secretly fake one was chosen because the judges wanted to escape a difficult choice.
AWARD #1
CVESD CHOSEN AS FINALIST
Apparently CVESD didn't tell the NSBA about the millions the board has spent covering up wrongdoing. Or maybe they did--and NSBA, which is connected to the Council for School Attorneys--thought it was a terrific accomplishment.
From CVESD's website:
"...National School Boards Association to honor District as a role model for excellence in Board governance
"The National School Boards Association’s Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE) has named Chula Vista as one of three finalists for the association's Annual Award for Urban School Board Excellence.
"The Chula Vista Elementary School District, the Brownsville Independent School District in Texas, and the School District of Omaha in Nebraska are each candidates for CUBE’s prestigious annual award. The prize honors urban school districts that demonstrate progress in educating children and that serve as role models in school board governance...
“These finalists illustrate how essential successful board governance is for urban achievement, and we are proud to recognize these districts for their exemplary leadership,” said Anne. L Bryant, executive director of NSBA...
"A panel of judges selected finalists based on the school districts’ submissions and independent research..."(emphasis added).
[Blogger's note: CVESD got (or gave to itself?) an NSBA/CUBE award in 2004.]
AWARD #2
NON-EXISTANT RESTAURANT WINS AWARD
NEW YORK TIMES
By Stanley Fish
August 31, 2008
Fooled Again
Last week the New York Post’s Page Six picked up on a story that had been widely circulated on the blogosphere. The magazine Wine Spectator was the victim of a hoax when it came out that its “award of excellence” had been given to a restaurant that did not exist. Robin Goldstein, a wine critic who said that he wanted to expose the lack of any foundation for many food and wine awards, had submitted an application that included the menu and wine list of a fictitious restaurant he named Osteria L’Intrepido. Goldstein revealed the hoax within a week or so of the announced award and declared that what he had done proved that “the level of scrutiny” that accompanies such awards is “insufficient.”
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