2009 Merit Awards Program Underway
2007 OPEN PHOTOGRAPHY winner by Cpl. Lendus B. Casey.Tomotaka Sekiguchi, motorcycle mechanic and Japanese national, crouches next to his custom built motorcycle set on display at this year’s 3rd Annual Oshima Motorcycle Camp Meeting.
Hundreds of submissions in the 2009 USMCCCA Merit Awards program are being screened and assembled at the Division of Public Affairs, Marine Corps headquarters, Pentagon.
With a deadline of February 16 the entries are still pouring in. Another record breaking year in terms of volume in the print, broadcast and photographic competitions may be in the making, says MGySgt. Phil Mehringer, chief of Marine Corps public affairs and liaison to the association.
His headquarters team for the project includes GySgt. Ronna Weyland, GySgt. Steve Williams (Marines TV), Sgt. Clinton Firstbrook and LCpl. Bryan Carfrey. Association Awards Chair Don Knight met with several members of the team at the National Press Club in December to discuss the recruitment of judges, a judging venue in Washington, D.C. on March 6 and 7, and the presentation of awards at the 2009 Annual Conference of the USMCCCA at Hampton, VA in September.
The Merit Awards program reached record dimensions in 2008 with more than one thousand submissions in 47 categories. At San Antonio last year there were 133 presentations of plaques and certificates, including the first and second place and honorable mentions in the Merit Award competition. Included were awards to seven Marines in marketing and public affairs from the recruiting command; three Leatherneck magazine awards and the Association’s Denig, Dickson and Presidential awards.
A lineup of 25 civilian judges brought an extraordinary range of experience and talent to the judging process last year. One panel of six professional photographers worked long into the evening at the Pentagon to review hundreds of entries in the photo competition. The broadcast judges took three days to review tape and film submitted in the many broadcast categories.
The use of civilian judges with extensive backgrounds in journalism and public affairs puts a stamp of legitimacy on the awards program. The judges, in turn, say they are impressed with what they read, watch and hear during the many hours of volunteer duty.
Each judge was asked last year to submit a personal critique on the awards program.
One print judge, Richard Truitt of Rowayton, CT, is a former Marine platoon leader in the Korean conflict. He is also a former Chicago Tribune reporter, a Presidential speech writer, author and a journalism teacher at Northwestern and New York Universities who has also run two global public relations firms, He summarized his one full day of judging at the Pentagon:
“In the best stories the use of quotes and attribution was sound and inventive and some of the leads were spectacular…I thought the categories were fine and that the cheerful help of the staff made for a stimulating and happy day.”
And speaking of professional involvement, after all of the work by the Marine combat correspondents, by the headquarters staff and the judges there has to be a fitting climax. Enter Patrick Coulter, the voice of Raytheon and the voice of the merit awards program. Coulter, a former Marine CC, will return as master of ceremonies for the awards banquet at the Hampton conference in September. “The awards banquet represents a proud moment for these talented Marines,” he says. “It’s also a proud moment for our association and for the United States Marine Corps.”
–Don Knight