SIPA: BROADCAST CONTEST WINNERS

The Elizabeth B. Dickey Distinguished Service Award is presented at the Southern Interscholastic Press Association’s annual convention the first weekend each March. The recipient usually has at least seven years of experience advising one or more award-winning school publications. He/she also has an influence in scholastic journalism beyond the walls of the school in state, regional and national scholastic press associations and shows leadership at SIPA conventions.

Puntney is synonymous with scholastic journalism. Unnamed sources know she was actually the inspiration for the Energizer Bunny.

Setting an example for all of us in terms of a commitment to education and to scholastic journalism and the rights and responsibilities that come with both of these institutions, her support for teachers and students in every state in the nation, and even around the world, is unmatched.

She is the kind of person who leaves everything with which she interacts better than she found it. The organizations she works with have her mark, the student publications she has advised have excelled and moved forward under her guidance, and her students almost universally move on to successful careers. She really, truly makes a difference in the lives of all those she works with.

One individual who knows this person quite well said: "I've always joked that in an alternate reality, I'd want (this person) to be my mom. Not because I don't love my real mom, but because I've seen the way that (her) students interact with her. She is Shirley Jones from the Partridge Family, Florence Henderson from the Brady Bunch, a little bit of Lucille Ball and even a bit of Roseanne Barr all rolled into one. But she brings energy, excitement and fun to everything she does."

Puntney advises the Royal Purple, Kansas State's yearbook. She is also the executive director of the national Journalism Education Association. Before moving to K-State in 1989, she was a college public relations director and an instructor at Cowley County Community College and Northwest Missouri State.

Weintraut's name is easily recognizable on the national level for being on the cutting edge in the journalism classroom. The school newspaper he advises is a model of professionalism both in print and online as is the video yearbook. Both publications are nationally-recognized.

He is sought after at workshops across the country not only for his knowledge about cutting edge technology but for his passion in encouraging advisers to move into the 21st century and catch up with their students’ use of technology.

His nominator said: “I sat in one of his sessions and watched him with his characteristic calm and calculated demeanor and wondered how many hours it must take him to prepare his lessons for his students. His grasp of technology was something I just could never wrap my hand around! He quickly became on of my ‘journalism idols.’ I had Jack Kennedy and Bobby Hawthorne on my idol list already, but this source of inspiration was right in my back yard.

“Seldom in my 20-year career have I encountered a young teacher with such an impressive resume. I look forward to the contributions he will make as his career enters its second half. It’s his work ethic and intelligence that is inspirational and it is what has helped him earn the respect of students and peers."

If you have worked with Wilson, you know he is exhausting. Not exhausted. Exhausting. His energy level is just simply exhausting.

He serves more constituencies than any of us can imagine.

He serves all student media at North Carolina State, from print to broadcast, from literary arts magazine to newspaper. And he is also a photographer at many N.C. State events.

He serves the central North Carolina region as an EMT. This bent toward helping people is also evident in his troubleshooting skills. Some of us have tried to convince him he is like a fireman. He gets brought in when a job, a company or a publication staff is dealing with dire times and puts out all the fires.

He helps the N.C. Scholastic Media Association as a speaker at regional workshops, adviser courses and at the summer institute.

For the Journalism Education Association he is the Web site organizer, C:JET designer, a convention speaker, onsite judge and on and on.

And he serves SIPA. His long devotion to SIPA mirrors his long devotion to scholastic journalism across this country, and we are especially fortunate to have him based in the Southeast.

Going all the way back to his high school years when he wrote his first photojournalism instruction manual, he has continued to be an overachiever as a speaker, writer and instructor. People around the country call on him when they need help with design, software programs, technology, photography or anything else having to do with publications. He is always willing to provide his opinion on something (whether it is asked for or not).

He preaches ethics to scholastic journalism audiences, particularly in the field of photojournalism. His lectures to high school and college groups should influence photographers for years to come.