Fort Meade, Md. - Bryan G. Whitman, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, recognized the military's top print, broadcast and visual information communicators at the Department of Defense Communicators of Excellence awards ceremony on May 29.
"This is the Oscars and the Emmys of the Defense Department," said Whitman, the guest speaker to an audience of about 200 people during the ceremony at the Defense Information School.
The DoD Communicators of Excellence Awards are presented each year to winners of the Thomas Jefferson and Visual Information Awards Programs.
Navy Capt. Curry Graham, commandant of DINFOS, called the winners "the best of the best." "With their lens or with their pen, they communicate to the world the true sacrifice and commitment of the men and women in the military," said Graham, in one of his last official duties as commandant before changing command this week.
The Thomas Jefferson Awards Program recognizes military- and civilian-employee print and broadcast journalists for outstanding achievements in furthering the objectives of DoD.
Soundoff! Editor Melanie Casey was selected as Print Journalist of the Year.
"I'm honored and humbled that my peers would consider me worthy of winning," she said.
Casey was hired as assistant editor of Soundoff! in May 2008. A week later she was promoted to acting editor.
Casey will relocate to Fort Lewis, Wash., next week with her husband, Command Sgt. Major Paul Casey, who was recently assigned to 3rd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), and their three children.
"I'm sad to leave my friends and colleagues at Public Affairs," she said, "but I'm excited to move on to new challenges." The Broadcast Journalist of the Year, Michelle Michael, is the civilian network news producer for the American Forces Network in Mannheim, Germany.
Michael, who began working at AFN six years ago, said she was honored to be recognized for her work during the past year.
"I'm thrilled to death," Michael said after the program.
Other Thomas Jefferson Awards were Outstanding New Broadcaster of the Year, presented to Staff Sgt. Craig Rader, noncommissioned officer-in-charge of television news operations at the Network Production Center at U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan, Korea; and Outstanding New Writer of the Year, presented to Tech. Sgt. Cheresa Theiral, a public affairs specialist in the Colorado Air National Guard.
The master of ceremonies was retired Sgt. Maj. Jim Gilbert, deputy director of training at DINFOS. The school's color guard posted the colors, while the U.S. Army Field Band's "The Volunteers" provided music.
Whitman said that when he studied photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology, the majority of his classes were in darkroom techniques. He took one elective course in color photography.
"See how much things have changed," he said.
Whitman called today's military communicators "dedicated professionals" who tell the military story every day of the year.
Winners of the Visual Information Award Program were recognized for their achievements in military visual communications. Master Sgt. Jeremy T. Lock, named Military Photographer of the Year, won the award for the fourth consecutive year.
"It's amazing," said Lock, an Air Force photographer with 1st Command Camera at Charleston Air Force Base, S.C. "As a photographer, you try to step out and make a difference in the world." Master Sgt. W. Cody Vance, Military Graphic Artist of the Year, called the award "a big honor." An Air Force illustrator with the 59th Medical Wing at Wilford Medical Hall in San Antonio, Texas, Vance said he would have liked to see a younger graphic designer win the award, since he is retiring in January.
"It's a great way to go," Vance said.
But Senior Airman Joseph Givens, named Military Videographer of the Year, said he thought his chances for winning were pretty high.
"I'm ecstatic," he said. "It's amazing." Givens is an Air Force broadcaster with Headquarters Air University, Public Affairs Television Production, at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala.
"I had a lot of confidence in myself," he said, noting that has he put a lot of "time, effort and hard work" into his career.
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