Lifetime Achievement Award recipients announced

Birmingham, Ala. -- The Alabama Press Association Board of Directors announced
the recipients of the new Lifetime Achievement Award to be presented at the APA
Winter Convention in Birmingham on March 1.

Recipients of the 2003 awards are H. Brandy Ayers, The Anniston Star;
James B. Boone Jr., Boone Newspapers Inc.;  Hollis Curl, The Wilcox Progressive
Era in Camden; James Faulkner, The Baldwin Times in Bay Minette;  Victor Hanson II,
The Birmingham News; Charles Land, The Tuscaloosa News; Phil Sanguinetti, The Anniston Star;
Barrett Shelton, The Decatur Daily;  Marcia Sears, The Shelby County Reporter
in Columbiana; and Mrs. Lancie Thomas, The Mobile Beacon.

The Lifetime Achievement Award was established to honor and
recognize outstanding service and accomplishments spanning a
career in journalism in Alabama. APA members nominated persons
who are living present or former newspaper executives or employees
of a newspaper in Alabama and have spent a significant percentage
of their newspaper career in Alabama. The selection committee
consisted of APA's four officers and two additional board members
elected by the board at the summer convention.

"It is an honor for the association to recognize these individuals for
their service to our industry and to our state," APA President Kim N.
Price, publisher of The Alexander City Outlook, said. "Their dedication to our
profession and to the communities in which they live and serve is quite worthy
of this recognition. We also recognize that there are many others in our
association that are equally worthy of this honor. We look forward to
this award becoming a new tradition in our association."

The Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented each year at
APA's winter convention. The committee chose to honor a large
group in this first year and will likely limit the number of awards in
future years.

     BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- I want to thank you for the honor of being elected APA president. I love the newspaper business and the papers of this state and will try to do this association proud over the next year.
     Iíve had reason to reminisce a good bit this past month. It was 26 years ago in May that a skinny mop headed college kidómeówalked into The South Alabamian office in Jackson and asked Mike Breedlove for a summer internship. I needed five credit hours to get my degree in advertising from the University of Alabama.
     My adviser knew I was from Clarke County. "Go see Mike Breedlove. If heíll hire you for the summer Iíll give you the hours so you donít have to go to summer school," he told me.
     Twenty six years later, a lot more pounds, a better haircut but a lot less hair and far too grey too, Iím deeper in the newspaper business than I ever thought I would be.Thankfully, I love it.
     As many of you probably already have learned, I purchased The South Alabamian from Mike and Linda Breedlove a month ago.
    Mike and Linda have been steadfast all of these 26 years.  Our relationship is a complicated one--theyíre friends, mentors, business partners in The Thomasville Times, customersóeven competitorsóand more.  Iíve learned a lot about this business from them but most of all I learned in that summer of 1977 that this is the most fun and rewarding work there is on earth.
     When I was looking at purchasing The Clarke County Democrat in 1984, my daddy, who died suddenly during the negotiation process, told me he would support me but he didnít know why I wanted to get in the business. "Seems to me there are easier ways to make money," said the man who owned a small business and never shied away from work.
     A friend and retired Clarke County circuit clerk, the daddy of historian Hardy Jackson who has spoken to our group, told me once that a weekly newspaper was about like running a chicken farm, a dairy farm or a restaurantóthat it was a seven day a week job that you could never get away from. Heís right, of course, but I wouldnít have it any other way. Right now, Iím wondering what Iíve missed this weekend down in my newspapersí coverage area.
     One of my first thrills in the business was to see the paper being printed. That was at The Monroe Journal. Now, I have a press and Iíve seen it run hundreds of times but sometimes that excitment still runs up my spine when we have a big story and I watch the papers roll off the press.
     It still thrills me to have readers on our doorstep on press day waiting for the paper. It still thrills me to have readers compliment us on a story or photo or an advertiser say they liked their ad and it brought results. It still thrills me to needle an elected official when they need itóor to praise them when they deserve it.
     A lot of you have influenced me. Mike and Linda, are first and foremost but so many others of you who may not realize it. The late Bill Stewart at The Monroe Journal, Steve Stewart, Bo Bolton, Hollis Curl, Jim Boone, Mike Kelley, Luke Slaton, Sam Harvey, Joel and Ann Smith, Bill Keller, the list goes on and on. Ed Williams was working at The South Alabamian that first summer in 1977 and we have been good friends ever since.
     Those I have named and many others of you here have taught me things, earned my respect and fortified my love for the business.
     I am glad that we have started the Lifetime Achievement Award so that some of you who have done so much for our industry can be recognized for your contributions.
     Newspapers are a unique part of our community. We are private businesses yet public institutions. We inform, entertain and challenge our readers and our communities. If we do our jobs right we are at the forefront of helping to shape and promote our state and our communities. Few private businesses have as much influence as we do. We should always try to use this influence wisely.
     And I believe most newspapers in this state do.
     We have good newspapers in Alabama and as a result we have a good trade association. APA works to serve its member papers but it also works to promote a better Alabama. I look forward to doing what I can to maintain this great association and to better serve its members.
     Alabama is facing a tough financial crisis right now and the legislative session that starts Tuesday will be a critical one. I am glad that we will have Felicia Mason in Montgomery looking our for our interests. I am glad that Bill Keller will be by her side as needed.
     All of us at our individual newspapers are going to have to be supportive of some type of reform effort if Alabama is to pull itself up out of the mudhole we are in now.
     We have a good staff at APA. While Felicia is in Montgomery we can be assured that the day to day business of APA and ANAS will be carried out by the people that we depend on so much. Thank you, Felicia and the rest of the gang for the work you do.
     I didnít intend to take on another newspaper and become APA president in the same year; it just happened that way. Ben, I may need to call on you and others for help at times during the coming year.
     And you better take advantage of the situation if you can, Shurett. Iíll remind you all that I was president of ANASóthe last president. The position was abolished after my term. Who knows what will happen to APA?
     But surely we will make it until July when we will meet again on the sunny beaches of Orange Beach.
     Until then, take care, and thank you again for this great honor.

                               L-R:  Barrett Shelton Jr., The Decatur Daily; Brandy Ayers, The Anniston Star; and Phil Sanguinetti, The Anniston Star.
 

Mike Breedlove, left, The Thomasville Times, and Steve Mitchell, retired, The Sylacauga Advance.

                                        L-R:  Jimmy Faulkner, retired, The Baldwin Times, and Brandy Ayers, The Anniston Star.
 

L-R:  Jimmy  Faulkner, retired, The Baldwin Times; Steve Mitchell, retired, The Sylacauga Advance; and
Felicia Mason, APA executive director.

Kathy and Luke Slaton, The Moulton Advertiser.  Slaton is a former president of APA.

                    Lifetime Achievement recipients Marcia Sears, The Shelby County Reporter, and Jimmy Faulkner, The Baldwin Times.  Mrs. Sears
                    was the first woman to serve as APA president.

Linda and Mike Breedlove, The South Alabamian and The Thomasville Times.  Each has served
as president of APA.  Mrs. Breedlove is the second woman to serve as APA president.

                       L-R:  Mr. and Mrs. Jimmy Faulker and Mr. and Mrs. Mike Breedlove.  The Faulkners and the Breedloves co-owned The South
                      Alabamian in Jackson in the 1970s.

                       L-R:  Phil and Elise Ayers Sanguinetti, The Anniston Star, and Troy Turner, The Anniston Star.
 
 

                                L-R  Barrett  Shelton Jr., The Decatur Daily, and Phil Sanguinetti, The Anniston Star.
 
 

Ben Shurett, APA second vice president and publisher of The Fort Payne Times Journal, serves as auctioneer at Saturday night's Silent Auction.  Proceeds benefit the APA Journalism Foundation.

At the closing reception on Saturday night:  Fred and Susan Delenne, Alabama Gas Corp.