2010 SPJ Deadline Club Award Goes to Randy Gener

Beating The Forward and The New York Times for the Rube as Best Arts Reporting in one of New York City's most prestigious journalism awards

NEW YORK CITY— The DEADLINE CLUB, the New York City chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, honored the best of the best in New York area journalism June 7 at the Annual Dinner of the DEADLINE CLUB AWARDS, one of New York City’s most prestigious journalism awards.

Randy Gener won the 2010 Deadline Club Award for Best Arts Reporting in New York – printed, broadcast or

 otherwise disseminated in 2009.

The SPJ judges said, "Gener shed light into government censorship and repression of artists. He met the high standards of excellence for journalism and went above and beyond with regards to enterprise, resourcefulness, and overcoming obstacles in pursuit of the story. Congratulations!"

Beating The Forward and The New York Times in the specialized writing category, Gener received a Rube Goldberg bronze statue from Deadline Club president Rebecca Baker and keynote speaker Robert Thomson, managing editor of The Wall Street Journal and editor-in-chief of Dow Jones & Co.

Gener won for "Fomenting a Denim Revolution," which appeared in the May/June 2009 international theatre edition of American Theatre, published by Theatre Communications Group. This magazine article chronicles the plight of the guerilla artists of Belarus Free Theatre who perform underground in Minsk while arguing openly for regime change.

The Deadline Club recognized more than two dozen winners and scores of finalists who were deemed the best in New York area journalism – printed, broadcast or otherwise disseminated in 2009 by news organizations based in and around the New York City area.

With 29 categories, the focus ranged from newspapers to radio and television to online. Winners in the other categories this year included journalists from The New York Times, The Associated Press, Newsweek, Newsday, Vanity Fair, Fast Company, Sports illustrated, CNN, News 12 Westchester, and Jazz Loft Project Radio Series.

The other finalists in the specialized writing category of best arts reporting were Benjamin Ivry from The Forward, for “From the Kol Israel Orchestra to a Pygmy Choir,” and Robin Pogrebin from The New York Times, for “Preserving the City.”

"The competition was fierce, with nearly 300 entries vying for an award, proving once again that New York is truly the media capital of the world," Deadline Club president Rebecca Baker said. "That means that if you are here as a finalist, the judges felt that your work was exceptionally good. You are here as part of a very distinguished group, whether you win the Rube or not. Tonight’s winners and finalists prove that good journalism can make a difference."

The Club's coveted “Rubes” is a distinctive statue; it was designed by the late Rube Goldberg, the cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer and inventor. Goldberg crafted "the Rube" to represent his conception of a “dead line.”


The Deadline Club in New York City is one of the largest chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists. Its members include professionals working in broadcast, print, online and journalism education. The Club maintains the New York Journalism Hall of Fame and elects and inducts its members.

The most important mission of SPJ and its chapters is fostering and defending freedom of the press under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. SPJ sends its constitutional lawyers to the aid of journalists who need assistance in exercising their rights. The Deadline Club has been serving the cause of New York City journalism for nearly 80 years.

For a complete list of winners and finalists, click here.

Randy Gener Named Best Arts Reporting Finalist for 2010 SPJ Deadline Club Awards, June 7

For Immediate Release

April 9, 2010

NEW YORK CITY — The Deadline Club, the New York City chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, is pleased to present this year's finalists for the 2010 Deadline Club Awards, one of New York City's most prestigious journalism awards. The announcement was made at a reception at the Midtown Executive Club in New York on Friday, April 9.

This year's judges have named Randy Gener as one of 3 finalists in the category of Best Arts Reporting for the 2010 Deadline Club Awards, honoring the best in New York City journalism. The winner will be announced during our Annual Awards Dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria at 301 Park Avenue on Monday, June 7, 2010. Robert Thompson, managing editor of The Wall Street Journal and editor-in-chief of Dow Jones & Co., will be the keynote speaker.

Gener has been cited for his article "Fomenting a Denim Revolution," which appeared in the May/June 2009 edition of American Theatre magazine, published by Theatre Communications Group in New York City. Gener's article chronicles the plight of the guerilla artists of the Belarus Free Theatre who perform underground in Minsk while arguing openly for regime change outside their country.

The two other finalists in the Arts Reporting category are Benjamin Ivry, The Forward, “From the Kol Israel Orchestra to a Pygmy Choir,” and Robin Pogrebin, The New York Times, “Preserving the City."

Finalists named in the other categories this year include journalists from The New York Times, The Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, Time magazine, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, Fortune, Fast Company, Sports Illustrated, SmartMoney, ESPN and NY1 News. For a complete list of finalists, visit the 2010 Deadline Club Awards finalists.

The 2010 Deadline Club Awards honor the best in New York area journalism – printed, broadcast or otherwise distributed in 2009. With 31 categories, the focus ranges from newspapers to radio and television to online.

The Club's coveted “Rubes,” distinctive statuettes designed by the late Rube Goldberg, are awarded at a dinner each spring. At that dinner, scholarships are awarded to some of the city’s most outstanding journalism students. The scholarships are funded through the Deadline Club Foundation. The Club also maintains the New York Journalism Hall of Fame and elects and inducts its members.

The Deadline Club of New York City is one of the largest chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists. Our members include professionals working in broadcast, print, online and journalism education. The most important mission of SPJ and its chapters is fostering and defending freedom of the press under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. SPJ sends its constitutional lawyers to the aid of journalists who need assistance in exercising their rights. The Deadline Club has been serving the cause of New York City journalism for nearly 80 years.

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Randy Gener Wins Two Awards for Writing Excellence in Travel Media Competition

North American Travel Journalists Association

150 S. Arroyo Parkway, 2nd Floor

Pasadena, California 91105

www.natja.org

February 22, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CONTACT: Dawn@natja.org, 626.376.9754  

RANDY GENER WINS TWO AWARDS 

FOR WRITING EXCELLENCE IN TRAVEL MEDIA COMPETITION

PASADENA, CA — The North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA) today announced that Randy Gener won two awards of merit for writing excellence in the 2009 annual awards competition. 

“The North American Travel Journalists Association honors the best of the best in travel journalism," says Helen Hernandez, CEO of the membership organization. 

In the leisure activity category, Gener won a 2009 NATJA Award for “Why are the Dutch Invading Governor’s Island?,” a travel essay about the Terschelling Oerol Festival and de Parade in the Netherlands.  In September 2009, both interdisciplinary festivals from Holland imported to Governor's Island the New Island Festival.

In the personality/profile category, Gener won for “Dreaming in Yoruba Land,” about the African-American playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney whose trilogy The Brother/Sister Plays premiered at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey and The Public Theater in New York City.

Both articles were published in the September 2009 issue of American Theatre magazine, published by Theatre Communications Group in New York City.  

Randy Gener is the senior editor of American Theatre magazine.

Adds Hernandez, CEO of NATJA: "This was a banner year for excellence. Given the creativity, writing and vision of the submissions, the judges had a difficult time selecting the winners from the more than 500 entries."

The annual NATJA awards competition, now in its 18th year, honors travel journalists, publications and destination marketing organizations. Winners will be presented with their award at the annual NATJA conference May 11-14, 2010 in Reno, Nevada.  

NATJA Awards recognize excellence in travel writing, photojournalism, multimedia platforms, advertising, marketing and public relations for the travel and tourism industry. NATJA received more than 500 submissions from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

NATJA is the second largest travel media association in North America. Members include travel media professionals, convention and visitors bureaus and other travel marketing agencies. Members are provided with professional development workshops, peer-to-peer evaluation, web tools and networking opportunities. NATJA also publishes Travelworld International Magazine. 

For more information about the NATJA or a complete list of 2009 award-winners, visit www.natja.org.

Call for Stage Designers: Submit Works for U.S. National Exhibit for Prague 2011

SYRACUSE, N.Y., and PRAGUE: Out with the retrospective -- and in with the cutting edge. That, in a nutshell, will be the curatorial approach for the U.S. national pavilion currently being organized by a group of leading U.S. theatre designers for the 12th Prague Quadrennial (PQ), which will run for 10 days in June 2011 in the Czech Republic.

The U.S. national pavilion, which will be exhibited at the Veletrzni Palace (the building of the Czech National Gallery) in Prague from June 16 to 26, 2011, will then tour the U.S. until December 2012.

Theatre companies, boundary-defying collectives and theatre designers across the U.S. are strongly urged to submit online their designs from up to three productions, visually and aurally striking works that embrace all elements of design, including scenic, costume, lighting and sound and video.

In a radical break from U.S. national exhibits of the past decades, including the encyclopedic survey approach used for recent editions of the PQ, the committee of five U.S. curators appointed by the Syracuse, N.Y.-based United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) -- which has funded and realized the project since 1983 -- will rally around a specific theme for 2011: "Courage from the Edge."

USITT's new theme -- an exploration of non-traditional approaches to theatre in the U.S -- reflects PQ 2011's request that national pavilions present a strong curatorial concept and that explore the field of scenography as a discipline in-between the visual and performing arts.

USITT's official letter of invitation to U.S. designers reads: "We define 'courage' with the words bravery, will, daring, fortitude and also the ability to confront fear, pain, risk/danger, uncertainty or intimidation. 'Courage' may be artistic or sociopolitical or both. 'Edge' may refer to a leading edge, the pinnacle of artistic achievement, the edge of danger or the boundary that defines theatre as we know it."

Specifically, the curators, headed by Susan Tsu, aim to represent the U.S. through works that forge definitive or life-altering paths, incorporate practices for social and artistic change, and empower designers in the collaboration process.

"We are particularly interested in younger collectives and entire productions," says Tsu. She adds that PQ offers a unique perspective on the state of contemporary theatre design -- it was a bridge of cooperation and mutual understanding during the Cold War. "I hope our nation's artistic directors will come to PQ and see a range of approaches to plays that are non-Stanislavskian in derivation, nonlinear and visually challenging in ways we rarely see in the U.S."

Working with Tsu are Christopher Akerlind, curator for lighting design; Chris Barreca, for scenic design; Linda Cho, for costume design; Don Tindall, for sound. William Bloodgood has been tapped to design the exposition itself, with support from the designer Eric Stone.

Considered productions must have opened between June 2006 and April 2010. Submissions will be selected by a jury at the USITT national convention in Kansas City which takes place March 29 to April 2, 2010. All entries must be received before March 15.

To submit works for consideration, U.S. designers are asked to visit http://2011exhibit.usitt.org/ or to click directly to this submissions page.

Organized by the Arts and Theatre Institute of Prague, PQ recently changed its official name to Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space. The new name, it is believed, will break down the "often imaginary differences between the performance fields," explains Sodja Zupanc Lotker, PQ artistic director.

A PQ 2007 winner from Slovakia, the scenographer Boris Kudlika, was appointed to be the new general commissioner. Visit http://www.pq.cz/. About 57 countries have officially signed up to exhibit in PQ 2011. See the list of countries and regions that have applied for the PQ.

To read about the U.S. national pavilion that was exhibited at PQ 2007, visit this link to "All the World's a Pavilion," which was published in the September 2007 edition of American Theatre magazine.

[ in the theatre of One World ]

Top Ten Actions Steps to Achieve 50/50 in 2020 from Princeton University's conference on Women in Theatre

This weekend, Princeton University organized a conference of Women in Theatre. Here are the top 10 action steps that we must to work on to overcome the challenges. Please click here.

[in the theater of One World]