Nominations Sought for 2018 ARRL Bill Leonard Award

The ARRL Public Relations Committee is seeking nominations for the 2018 Bill Leonard Award, which recognizes this year’s best newspaper, radio, or television news story about Amateur Radio. The award honors professional journalists or journalistic teams whose outstanding coverage highlights the enjoyment, importance, and public service value that Amateur Radio offers. It was created as a tribute to the late CBS News President Bill Leonard, W2SKE, an avid radio amateur and advocate. Awards are presented in print, audio, and visual categories.

Members of the ARRL Public Relations Committee will judge nominations and recommend winners to the ARRL Board of Directors, which will announce winners at its annual meeting next January.

Award winners in each category (either an individual or a group) will receive an engraved plaque, and a $250 contribution will be made in each winning entrant's name to the charity of their choice.

Each nominee must be a professional journalist or a professional journalistic team in print, electronic media, or multimedia. The nominee’s work must have appeared in English, between 1st December 2017, and 30th November 2018, in a commercially published book, recognized general-circulation (non-trade) daily or weekly newspaper, general- or special-interest magazine (except publications predominantly about Amateur Radio), commercial or public radio or television broadcast (including services delivered via cable), a website operated by a generally recognized journalistic organization (e.g., newspaper, magazine, broadcast station, or network), or multimedia format intended for and readily accessible to the general public within the US. The scope of the work nominated may be a single story or series.

The story must be truthful, clear, and accurate, reflecting high journalistic standards. Submission may be made by the authors of the work or on their behalf by an individual who believes the work merits the award.

Submit entries to ARRL Headquarters c/o Communication Manager, ARRL, 225 Main St., Newington, CT 06111, by 5 PM ET on 30th November 2018.