• by Kelly Samardak , October 8, 2008

Harry Chapin Media Awards, CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, New York
October 7, 2008

Stop the presses!! Throw out the mini-burgers! Toss those cocktail wieners in the ditch! Roll that sushi under the nearest cab!  Passable snacks have met their match, thanks to the mini pulled pork sandwiches and... wait for it... mini-Reubens that nestled ever so gently in my belly at the Harry Chapin Media Awards last night, courtesy of The Hard Rock Café, synergized by two of my new heroes (oh, I said synergized):  Amanda Early, Assistant Account Executive, and Kristen Hauser, Account Executive, Coyne Public Relations.  Put a cherry on top of that snack pile and name it Charles Osgood, because the iconic "CBS Sunday Morning" host was there to not only deliver the opening words, but to make the rest of us look serious.

You might not believe this, but I never went to "J school," as the reporter clique says.  I know, it's shocking isn't it, what with all my hard-hitting investigative reporting.  I heard J school is really tough, and I hate hard work, so I'm glad I skipped right over that.  I mean really, if you can write, you can write, everything else is just a corral of style you're trained in.   Also, if you're a stranger to sarcasm, I hope you skipped at least one sentence in this paragraph.   Because I wasn't lucky enough to know what path I wanted to head down, I've never even set foot in a school of journalism. So I was simmering in a tiny pan of excitement to walk through the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.  I felt like I was walking in the crumbled dirt drop-off from the shoes of run-through-the-wringer writers.  People who earned the name "writer" by chasing a story, writing an obit, interviewing a killer, or snapping photos of high school wrestling (Ack! Cauliflower ear!)

The hall leading to the elevators was covered with raised silver CUNY lettering, with a Samsung-esque ambient lighting throbbing me into a coma.  Soothed by the pretty lights, I boarded the elevator with Mallory Dash, PR Maven at Dukas PR.  We were looking forward to a free end-of-day beverage in the midst of do-gooding.  What do-gooding?  Glad you asked.  The Harry Chapin Awards were created back in the day (1982, I think I was in first grade) to "tell the story of hunger and poverty."  Recipients are those endeavoring, philanthropic-minded talents in media whose work focuses on the causes of hunger and poverty, and the amazing people facilitating solutions and self-reliance.   Once called the  World Hunger Media Awards, their renaming is meant to honor WHY's founder, late singer-songwriter Harry Chapin.

Emerging through the sea of pulled-pork sandwiches was Scotti Williston, Senior Producer in Residence, CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, sharing a few moments with Charles Osgood.  I DVR "CBS Sunday Morning" every week, so I was a little star-struck at seeing my Sunday-morning habit in person.  I wanted to hug him, but felt that might get awkward.  I know I said I wouldn't ask to take photos anymore and just snap away aggressively, but I can't help it, my momma taught me better.   I was pleased to find a great triple threat from whyhunger.org, who were more than happy to smile genuinely not just once, but twice (flash, no flash) for my trusty Canon.  They were Noreen Springstead, Director Fundraising & Marketing and Lisa Ann Batitto, Communications Director.

As I scooped a group of grinning attendees together, I heard someone say Nikon! Crikey!  I knew Nikon was  the exclusive sponsor, but who could have predicted my head-to-head run-in with the trouble making Sam Garcia, Nikon, Inc. We traded some good natured barbs like "My Nikon would have figured that out for me" when I did the "now let's do one without the flash!" dance.  Sam was talking Nikon with  Sue Leventhal, WHY Events Director, Alan Seltzer, WHY Volunteer, and  Marc Weiss, WHY Director of Administration and Finance.  Good group, I wanted to play with them all night.  My Canon was ready to rumble.

Oh! And as I said before , in the very first paragraph, the Hard Rock Café-catered food was so scrumptious it made a gal forget that the invitation said "cocktails" -- but cocktails ended up as cans of Sierra Mist, Pepsi, bottles of water, and some funky fruity acai drizzled drinks.  Turns out that up until the 11th hour the award organizers were in a World's Strongest Law competition with the NYC liquor board.  Done with the butting of heads, they scrapped the cocktails and moved forward.   If anyone complains, I think we should remind them of the cookie and brownie spread, which trumps cocktails on any night.

Invite Just An Online Minute into your media party lives - send invitations to kelly@mediapost.com

See the honorees on the  Harry Chapin Media Awards site.

Check out the pulled pork on Flickr!

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