Courtesy Photo | This screen shot, taken March 6, 2020, shows a look at the video posting by Scott...... read more read more
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Personnel with the Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office (PAO) have received recognition recently from the Tomah Chamber of Commerce, Army Installation Management Command (IMCOM), and the Department of Defense (DOD).
Tomah Chamber award
Public Affairs Specialist Theresa Fitzgerald with PAO earned the Tomah, Wis., Chamber of Commerce Military Member of the Year Award for 2019. Fitzgerald, a retired Army master sergeant, was selected because of her continuous support to Tomah and local communities through leading the Fort McCoy community relations program with PAO.
Each year, Fitzgerald coordinates the Army’s support of dozens of guest speaker requests, equipment requests, color guard requests, facility requests, recruitment tours, and job shadow requests, according to the award submission. Fitzgerald also plans and executes the annual Armed Forces Day Open House, ensuring that between 2,000 to 4,000 community members have a positive experience at Fort McCoy.
“Her ability to de-conflict the challenges associated with organizing guided bus tours, static displays, interactive games and activities, as well as providing access to the Fort McCoy Commemorative Area for the event is superb,” the submission states. “Fitzgerald (also) schedules, coordinates, and executes more than 50 professional tours of Fort McCoy and the History Center annually for more than 2,000 civilian personnel.”
2019 IMCOM Communication Awards
The Fort McCoy PAO also received recognition with two first-place and three second-place finishes in the 2019 IMCOM Communications Awards competition.
The announcement, sent Feb. 28 from new IMCOM Commanding General Lt. Gen. Douglas M. Gabram, showed the installation’s online edition of The Real McCoy newspaper earning a second place in Category B: PDF or Online Publication.
The online edition is primarily built by PAO’s Aimee Malone, a member of the command information staff. Malone works with other PAO staff members, who include Public Affairs Specialist/Newspaper Editor Scott Sturkol, Fitzgerald, Supervisory Public Affairs Specialist Bill Coppernoll, and Public Affairs Officer Tonya Townsell.
Sturkol earned a first place in Video Category D: Training Videography and a first place in Photography Category B: Training Photo Series. The video was of training coverage for the 89B Ammunition Supply Course taught by the 13th Battalion, 100th Regiment at Fort McCoy. The training photos covered a new training scenario in Fort McCoy’s Cold-Weather Operations Course.
Sturkol also received second-place finishes in Print Category E: News/Information Story and Category H: Photojournalism. The news story featured Army Reserve drill instructors who were at Fort McCoy for training who, during their time at the post, saved a local man and children in a car accident in Sparta, Wis. The photojournalism entry featured under-ice diving training by Directorate of Emergency Services firefighters.
In his message announcing the competition results, Gabram shared some thoughts to the command public affairs community.
“While we acknowledge just the winners here, I know that all of you are working hard as part of an integrated garrison team to be on the offense in telling the good stories of the progress we are making to improve the quality of life for Soldiers and their families,” Gabram wrote. “I’m proud of all you have done, are doing, and will do for IMCOM, (Army Materiel Command), and the Army in the coming year. … Congratulations to our winners, and good luck at the next level.”
All five placings by Fort McCoy PAO competed in the Army Materiel Command communications competition. Results have not yet been released.
DOD monthly recognition for 2019
The Fort McCoy PAO command information team also maintains a busy daily schedule supplying stories, videos, and imagery to the Defense Visual Information Distribution System (DVIDS). For all of 2019, the office received 25 monthly online trophies for their work.
The office earned 12 monthly trophies for “Most Uploads by a Unit” from January through December, ensuring the office had the most uploads for all of 2019 to DVIDS in all of the Department of Defense (DOD).
Sturkol earned 12 “Most Uploads by a Storyteller” trophies on DVIDS in 2019 from January to December — also the most in DOD. He also earned the “Most Views by a Storyteller” in October 2019, besting all other DOD contributors to DVIDS for the month in online views of content posted.
The office also earned four monthly trophies for uploads for January and February 2020.
(Article prepared by the Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office.)
| Date Taken: | 03.06.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 03.06.2020 15:30 |
| Story ID: | 364665 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 106 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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