Fort McCoy communicators earn 2023 Army Materiel Command awards; move to Army competition

Photo By Scott Sturkol | Two new transient training troops barracks are shown Sept. 12, 2023, with a rainbow in the background at Fort McCoy, Wis. The barracks is different than the traditional barracks located throughout the installation. These new buildings, built since 2019, are four stories and able to house 400 people in approximately 60,000 square feet. The buildings are built with the latest in construction materials and include state-of-the-art physical security and energy-saving measures. The buildings were also part of projects that were part of the Fort McCoy Master Plan that looks at continuously upgrading the installation’s infrastructure to be prepared for the future. The Army Corps of Engineers managed the projects to build the barracks as well. This photo also earned two first place awards for Best Feature Photograph in the 2023 Installation Management Command Public Affairs Competition and the 2023 Army Materiel Command David Harris Public Affairs Competition. (U.S. Army Photo by Scott T. Sturkol, Public Affairs Office, Fort McCoy, Wis.)  

FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, UNITED STATES

03.19.2024

Story by Scott Sturkol                                                                                           

Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office           

Results from the Army Materiel Command’s 2023 David G. Harris Public Affairs Competition were announced in late February, and three winners from Fort McCoy were announced.

The three who placed were in video, photo, and community relations categories, and it follows the same people also previously winning in the same categories at Army’s Installation Management Command 2023 Public Affairs Competition.

First, Public Affairs Officer Tonya Townsell with the Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office earned a second place for Category L: Kathy Canham-Ross Award of Distinction. The Kathy Canham-Ross Award recognizes the products that best exemplify excellence in community engagement contributions. The award is named for Kathy Canham-Ross, a distinguished director of OCPA-Los Angeles, who set an outstanding example to emulate throughout her 30 years as a public affairs officer.

Townsell said even though the award has her name listed, it is more of a unit award for Fort McCoy as it recognizes the work of the 2023 Fort McCoy Armed Forces Day Open House and the contributors to that event.

As the award package states, “The 2023 open house took place on Saturday, May 20, 2023, drawing nearly 3,000 people. The unique event offers the general public a once-a-year opportunity to visit Fort McCoy to learn more about the history and dynamic training-support mission of the Army’s largest installation in the Upper Midwest.

“The open house takes place at Fort McCoy’s award-winning, historic Commemorative Area, which features the History Center, the military vehicle Equipment Park, six World War II-era historical buildings, and the Veterans Memorial Plaza,” the package states. “Fort McCoy staff and tenant units, as well as military-connected organizations from surrounding communities, volunteer and exhibit displays to explain what they do and how they help the armed forces.”

Next, Greg Mason with the Fort McCoy Multimedia-Visual Information Office, which falls under the Fort McCoy Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security, earned third place in Category B: Feature Video. Mason earned the award for his 2023 Month of the Military Child at Fort McCoy video, which is available at https://www.dvidshub.net/video/879195/2023-month-military-child-fort-mccoy-wi.

The requirements for this category include it to be “a storytelling video not news related that has a strong subject and focus.” Entries in this category also “should entertain or inform the viewer; usually a situation that has strong human interest or a fresh view of a commonplace occurrence featuring a military organization, employees, equipment or family members.”

And the third winner at the awards was Scott T. Sturkol with the Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office who earned first place in Category A: Feature Photograph with his photo entitled, “Rainbow and new barracks at Fort McCoy.” That photo can be found at https://www.dvidshub.net/image/8019024/rainbow-and-new-barracks-fort-mccoy.

In the command’s announcement to the field about the awards in a message from the Army Materiel Command Public Affairs Office, they described how the competition went.

“Earlier this year, participants from across the Army Materiel Command enterprise submitted entries for the 2023 David G. Harris Public Affairs Competition,” the message states. “Over the past month, our judges reviewed over 85 submissions and selected 17 winners to move on to the Army’s Maj. Gen. Keith L. Ware Competition. As in most years, this year the competition was not an easy undertaking to select those who move on to the next level. … We appreciate your hard work and your contributions in telling and conveying your command’s, the AMC and Army story.”

Earlier in the year for the 2023 Installation Management Command (IMCOM) Public Affairs Competition awards, numerous awards were also won by Fort McCoy personnel.

Those award winners included Photographer Amanda Clark with the Fort McCoy Multimedia-Visual Information Office earning the 2023 IMCOM Civilian Photographer of the Year. Mason earned first place in IMCOM Broadcast Category B, Feature Video.

Public Affairs Specialist Claudia Neve with the Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office earned a first place in IMCOM Broadcast Category A, News Video. And Sturkol, who is the editor of The Real McCoy newspaper, placed first in IMCOM Photography Category A, Feature Photograph.

The three now compete at the Army-level competition with the other Army Material Command winners and other major command winners from across the Army for the best in the service. Winners from there then compete for the Thomas Jefferson Awards as the best in the Department of Defense.

Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”

Also try downloading the Digital Garrison app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.” See more at https://home.army.mil/imcom.

(Article prepared by the Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office.)

• Date Taken: 03.19.2024
• Date Posted: 03.19.2024 12:08
• Story ID: 466533
• Location: FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US