Wednesday night at the Matagorda County Economic Development Corporation’s annual banquet, I was startled – and I mean startled.
I was listening as Jessica Russell was announcing this year’s George Holst Award and was really surprised by the two words community journalism.
Russell, last year’s George H Holst Award recipient and president of the MCEDC board of directors, was describing me.
It was beyond belief that I could be chosen.
I’ve always admired previous honorees over the years, going back to Willie Younger’s award in 1998.
I looked over at MaLinda, who had known in advance this would happen since she and Jessica helped round up different parts of my life’s work.
That’s saying something, because MaLinda is the worst good-news secret holder in the house.
But I had no clue that anything like this would occur.
She did, however, insist I get a haircut before the MCEDC banquet.
MaLinda looked at me as Russell spoke, knowing how I was shocked in the best-way possible.
One thing about my past 52 years as a reporter, editor and publisher, is a realization that others view my work – all of our work at the Sentinel for that matter – as essential for the community.
I see what the Sentinel does as a mirror of the community.
But it’s a two-way perception that requires the community to see our work as needed, as educational.
County Judge Bobby Seiferman remarked that companies and industries assessing Bay City and Matagorda County take a look at what the local newspaper is saying.
In these days and times, there’s sometimes no local paper to reflect how the community works.
I’ve always seen us as having a bond with the local institutions we cover.
Not all reporting is welcome.
But the facts need to be out there.
We need to stay true to our mission of reporting the news and community events and people should stay informed.
To me, the George Holst Award says there are people here who value the reporting, the photography and the commentary we provide about this community.
That certainly makes me proud and it also makes me want to work harder in getting the news out in a straightforward, accurate way.
I did have several people at the banquet come up and tell me I deserve the honor.
The honor comes from those people bestowing the belief that we at the Sentinel are doing our job as public servants.
And, along those lines, check out all of the stories we have in this Christmas edition.
