Tooting of the horn...

Well peoples...this is the latest of the ROK Steady Magazine presented by the 8th U.S. Army Public Affairs Office - of which I happen to layout and design - and "edit"...anyway, I'm rather pleased with it overall and can't wait to start getting feedback from all of the dedicated readers of the ROK Steady...ha!

And speaking of feedback - what a segue eh! – the results of this year’s Major General Keith L. Ware Journalism Competition were released late Sunday for you folks stateside which meant first thing this morning for me here in Seoul…the competition is an annual event where the best submissions from various major command areas across the Army (ie: Korea, Europe and a number of regions in the States) are sent to the Department of the Army level competition in Alexandria, Va. There a panel of 22 professionals from the commercial media, academia and Department of Defense Public Affairs community review more than 400 entries in print and broadcast categories.

And – though we didn’t win – I am VERY pleased with myself…er-the magazine-whatever…ahem: in the Magazine Category the ROK Steady pulled in 3rd Place overall out of the entire Army…very pleased indeed…

And not to toot my own horn or anything – fuck it TOOOOOOOOT! – but considering that the mandatory submission that we turned in (you have to turn in one from the date that THEY pick and then one issue that you think is your BEST) considering that it was less than stellar – check it here…I would have to say that a large blame for the strong finish would have to be laid squarely on the pages of the Winter Edition which I tirelessly worked on and was barely able to get printed…So YES…I toot my horn with self-satisfaction…I worked hard and put in a lot of extra hours – even while learning new software on the fly – but it feels good to get a bit of recognition from the almighty “professionals” of our career field…

And hell, the way I figure, if I can help squeak out a third place after only being here for a couple months and on one issue alone – I figure we should definitely be in the running for a 1st Place in next year’s competition if I manage to stay out here ‘til I get out of the Army…just keep plugging away and buildin’ that moneymaking’ résumé…ha! Somethin’ like that anyway…

Previously on the list of Keith L. Ware results for me include a 2nd Place overall at Army-level for when I was the editor of The Monitor newspaper while at Fort Bliss; a 2nd Place in Europe while I was the editor of The Sustainer magazine while out in Germany; and last year I was lucky enough to be on a wonderful staff of the 2nd Place newspaper at Army level – the Turret at Fort Knox…word up!

Maybe I can go out on top this time next year with a 1st Place before I get out of this crazy gig…here’s hopin’! BONG!

(for those of you waiting for the Wnter Edition to arrive in your mailbox you should know that for a while we actually ran out of copies and sent six of our last ten - at the time - to the competition...that being said - you should recieve both the Winter Edition AND the Jan-Feb issue at no extra cost!)