Journalism Award

[Rrlapier at AOL.COM]

Rita Pyrillis is a member  of the Cheyenne River Sioux.
 
 
12 September 2008
Newsweek and Fedtech Writers Win PRSA 2008 Excellence in  Technology 
Journalism Awards



NEW YORK (Sept. 12, 2008) — Kindle, Amazon’s entry into the  e-book market, 
and bringing technology to the Navajo Nation are topics of two  award-winning 
articles selected at this year’s Public Relations Society of  America (PRSA) 
Awards for Excellence in Technology Journalism. Steven  Levy, senior editor, 
Newsweek magazine, was honored for  “The Future of Reading,” and Rita Pyrillis, 
 writer for FedTech magazine, published by The Magazine Group, was  honored 
for “IT Across the Navajo Nation.”  
The awards were presented at a special ceremony in New York during the 2008  
PRSA Technology Section Conference. The annual gathering attracts public  
relations practitioners from corporations, nonprofit and governmental agencies,  
and public relations firms from around the country. 2008 marked the eleventh  
year the Technology Journalism Awards have been presented. The awards  
competition is judged by an independent panel of 39 peer editors, writers and  
reporters from the national general, business and trade press.   
Levy’s award-winning article was published as Newsweek’s cover story  on 
Nov. 27, 2007. The story, based on the author’s role as the first journalist  to 
test and evaluate Amazon’s new “Kindle” electronic reading machine, and  
extensive interviews with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, technologically and  
physiologically describes the development as the first real substantive  improvement over 
the printed book, which has existed for the past 550 years.  Levy reported 
that the real breakthrough was its wireless conductivity. Kindle  works anywhere, 
not just in WiFi hot spots. “The vision is to be able to access  any book or 
tome or piece of writing that’s ever been in print, on the Kindle,  in less 
than a minute,” said Levy.     
Pyrillis’ award-winning article, “IT across the Navajo Nation,” appeared in  
the May 2007 issue of FedTech magazine, published by The Magazine Group  in 
Washington, D.C. The article describes the challenges and achievements of the  
effort to bring the Navajo Nation up to speed in today’s computer age. 
Pyrillis  identified one of the biggest challenges — interpreting terms, such as 
computer,  keyboard and Internet — into the Navajo language. With 75 percent of 
the culture  speaking Navajo as a primary language, it was imperative that 
innovative methods  to communicate about technology be used.  
“This year’s winners emerged from a tough competitive field of 77 entries 
for  work published in 2007, and each winning entry appears to be the product of 
 substantial investigative reporting,” said Joel Strasser, APR,  Fellow PRSA, 
who chairs the 2008 Awards committee and heads an independent  technology 
communications firm based in Brick, N.J.  “Each of the two  winning entries is an 
exceptionally strong work that underscores great  technology reportage and 
writing style. Each follows a tradition of our earlier  award winners on the 
basis of their value to readers, clarity of communications  and significance in 
technical innovation and newsworthiness.” 
Each winning entry received a cash award of $1,000, as well as a pair of  
crystal award trophies presented to the winning writers and their  publishers. 
The awards were judged by a distinguished panel of 39 peer judges, all  
members of the national editorial community representing the types of journalism  
practiced by each of the winners. Judges for this year’s competition were: 
Roger  Allan, contributing editor, Electronic Design Magazine; Eric Auchard,  
chief technology correspondent, Reuters; Walt Boyes, editor in chief,  CONTROL 
Magazine; Bettina H. Chavanne, pentagon reporter, Aviation  Week’s Aerospace 
Daily & Defense Report; Nicholas Cravotta,  contributing technical editor, EDN 
Magazine; Esther D’Amico, managing  editor, Chemical Week; Olaf de Senerpont 
Domi, west coast bureau chief,  The Deal/Tech Confidential;  Trisha Drape, 
managing editor,  Aircraft Electronics Association; Gregg Early, executive director, 
KCI  Communications; Nan Fornal, editor, The Home Entertainment Group; Rich 
Friedman,  senior editor, Storage Magazine; Paul Guinessy, senior online editor, 
 Physics Today Magazine; Kevin Heslin, editor, Mission Critical  Magazine; 
Deanne Holis, editor in chief, Computer Technology  Review; Lauren K. Hoyt, 
senior editor/ SEO Strategist, Tech Target  Networking Media; Dr. W. Jeffrey 
Hurst, co-editor, The Chemist; Saundra  Kinnaird, founding editor, Digital Times; 
Amy Kucharik, site editor,  Tech Target Networking Media; Glenn Letham, 
managing editor, Spatial Media LLC;  Don Loepp, managing editor, Plastic News, Crain 
Communications Inc.; Michele  Manafy, editorial director, Enterprise Group 
Econtent, Intranets, & the  Enterprise Search Sourcebook; Jay Nelson, editor & 
publisher,  Design Tools Monthly; Frederic Paul, publisher/editor in chief, Tech 
 Web/ United Business Media; Evan Schuman, editor, Storefrontbacktalk.com; 
Rob  Spiegel; John Sprovieri, editor, Assembly Magazine; David Strom,  
technology editor, Baseline Magazine; Warren R. True, Ph.D., chief  technology editor, 
Oil & Gas Journal; Joyce Ward, CNMT, RT, senior  technical editor, ADVANCE for 
Imaging and Oncology Administrators; Joshua  Weinberger, managing editor, CRM 
Magazine; Sandra Wendelken, editor,  Radio Resource Media Group; Angela 
Wilbraham, chief executive officer, A-Team  Group, Timothy Wilson, editor, Tech 
Media Reports. 
About the PRSA Technology Section
The PRSA Technology  Section (_www.prsa.org/Sections/tech_ 
(http://www.prsa.org/Sections/tech) ) is an  organization of communications professionals who 
develop, implement and counsel  regarding public relations or marketing 
communications programs for technology  companies, and practitioners who work at 
technology organizations or who use  emerging technologies to conduct their routine 
business.   
About the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)
The  Public Relations Society of America (_www.prsa.org_ 
(http://www.prsa.org/) ), headquartered in New York City,  is the world's largest organization for 
public relations professionals with  nearly 32,000 professional and student 
members. PRSA is organized into 109  Chapters and 10 Districts nationwide, and 
19 Professional Interest Sections and  Affinity Groups, which represent 
business and industry, counseling firms,  independent practitioners, military, 
government, associations, hospitals,  schools, professional services firms and 
nonprofit organizations. The Public  Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) 
has 296 Chapters at colleges and  universities throughout the United States, 
and one Chapter in Argentina. 




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