Excellence Award
Recipients for 2017
Excellence
– to excel; to do extremely well; possessing outstanding quality or superior
merit – all definitions which describe our 2017 Excellence Award
Recipients. They are committed to their
own success and the success of Independent NewsMedia Inc. USA. They achieve results; work as a team; explore
and use new avenues of media and continue to learn and teach others.
The
recipients of the 2017 Excellence Awards are listed below in alphabetical order
by region.
Arizona
Delarita Ford
Classified
Advertising Representative
West Valley/Sun
City
Courtesy
& Ethical Standards
Delarita
is a member of the call center dealing with legal advertising and she is always
professional and courteous to customers.
She has a professional manner that elevates the quality of customer
service in the call center and the way we resolve problems with challenging
customers. She answers the phone "with a smile" and has the ability to
turn a negative situation into a positive experience. Delarita
brings laughter to the department and is a joy to work with.
Delarita
is versatile with a background in journalism. She is willing to step in and
assist the North and West Valley's editorial departments by covering meetings,
writing stories and posting material online.
Stephanie Ramos
Circulation Sales/
Customer Service
West Valley/Sun
City
Courtesy
& Ethical Standards
Stephanie
Ramos greets subscribers, clients and team members with a smile and a positive
attitude. She displays excellent
customer service skills. The transition of the Daily News-Sun circulation system caused hundreds
of readers to be upset with renewal notices not going out in a timely manner
and/or stopping clients. Stephanie worked
with our customers in her normal pleasant attitude and making sure our daily
was delivered in a timely fashion to subscribers who were stopped through the transition.
Stephanie also called on most of the past due clients, collecting funds and
bringing the accounts up-to-date.
Stephanie's
efforts have helped INI recoup monies that could have been permanently lost
during the merger. She led the effort in bringing a list of 1,800 stopped
subscribers down to 230 in a matter of two months. Besides working with current
subscribers, she also works to find new subscribers; handles various walk-in
traffic and is the first friendly face visitors see in the West Valley office.
Delmarva
Vernon Bailey
Inserter
Delaware Printing
Company
Commitment
Vernon
goes above and beyond daily in order to help his team and everyone around him. Vernon has been a great asset when it comes to
loading plates for CTP, filling in with Janitorial duties as well as performing
his normal job functions.
Vernon
comes in excited to work and is always smiling.
This creates a positive and enjoyable atmosphere for everyone around him.
He
is extremely helpful, always willing to assist and a great asset to our
production team.
Matt Bittle
Reporter
Delaware State
News
Results
During
2016, campaign and election coverage was a priority. Throughout the year, Matt
assumed responsibility for all statewide and legislative races and the
high-profile presidential races. Readers (voters) appreciated the fair and
balanced review of all candidates and their views on the issues. Without question, he was the leader in political
coverage in 2016 and outpaced all news agencies, including the upstate daily.
His coverage continues a Delaware State News tradition of strong political coverage
in the state capital.
Matt's
work extended from the basic profiles to controversial issues to some watchdog
work with campaign finance. His work follows an essential template for best election
coverage practices.
Without
hesitation, Matt took on the political load basically on his own. He took
suggestions from his editors, but mostly just assumed ownership of this much-sought
coverage and our readers benefited.
Susan Canfora
Reporter
Salisbury
Independent
Teamwork
Susan
is among the best community newspaper reporters and no assignment is too small or
dull for her to accept with a quick and cheerful willingness. She is highly
productive, writes quickly, economically, and accurately. Pleasant, smiling and
cordial, she is trusted by everyone she encounters.
Susan's
plentiful contributions to the Salisbury Independent assure interesting content every week. She is well
connected in the community and has a wide, far-reaching network of contacts.
There is very little that happens in Salisbury or Wicomico County that she
doesn't know about. Her passion for the Independent and her willingness to make
numerous contributions to the news columns, often without recognition, makes
her invaluable.
She
is very much responsible for building the audience of the newspaper, and she
takes this role very seriously. Ridiculously organized, super-efficient, with a
true eye for detail and an unerring ear for dialogue.
Burkey Emmons
Digital Platemaking
Technician
Delaware Printing
Company
Commitment
Burkey
Emmons is consistent, professional, courteous and extremely helpful in getting
news pages to the plates for printing. He goes the extra mile to ensure the
product is correctly handled and when problems arise, he deals with them
professionally and quickly.
Most
have a remote relationship with Burkey and oftentimes in the newspaper
business, people "over the wall" in production tend not to respect "the
idiots in news." Burkey has never suggested anything but respect and
commitment to the product. While we are in starkly different work areas, Burkey
makes you feel like we are team members, equally determined to produce a great
newspaper each week.
Jaclyn Fuller
Operation Support
Manager
Delaware Printing
Company
Commitment
Jaclyn
wears many hats within the company; from sales, down to delivery of a perfect
product going out the door, you can be assured that Jaclyn played a key role every
step of the way. She continually strives to expedite the
workflow of the Delaware Printing Company daily. Rarely one to complain, Jaclyn
continually maintains a positive attitude even when given a seemingly insurmountable
task. Whether it is aggressively pursuing future customers or satisfying the
needs of current ones, she sets and consistently achieves a high customer
acquisition/retention rate.
She
is consistently involved in training of others to improve DPC. Jaclyn's
tutelage skills are second to none. Her ability to take complex tasks and break
them down into simple-to -follow guidelines have enabled the mailroom personnel
to quickly learn accurate mailing procedures. Thus, DPC has been able to
maintain a 95 % on-time rate for deliveries, with matching accuracies.
Bottom
line is, if you want it done and done right, you need look no further than that
little room in DPC with the sign on the door saying "End of Month in
Progress"....The most ignored sign in the building.
Karen Harrity
Distribution
Manager
Delmarva Weeklies
Self-Management
As
distribution manager for the Delmarva weeklies, Karen Harrity is an exemplary
self-manager. She seeks direction and guidance and then assumes the responsibility
for carrying out her job efficiently. She is always flexible, prepared for the
unexpected and takes everything in stride with an upbeat attitude. She holds
herself accountable for meeting the high standards she has set.
Karen
has brought a new vision to the distribution of the Delmarva weeklies. Her communication
skills and willingness to cooperate with the carriers has won their loyalty.
She introduced shared Google documents that make it easier for carriers to
record returns and recommend changes in draws. She has also created an
"issues" log that allows for real time communication about complaints
and more importantly, a way to track resolution of a complaint.
Her
willingness to experiment and the success she has achieved with her online collaborative
approach has set the tone for ongoing improvements in distribution. She has, in
short, automated many day-to-day tasks, so that she has more time to spend on
improving displays, locations and the number of actual drops. Karen is prompt and an excellent
time-manager. She never complains and always has the time to take extra assignments.
Yvonne Kirksey
Customer Service
Representative
Delaware State
News
Commitment
Yvonne
does so much more than greet customers and answer the phones with extreme
courtesy; she takes full and complete ownership of whatever situation that
brings readers, advertisers and other individuals in contact with
her. Yvonne is committed to solving problems and seeing the
situation through to a solution. This she does with great professionalism
and a way that makes raving fans out of those who meet her.
The
customers and people that Yvonne encounters in her work regularly provide
unsolicited feedback about the great way she treats them and takes care of
their problems. There have been two of these published in recent
Press Lines, including one from a Mr. and Mrs. Mathena, describing how Yvonne
had treated them and helped them during their visit to our lobby. In her
letter, Mrs Mathena wrote: “I’m sure you are already aware of the asset she is
to the paper. Sadly, it isn’t very often that we meet someone with the
personality and professionalism that this young woman possesses”.
Yvonne
Kirksey is committed to serving and helping in a professional way, and takes
the extra mile to fix things and take care of people. It’s not something
Yvonne manufactures; that’s just who she is. All of this makes Yvonne a
special person and an asset to INI.
Kelsie Knight
Cashier
Corporate Services
Learning
Kelsie
is an analyzer. This is seen not only in
her cashiering duties; but also, when she is asked to take on a tech task. While no longer part of the technology services
team, Kelsie has become the silent "go to" person for tech issues not only by the Delmarva employees
but Dash2 as well.
Kelsie
is very much a team-oriented individual.
She will do everything within her abilities to assist a team. She realizes the importance of the duties of other
departments, which is her driving force to help resolve a problem. Kelsie truly steps up when a need dictates.
Her ability to get involved when asked is a complement to her desire to get the
job done.
Kelsie
has been with INI for 38 years and is a respected member of INI. Her ability to
analyze and document processes is an asset.
This is truly useful as our focus for the future is to have good
documented processes. We are fortunate
to have Kelsie part of the Corporate Services team.
Wanda Mazza-James
Advertising
Support Manager
Delaware State
News
Self -Management
Wanda James is fearless when it
comes to new tasks and technology. She not only takes on all assigned
tasks with enthusiasm no matter how challenging they may seem, but she also
looks for opportunities for sales growth for the Delaware State News team,
including special section ideas. She has
on several occasions researched prospects online for both special sections and
events – putting together helpful prospect lists for the sales efforts.
Wanda has become the “go to” person
with the Delaware State News Advertising Team for putting together detailed
spreadsheets, solving Brainworks challenges and assisting with new
technology.
Wanda has embraced our new sales
efforts with special events and has great inside knowledge of the processes
involved in making events successful. She brings a unique skill set to
the Advertising Support Team which takes the level of support beyond the traditional
tasks to a higher results-driven level.
Katrina Sullivan
Advertising
Consultant
Delaware State
News
Purposeful
Newspapers
There’s
no question Katrina’s efforts daily help us publish purposeful newspapers that
support meaningful community involvement. Katrina’s work with clients and
her extraordinary involvement with worthy projects in Kent County consistently
demonstrate that she is committed to not only help our company grow, but also
to make our community a better place to live and work.
Katrina’s
work and passion for her clients and the community come through in everything
she does. Few people integrate their values and personal compass
between job and life as well as Katrina, as evidenced by the way she sincerely
championed her belief in our editorial and community mission during her
appearances as a CDCC Honorary Mayor candidate.
Katrina
loves her job, her community, and the newspaper, and it comes through in a
powerful way to everyone. Talking to Katrina, you can tell she
reads the Delaware State News cover to cover. That’s something that may
seem obvious, but with busy schedules not every staffer does that.
It’s not uncommon for people to comment about Katrina or even tell
her directly that it is so obvious that she loves her job and radiates
positive energy.
Tyrell Sullivan
1st
Shift Team Leader
Delaware Printing
Company
Learning
Tyrell
has grown with DPC and gained much knowledge in the area of machine operation
and leadership. Tyrell started in 2011 as
a full-time shipping/ binding employee. He quickly moved to machine operator
and then in 2016 Tyrell was promoted to a shift leader in the shipping/binding
department.
Tyrell
consistently tries to do his best. He attempts to solve problems on his own. He
also utilizes his team and their experience, bringing out their many talents.
Brittany Taylor
Customer Service Representative
Delaware State
News
Courtesy
& Ethical Standards
Brittany
is always patient, courteous and professional when working with
customers. A customer who needed
help obtaining several copies of the paper called to say: “You have an awesome
group of people working for you.” She could not say enough about how”
kind, professional, warm and helpful she was”. Another subscriber mailed
in her 1 year renewal payment with a note expressing how nice it was to work
with a “very pleasant and knowledgeable representative, Brittany Taylor”
Brittany
is also a very rapid learner, and she has used this knowledge and friendly way
to help train others on the reader service team. Brittany
frequently comes up with new ideas and ways to help her team get the job done
better. She even created a written training manual that is now part of
our Reader Service folder.
Brittany
is a team player willing to jump in and help anyone whether an ad customer, a
reader, or a fellow teammate. She also helps at the many events
that the Delaware State News participates in and sponsors, and she shows the
same courtesy and good service at these events that she displays in her normal
day to day work. She has a bubbly personality that is infectious when
speaking to customers over the phone or in person.
Florida
Dale Conyers
News & Advertising Services
Caloosa Belle
Shared
Leadership
Dale
is the natural leader of the Caloosa Belle office. He works in all aspects of
the newspaper office. Since Patty’s departure he has been instrumental in
achieving the improvements in the finances of that office thanks to reduction
of expenses and increases in ad sales.
Dale
is a multi-talented individual; whose education includes both journalism and
graphic arts. He is a natural leader who cares about the team members, about the
newspapers and about the communities served by the Caloosa Belle.
Anna Hines
Graphic Specialist
Okeechobee News
Purposeful
Newspapers
The
Okeechobee office took over the production of The Sun, the Clewiston News and
Glades County Democrat with little notice in July. Anna jumped in to help build
ads and paginate the paper, encouraging the Okeechobee graphics team to take
ownership of the South Lake products.
Anna
takes pride in building pages that are eye-catching and interesting. Anna's dedication to getting all the Florida papers
to press on time has helped the Florida group continue to be successful and the
changes in operations since production for the "South Lake" papers
moved to Okeechobee has made the Florida Group more profitable.
Anna
shares the company's philosophy that we will give the communities the best
products they will support. Each week production goes a little more smoothly,
as she has helped the graphics team work out a routine.
Kristina Schwartz
Graphics Designer
Okeechobee News
Self-Management
In
her daily job performance, Kristina will help without being asked. She is a
creative problem solver. During the
December computer crisis, she was instrumental in finding a way to get the
newspapers to press and overcoming some of the system challenges the group was
facing at that time.
Okeechobee
News published every issue despite being unable to access the internet, the
network and most ads, classifieds and obits. In addition, a capability we take
for granted, the ability to distill pages to PDF, was unavailable for two
weeks. We prevailed in large part because Kristina devised a workaround for all
these things and shared with the whole office.
Diane Timmons
News Clerk
Okeechobee News
Learning
Since
we launched the new OkeechobeeNews.net website, Diane Timmons has worked
diligently to keep the website updated with local stories that connect with the
readers. As each paper is completed, Diane consults with the editor regarding
which stories to post online, and then determines the best times and dates to schedule
the postings. Thanks to Diane's efforts to continually update the website, we
have built a consistent web audience for the Okeechobee News.
Diane
is always ready for a new challenge. Diane is very careful with all her work.
Most editions, she is the last person to check the editorial pages before they
go to the printing plant and she ensures this process goes smoothly. On the
occasion when there is an issue with an advertising page after ad staffers have
left for the day, she tries diligently to solve the problem herself before
asking an ad staffer to return to the office.
She
shares her computer skills and knowledge with other staffers to help the
newsroom run smoothly.
