The headline said, "Big awards given, students recognized" and this was the photo that accompanied the story.I thought, oh my, those two gentlemen don't look like students. And then I read the rest of the story.
It is worth certainly worth noting that Wayne Bruch, left, received the Optimist of the Year Award for 2013 and Doug Godin received the Key Man Award for 2013. The presentations were made at during the student recognition program for the Fort Morgan Middle School students. I would imagine that the audience included students, parents and educators along with Optimist Club members and their guests.
The good news is that the club got to brag a little about its members and projects to a receptive audience. The bad news is that the Fort Morgan Times kind of short-changed the students with their coverage.
It appears that the paper responded to a press release from the Optimist Club for this article. "'The Evening Optimist Club is glad to fund an amazing program such as this,' the release says," writes the news staff as it describes how students were nominated to receive recognition. But sadly, there's no picture of students and not even a listing of their names.
This is an example of how we can cross purposes with a press release. I would imagine that the reporter assigned to the story wasn't sure which idea to promote and made the best decision they could given their knowledge of the subject. For me, I'd rather see pictures of the students; and this makes it look like the Optimist Club recognizes their own first.
Free advice: When sending out a press release, be sure that you are promoting one idea, not many. And make darn sure that you want the picture included with the story that is written.
Congratulations to all, the adults and the students, honored by the Fort Morgan Evening Optimist Club.
