It was a red-carpet evening for TurfNet in the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association annual Communications Awards event.
TurfNet walked away with nine first-place awards, one best-in-show award and eight merit (runner-up) trophies. The awards ceremony was held May 5 in conjunction with the TOCA annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska.
Jon Kiger won five first-place awards, a best-in-show and three merit awards. He also swept the special events category, winning a first and a merit award. His best-in-show award (his fourth to date) was for a video series on growing the game. John Reitman won two firsts, one of which was for a series of seven stories on the drought in California, and two merit awards. Randy Wilson and Dave Wilber each were first-place winners, and Peter McCormick, Kevin Ross and Frank Rossi, Ph.D., all won a merit award.
Here are all the TurfNet winners:
Best in Show
- Photography, Video and Multimedia: Jon Kiger, "Growing the Game"
First Place
- Best CD/audiovisual presentation: Jon Kiger, "Growing the Game"
- Best long video/DVD: Jon Kiger, "TurfNet Test Drives the GolfBoard"
- Best short video/DVD: Jon Kiger, "Convert a Surplus Mower into a Fairway Roller"
- Best Instructional video/DVD: Jon Kiger, "Installing an Improved Buffalo Blower Remote Switch"
- Best use of Editorial or opinion in a video/DVD: Randy Wilson, "The Worst Golf Course Superintendent Mistake I Ever Made"
- Special Events: Jon Kiger, "TurfNet Members Trip to Ireland"
- Editorial/Opinion Piece: John Reitman, "Golf Industry Needs a Mulligan"
- Series - two or more articles defined as a series: John Reitman, "The California Water Crisis"
- New Media: Dave Wilber, "Turfgrass Zealot: Josh Lewis - 2015 U.S. Open"
Merit (Second Place)
- Best CD/audiovisual presentation: Jon Kiger, "TurfNet Returns to Ireland 2015"
- Best long video/DVD: Jon Kiger, "TurfNet Visits Trinity College, Dublin"
- Best Instructional video/DVD: Kevin Ross, "Cured In Place Pipe"
- Original Content Only: John Reitman, "Mentor, Friend and Teacher"
- Overall Media Kit Design: Peter McCormick, "TurfNet 2016 Media Kit"
- New Media: Frank Rossi, Ph.D., "A Voice of Reason Within the Golf Industry: an Interview with Jim Koppenhaver"
- Special Events: Jon Kiger, "TurfNet Emerald Challenge"
- Special Projects: John Reitman, TurfNet; Mark LaFleur, Syngenta; Martin Williams Advertising, "TurfNet Superintendent's Best Friend Calendar - The Many Faces of a Turf Dog".
Kiger, also a member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of Ireland, also was recognized for a Merit award in the International Design Category for the GCSAI Greenside magazine, August 2015: "Remembering the RMS Lusitania" -- the sinking of which his great-grandfather was a survivor.
The Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association is a 200-plus member association comprising editorial, advertising and marketing professionals who work in the green industry.