With the exploits of NASCAR's all-time greats echoing nearby, it was fitting that TurfNet's driver and several members of his pit crew were recognized at the green industry's largest awards contest.
Eight TurfNet staffers and contributors combined to win 13 awards in the annual Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association annual Communications Awards contest. The awards were presented May 2 at TOCA's annual meeting across the street from the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Winners included TurfNet founder Peter McCormick, as well as John Reitman, Jon Kiger, Randy Wilson, Frank Rossi, Ph.D., Kevin Ross, Paul MacCormack and Parker Stancil, who combined for eight first-place awards, one best-in-show award and four second place or merit awards.
Stancil, a turf student at Horry-Georgetown Technical College in Myrtle Beach, won first place and a best-in-show Gardner Award for his blog work while interning last summer at Great Northern Golf Club in Kerteminde, Denmark.
Also winning first place awards were Wilson, Reitman, Kiger, MacCormack, Ross and Rossi. Wilson, McCormick and Reitman also won merit awards.
Wilson won firsts for best use of opinion in a video and best long video, respectively, for "A message for golf from a last-wave millennial" and "Top 4 tips for a happy future golf career".
MacCormack was recognized with a first-place award for his "2018 Mindful Superintendent Retreat". Rossi won best podcast for "50 years of controversy, an interview with Dr. Joe Vargas". In the category of best instructional video, Ross won for his work titled "Document projects with before-and-after photography".
TurfNet's Kiger won in the best special projects category for the "2018 TurfNet members trip to Ireland", and Reitman won best writing for a Web site with a look back on the life of the late James Beard, Ph.D. with "Beard brought the science in turfgrass science".
Reitman also won two merit awards in the writing category with "Labor issues affecting the golf course industry" (best series) and with "Ohio YMCA takes over golf course" (business management).
The founder of TurfNet 25 years ago, McCormick won a merit award for Web site design, and Wilson's third award of the night was for his video titled "Forest Therapy".
The Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association is a 200-plus member association comprising editorial, advertising and marketing professionals working in the green industry.