It’s never too early to mark your calendar and save the date of Friday, Nov. 2 for the 10th annual Access Press Charlie Smith Award Banquet. The banquet, organized by Access Press, honors a member, group or organization in Minnesota’s disability community for outstanding service.
The banquet will again be held at the Minneapolis Airport Marriot in Bloomington. This setting offers a very accessible and comfortable space for the silent auction and raffle, cash bar, pre-dinner music and conversation and the banquet itself.
The highlight of the evening is the presentation of the Charlie Smith Award, given in honor of the founder of Access Press. The late Charlie Smith Jr. was a longtime disability community activist and journalist. Nominations for the award are accepted from the community, with a winner chosen by the Access Press Board of Directors.
The 2012 award nomination period closes Aug. 10. The newspaper board will review the nominations at the end of August and select a winner. Read about the winner in the September issue of Access Press. Nomination forms are available on the newspaper’s website, www.testing.accesspress.org or by calling the office at 651-644-2133. Contact the newspaper board at CSAnominations@testing.accesspress.org if you have questions.
Previous winners of the award are:
2011–Jeff Bangsberg, Consultant, Legislative Activist
2010–Steve Kuntz, Minnesota DEED
2009–Anne Henry, of the Minnesota Disability Law Center
2008–Pete Feigal, Co-Founder of Tilting at Windmills
2007–Jim and Claudia Carlisle, People Enhancing People
2006–John Smith, University of MN
2005–Minnesota Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (MN-CCD)
2004–Rick Cardenas, Co-Director of Advocating Change Together (ACT)
2003–Margot Imdieke Cross, Minnesota State Council on Disability
Making the banquet a success means relying on many community members for support. One way to help the banquet is to serve as a sponsor. Three levels of sponsorship are offered, using titles that reflect terms used historically in the newspaper industry. Sponsors get different levels of recognition
Keyliners Level – $200. This denotes the keyliners, who used to paste up newspaper pages.• Your logo will be displayed at a table
• Your organization/company name will be listed in the 2012 Charlie Award Banquet program
• Your organization/company will be recognized in our November & December 2012 newspapers
• You will have one (1) free website ad (your month of choice), a value of $100
Proofreaders Level – $300. This denotes the proofreaders, who checked newspaper pages for errors.
• Your logo will be displayed at a table
• Your organization/company name will be listed in the 2012 Charlie Award Banquet program
• Your organization/company will be recognized in our November & December 2012 newspapers
• You will have two (2) free rotating website ads (your months of choice), a value of $200
• Your organization/company will be listed on a special banner (on display) during the 2012 Charlie Award Banquet
Editor-in-Chief Level – $400. This denotes the leader of the newspaper.
• Your logo will be displayed at a table.
• Your organization/company name will be listed in the 2012 Charlie Award Banquet program
• Your organization/company will be recognized in our November & December 2012 newspapers
• You will have two (2) free rotating website ads (your months of choice), a value of $200
• Your organization/company will be listed on a special banner, on display during the 2012 Charlie Award Banquet
• Your organization/company will be recognized by our emcee during the 2012 Charlie Award Banquet
• A table will be named in your organization/company’s honor the evening of the event
• A free Access Press subscription, a value of $30
• One (1) Directory of Organizations listing, good for one year, a value of $60
Donations will also be needed for the newspaper’s annual silent auction and “pick your prize” raffle. Past prizes have included theater and sports tickets, gift certificates, art and more. Access Press Office Manager Dawn Frederick handles the sponsor, silent auction and raffle. Contact Dawn at 651 644-2133 or at dawn@testing.accesspress.org if you would like to be a sponsor or if you would like to make a donation.
