The 2022 RTDNAC Awards were presented on Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022, at The Speedway Club at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.
This year’s featured speaker was Network TV Correspondent Debra Alfarone, who has won Edward R. Murrow and Emmy awards for her work reporting from the White House and U.S Capitol for CBS News.
This year’s featured speaker is Network TV Correspondent Debra Alfarone, who has won Edward R. Murrow and Emmy awards for her work reporting from the White House and U.S Capitol for CBS News. A former high school dropout, her mission in life is to empower and inspire people to use their voices powerfully. Debra has worked as an anchor at WUSA9 in Washington, D.C., and as a reporter at PIX 11 News in New York City and NBC Connecticut in Hartford, Connecticut.
Convention and Luncheon details
Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022
The Speedway Club, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, N.C.
$40 per person ($20 discount for current students). Online registration and payment required by Tuesday, Nov. 1. Note: On-site registration and payments will not be accepted. Payments by check cannot be accepted.
9:30 a.m. Convention with featured speaker Network TV Correspondent Debra Alfarone, and the panel discussion, “How to Survive and Thrive in Today’s Newsroom”
Students from across the Carolinas, this is your chance to network with news managers and educators and gain knowledge that will help as you prepare for graduation and seeking that first job.
The RTDNAC Student Workshop will take place at WBTV, 1 Julian Price Place in Charlotte, on Saturday, March 26, 2022, from 9:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The registration desk will open at 8:30 a.m. in the WBTV lobby.
There is no fee for the workshop, but space is limited to 100 people. Please register online by March 23rd.
Please note: All attendees must provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination. Anyone without proof of vaccination will not be allowed to participate
Face masks are optional.
The workshop is open to students enrolled at universities and colleges in North and South Carolina.
This year’s workshop will include the following sessions conducted by broadcast professionals from across the Carolinas:
The Broadcast Voice
Reporting/Anchoring
Producing TV newscasts
Production
Sports
Radio news
Photography
Online news and social media
Landing that first job
Students will also be given the opportunity to have their work critiqued by professionals. Samples of students’ work must be accessible online.
For more information, contact:
Bernie Ritter RTDNAC Board President WNCT-TV britter@wnct.com
”RTDNAC was crucial to my Elon experience. From my first year, I was granted access to insight, feedback and mentorships with professionals from across the Carolinas. RTDNAC is a bridge to connect students with professionals.”
Those thoughts come from Meredith Stutz, reporter at WLWT, the NBC affiliate in Cincinnati, Ohio. A graduate of Elon University, she’s one of many past winners of an RTDNAC scholarship.
Each February, RTDNAC awards two $1500 scholarships to two currently enrolled rising juniors or seniors who are pursuing a major course of study with emphasis in broadcast and/or digital journalism.
One scholarship is awarded to a student attending a college or university in North Carolina. Another is awarded to a student in South Carolina.
“I’m so grateful for this scholarship, because it allowed me to focus on my studies and internships,” Stutz said. “Through this focused effort, I was able to have the best possible start of my career in Savannah a few months later (in 2015). Scholarships change lives, and RTDNAC changed mine for the better with ripple effects still felt today.”
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas continued its annual tradition of helping train and mentor the next generation of broadcast and digital journalists.
On Saturday, Feb. 27, news directors and leading journalists met virtually with students to talk about current trends and the future of the news industry. Three interactive sessions were centered around these themes (watch the videos posted at the bottom of the page):
Know Your Why
Know Your Biases
Know Your Value
The workshop kicked off with the announcement of this year’s scholarship winners. Congratulations to Kirstyn Clark from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Katia Rodengen from the University of South Carolina! Each received a Dr. John R. Bittner Scholarship worth $1500. Capitol Broadcasting Company/WRAL, Hearst Television Inc./WYFF4, and the RTDNAC Board of Directors fund the scholarships.
In the week following the workshop, RTDNAC board members met virtually with students for one-on-one coaching sessions. They critiqued reels, offered feedback on resumes and web pages, provided advice on interviewing, and shared expectations for the first job.
In conjunction with its student workshop, RTDNAC is offering one-on-one coaching sessions for college students during the first week of March.
News managers from across the Carolinas will be available virtually for 30-minute sessions. They’ll be ready to critique reels, offer feedback on resumes and webpages, provide advice on interviewing, share expectations on the first job, etc.
RTDNAC is happy to continue its annual tradition of helping train and mentor the next generation of broadcast and digital journalists.
This year, starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 27, we will meet virtually for our annual student workshop. But we promise that this will go beyond your standard Zoom meeting.
We are offering three free workshops centered around these themes:
Know Your Why
Know Your Value
Know Your Biases
As always, these interactive sessions will have news directors and leading journalists available for students to question about the future of the news industry.
You will need to register in advance. The workshop is scheduled to last three hours. We look forward to seeing you on Feb. 27.
Life in 2020, especially as it relates to COVID-19, forced many changes in how we go about our lives and our business of broadcast and digital journalism. The same was true for the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas’ annual award presentation. Normally held at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, this year’s awards were presented during a digital conference on Nov. 14.
RTDNAC President Laurabree Monday welcomed participants saying, “We know this is a strange year. We still hope you enjoy this (digital) event. We very much hope to be back at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2021.”
The awards presentation started with keynote thoughts from CNN National Correspondent, Dianne Gallagher, who is now based in Charlotte. She welcomed participants, noting, “This has been one hell of a year and every single one of you deserves to celebrate your accomplishments.”
Gallagher talked about her journey from CN2 News in Rock Hill, to CNN. She had words of encouragement for the digital gathering, as both students and professionals grapple with the current pandemic. “COVID-19 elevated everything. It elevated the need for you, your diligent effort to get the truth to people. At the same time it made doing that so much more difficult.”
“You were often risking your own physical health and mental health to make sure the rest of your community knew what was really happening,” she added.
The awards presentation also featured Rachel Ellis, a reporter for ABC 4 News in Charleston, S.C. Her comments addressed college students in their last year of journalism school. “I was in your shoes a little over a year ago.” “No one could have predicted the curve ball of 2020, it became quickly apparent to me that our jobs have never been so important for the communities we serve.”
As much as things have changed in 2020, CNN’s Gallagher noted that much remained the same for broadcast and digital journalists. “My life has changed, but the basics of building relationships, demanding accountability, telling stories, that hasn’t.”