Join the Press Club of Southeast Texas for the 27th Annual Excellence in the Media & Newsmaker of the Year Awards. Reception begins at 6:30pm.

The Excellence in Media Awards Ceremony is the time when those who write, report, photograph and broadcast the news are awarded for their talents over the past year. Likewise, members of the public relations field are lauded for their efforts.

The Press Club of Southeast Texas receives hundreds of entries from individuals and media outlets from across the region, including print, electronic media, magazines/trade press and public relations categories. Those entries are sent to judges throughout the nation, who choose the winners.

The annual event hosts local dignitaries and also recognizes the top area newsmakers from Southeast Texas. This year’s list of Newsmaker of the Year candidates were whittled down by a vote of the Press Club membership to include:

Finalists for Newsmaker of the Year include:

**Dr. John Adolph, Senior Pastor at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, and Randy Feldschau, Lead Pastor of Cathedral Church, for sponsoring a gun buyback and anti-crime effort in Beaumont.   
 
**Beaumont Water Restoration, the collective, volunteer efforts of the Crenshaw family/Tiger Industrial Company/Dragon Products, ExxonMobil, City of Beaumont and many more for their heroic work to install temporary pumps and pipe fresh water to the city of Beaumont after Harvey’s waters flooded them and delayed the city’s recovery.
 
**W.T. Johnston, Newton High School head football coach, for winning a state title despite suffering a life-threatening graft-vs.-host disease after receiving a double-lung transplant three years earlier.
 
**Memorial High School of Port Arthur’s 4X200-meter relay team, for setting a national record with a time of 1 minute 23.52 seconds, which beat the previous record of 1 minute 23.92 seconds set back in 2007.
 
**Damon West, Beaumont legal assistant, for giving many inspiring talks on drug abuse and resisting crime to local and national groups as a recovering addict and former prison inmate.

While all of these worthy candidates will be recognized for their work over the past year, only one will be selected as the 2017 Newsmaker of the Year by the Press Club of Southeast Texas.

Proceeds from the banquet fund The Press Club Memorial Scholarship at Lamar University dedicated to deceased journalists and awarded annually to students in communication, journalism, mass communications, advertising, public relations or related field. Those who write, report, photograph and broadcast the news or work in the public relations field in Southeast Texas will be honored. Local dignitaries and the top newsmakers from Southeast Texas will also be honored. Individual tickets are $36.10 (includes a processing fee)

Underwriting opportunities also available.
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