MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- Nine Marines from American Forces Network Iwakuni showed they were top notch during the 2009 United States Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association and Division of Public Affairs Merit Awards Program.
AFN Marines placed in seven different categories, but dominated in the radio portion of the competition, taking first place, second place and honorable mention in multiple categories.
The Iwakuni Approach also received an honorable mention for tabloid format newspaper, and Sgt. Joshua Cox won second place for his art and graphics in supportof a publication.
The program and competition recognizes Marines whose print and broadcast journalism products promote the Marine Corps and demonstrate outstanding achievement in furthering objectives of the Department of Defense internal information program.
Cpl. Jacqueline White, a news broadcaster at AFN Iwakuni who took second place in radio spot production and honorable mention for her radio news report, said the reason they stood out above everyone else is because they take all of their work very seriously.
“We are constantly pushing the envelope,” White said. “We are always looking for ways to improve. We have training every Thursday and meetings every Wednesday.”
Cpl. Justin Wiemers, the AFN productions non-commissioned officer in charge, also attributed their success to their superior leadership.
“Our senior leaders hold us to a higher standard than the Defense Media Activity and the Department of Defense, and we take on that challenge. So when it comes time to put our product up for those awards, we have the best quality product possible.”
Because they did so well in the radio portion of the competition, the bar has been set.
“We know that we’ve got radio down,” she said. “Now we can really try to excel in our news section. We’re competing with civilian news. When people wake up in the morning they decide whether they’re going to turn on AFN or CNN, so we use them as our training guide.”
AFN Iwakuni has set the standard for next years’ merit awards, but they don’t plan on slowing down now.
White said they plan on continuing to pump out quality work to submit for next years awards.
“I am very proud of AFN Iwakuni, and I’m proud to be part of such a hard-working office,” she said.