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Keynote speaker announced for RTDNAC Awards

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Morgan Radford
Morgan Radford

Registration is now open for the 2023 RTDNAC/AP Awards Ceremony on Nov. 11, 2023 at The Speedway Club at Charlotte Motor Speedway. 

This year’s keynote speaker will be Morgan Radford, a correspondent for NBC News and anchor for NBC News NOW based in New York City. She is originally from Greensboro, N.C. 

Register to attend this year’s awards. The deadline to register is Nov. 1, 2023. 

Morgan co-anchors “NBC News Daily,” a daily news program from 12-2pm ET, and her reporting frequently appears on TODAY Show, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, Noticias Telemundo and MSNBC. 

Since joining NBC News in 2015, Radford has covered the country’s biggest stories including the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on low-income communities, and America’s racial reckoning following the 2020 shooting death of George Floyd. Her coverage of the immigration debate over the U.S. southern border was part of the MSNBC “Border Special” nominated for a 2020 “News Discussion and Analysis” Emmy Award.  Radford also won the 2020 Gracie Award for National TV News On-Air Talent.

Prior to joining NBC News, Morgan was an anchor for Al Jazeera America and previously worked for ABC News at their headquarters in New York City.

Morgan received her bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, a master’s degree from Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism and a Fulbright Fellowship from the United States State Department, where she spent one year teaching in Durban, South Africa.  Radford is fluent in Spanish and was certified by the French Chamber of Commerce for business proficiency in French.  She currently serves on the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism’s Board of Visitors (J’10).

2022 RTDNAC Convention Details announced

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Awards info

Details for this year’s RTDNAC/AP annual awards luncheon and convention have been announced!

On Nov. 12, media professionals and journalism students will be honored for the best in broadcast journalism in North Carolina and South Carolina.

Register for the luncheon via this link 

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.

  • For more information, contact RTDNAC.

REGISTER & PAY NOW

Schedule

9 a.m. Check-in and networking

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” 

11:30 a.m. Awards Luncheon

Carolina Journalists and Students Honored by RTDNAC

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By Dennis Milligan

Dianne Gallagher
Dianne Gallagher

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.”

Laurabree Monday
Laurabree Monday

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.

Rachel Ellis
Rachel Ellis

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.”

There were 550 entries (working professionals and students) judged by 44 professional journalists in 18 states, with 196 winning entries. The entire presentation and list of winners can be found here.

COVID-19 & the 2020 RTDNAC Awards

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Dear partners, students and professionals,

We hope that you, your family and colleagues stay safe as we all navigate through the COVID-19 crisis.

We thought that an update would be helpful on where we are with the RTDNAC awards competition and awards luncheon slated for Nov 14 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Are we still planning for the awards competition?

YES. We are committed to proceeding with the awards competition.

Entries are now being accepted until July 15 for professionals and Sept. 9 for students. You can find the competition rules, categories and entry forms on our website.

While we have Nov. 14 reserved for the awards ceremony, we continue to monitor COVID-19 and are ready to adjust as necessary.

We are looking at several different alternatives, including but not limited to:

  • An in-person awards ceremony: The ceremony would take into consideration all safety measures at the time and offer an in-person opportunity to receive awards.
  • A virtual awards ceremony: We would have a remote in portal where folks could see if they won. The awards then would be mailed to each city for a designated pickup spot.

Please know your safety is our priority, and we will keep you up to date in the decision-making process.

Sincerely,

The RTDNAC Board

2019 Awards Luncheon a Success

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Concord, NC — More than 160 broadcast and digital news professionals gathered on Saturday, October 26th at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the 2019 convention of the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas.

Keynote speaker was Zackary Kiesch, a correspondent for ABC News, who told a personal story about his challenging journey into the broadcast news business. As for many broadcast veterans, his path to success was punctuated by challenges and setbacks. But focus and determination led to the opportunity to prove himself, eventually earning a place on network TV.

The convention featured a panel discussion on how to get the most out of your efforts on social media. The panelists were Molly Grantham, long time anchor and reporter for WBTV News in Charlotte and Trooper Bob Beres, traffic reporter for WCIV in Charleston and a 24 year veteran of the South Carolina Highway Patrol. Molly has more than 100 thousand followers on Facebook and talked about her years-long path to success. Trooper Bob not only uses social media effectively now as a television news professional, but also had viral success in law enforcement, distributing safety information.

This convention was a bitter-sweet, as the association marked the loss of two important board members. Haney Howell, was a professor at Winthrop University and an emeritus member of the board. Before education, he had a notable career in television and radio news at the network level. Ken White,  a television news director in many markets, including Charlotte NC, served the RTDNAC for many years and was particularly focused on student members and their advancement. The families of both men were presented with awards of appreciation. Ken’s wife, Jenny, and son, Mack, were on hand to accept the tribute and to present the “Student of the Year Award,” now named in White’s honor.

The highlight of the annual convention was the presentation of professional and student awards at the luncheon. Award winners can be found here.