During the 2018 TAA Awards Ceremony on June 15th in Santa Fe, NM, in addition to honoring our twenty-six Textbook Award winners, four individuals were honored with TAA Council awards recognizing exemplary contributions to the Association and the authoring community.

The awards were given by Mike Kennamer, TAA Council President during the ceremony. His remarks on each of the winners is included below.

Norma Hood Award – For devotion and commitment to TAA demonstrated through works performed outside the limelight

“The Norma Hood award, named after a former TAA staff member, is given to an individual who has demonstrated a commitment to TAA by being a ‘behind the scenes’ contributor, quietly and cheerfully stepping up where needed without seeking the limelight. Norma Hood awardees often work at those thankless but necessary tasks that keep the organization moving forward. This year, I’m very happy that we will be recognizing one of our valued and hard working staff members. You have probably encountered this staffer in person here at the Conference, or else online that time you needed help locating that webinar or free book download you had been looking for. What you may not know is that this staffer is responsible for all sort of data maintenance that helps the Council and management keep up to date on TAA’s health as an organization. And if you haven’t already guessed who I’m talking about, one final hint: in addition to her duties at TAA, she is a professional photographer who may have taken your headshot at one of our Conferences. This year’s Norma Hood award goes to Bekky Murphy!”

Mike Keedy Award – For enduring service to authors

“The Mike Keedy award is named for one of our founding members, and is specifically targeted for those who make exceptional efforts in service to authors or the authoring community. In the case of this year’s winner, the service to authors comes in the form of educating them and sharing with them her wisdom and experience as an accomplished, longtime author. This year’s Mike Keedy award winner routinely contributes her knowledge, acting as a guide and mentor, to TAA Members through presentations at the Conference, newsletter articles, or as one of our most popular webinar leaders. Please join me in thanking and welcoming this year’s Mike Keedy award winner, Janet Salmons!”

President’s Award – For extraordinary service to TAA

“Now I have the great pleasure of exercising one of the most delightful duties and privileges of being TAA President. This is my first year as President, so my first opportunity to select a President’s awardee…and I’ve learned from my predecessors that it is a hard decision! I’m so indebted to many of you for making TAA a success that I am almost reluctant to recognize just one person. But, as I reflected on this and asked for recommendations from the Awards committee and Council members, one name kept coming up, and it became apparent to me that this person truly deserves the recognition. You are all familiar with the year’s winner. She has been involved with TAA for many years, you’ve encountered her at the Conference, you’ve read her newsletter articles and blog posts, and most recently her excellent coverage of the new access model being introduced by a major textbook publisher that could affect author royalties. Mike Spinella, our Executive Director, tells me that this longtime staffer has outdone even her own sterling record in the last few years as she has single-handedly helped TAA dip its toe into the world of book publishing, bringing out three works since 2016. Please welcome and express your appreciation for this year’s President’s award winner, Kim Pawlak!”

Franklin Silverman Lifetime Achievement Award – For a career of excellence in authoring and of support and service to authors

“This award is one of the highest honors TAA confers, and it is named after one of our founders and former presidents, Franklin Silverman. We award this to a person who has built an entire career devoted to excellence in authoring and support to authors. The award cannot be won by a single achievement or publication – only through the long accumulation over years of multiple services to authors and excellent work in one’s field of expertise can one earn the Franklin Silverman Lifetime Achievement Award.

This year’s winner is a longtime friend and member of TAA who serves on Council providing level-headed and sage advice, and also has served and continues to serve in a variety of committee roles. He is a regular and popular speaker at our Conference, a contributor of newsletter articles and blogposts, and, most importantly, he has generously contributed his time and expertise to our book publishing program, serving as the principal author or co-author of all our recent publications that Kim has worked so diligently to bring to fruition. By now, you will have guessed that our Lifetime Achievement award this year goes to Steve Gillen!”

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