Say thanks to a postal worker
Benjamin Franklin Award of Excellence nominations sought

Did a deserving postal employee go out of the way to provide excellent service in 2005?

Despite the weather, and the challenges of long-distance deliveries, did a local postmaster, clerk, carrier or administrator go above and beyond the call of duty to help newspapers reach their readers?

If so, that employee--and the nominating newspaper executive--may earn a trip to Washington, DC, in March, 2006, if the newspaper's nominee for the Benjamin Franklin Community Newspaper and Postal Partnership Award of Excellence is selected as the national winner.

Jointly sponsored by the National Newspaper Association and the United States Postal Service, the "Ben" award is designed to recognize service by USPS employees—postmasters, business mail clerks, letter carriers and others—who have provided excellent service and strengthened the relationship between the Postal Service and newspapers.

A winning nominee submitted by an NNA member newspaper will be selected for each state. A national winner will be chosen from among state winners to be flown to Washington, D.C.--along with the nominating NNA member publisher or editor-- for recognition during the 45th Annual Government Affairs Conference. Postmaster General Jack Potter and NNA President Jerry Reppert, publisher of Gazette-Democrat, Anna, IL, will present the award.

Judges are members of the NNA Postal Committee, chaired by Max Heath, vice president of Landmark Community Newspapers, Inc.

Entry forms are in the mail to newspapers. In addition, nomination forms are available at www.nna.org <http://www.nna.org/>under Contests and Awards: Ben Franklin.

Deadline for entries is Feb. 15. Entries should be returned to the NNA Washington Office, PO Box 5737, Arlington, VA 22205.

Reppert emphasized the importance of recognizing local efforts.

“With hurricanes, blizzards, tornadoes, changes in postal processing networks and a ton of other hurdles for mail service to clear, sometimes the overall national delivery presents challenges to newspapers. But often we find local postal employees doing their level best to overcome the challenges and help us reach our readers. Those are the folks we want to recognize, ” he said. “This award represents some of NNA's most important work with the Postal Service, and I encourage NNA members to participate.”

The award is named in honor of the first US Postmaster General, who was also a newspaper publisher. It was established in 1999 to salute the partnership between local post offices and community newspapers across the nation.

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