Newsday’s Debby Krenek to Keynote
Annual Awards Dinner on May 15

Debby Krenek

Debby Krenek

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS IN categories ranging from Breaking News to Feature Writing and from Science and Health to Sports and Photography will be honored by the Silurians Press Club at its 74th annual Excellence in Journalism awards dinner, May 15 at the National Arts Club. Even though the number of categories was reduced from 21 last year to 14 this year, the competition, celebrating the best coverage of 2018, drew 97 entries from news organizations and freelancers in print, broadcast and digital media, compared to 55 entries a year ago. Eighteen men and women are slated to receive Medallions, while 15 will get Merit Awards. The New York Times finished with 5 Medallion winners and 3 Merit Awards, followed by the Record/Northjersey.com with 4 Medallions, and Newsday with 2 Medallions and 5 Merits.A complete list will be published in next month’s Silurian News.

In a departure from previous dinners, this one will feature a keynote speaker: Debby Krenek, publisher of the Newsday Media Group and the former editor-in-chief of two of New York’s major daily newspapers: Newsday and the New York Daily News. In addition, to Newsday, Long Island’s only daily, the Media Group includes the free newspaper amNew York, the Newsday Hometown Shopper and the firm’s websites.

Krenek, who was named to her present post in the spring of 2018, had been co-publisher, a role that called for her to split her day-to-day duties between leading the Media Group and running Newsday. She joined Newsday in 2001 as associate editor for special projects. In 2004, Krenek was named Newsday’s managing editor Interactive. She became editor-in-chief in 2009, adding the title of executive vice president of Digital Media, and spearheading the development and launch of newsday.com’s web model. In 2011, Krenek became Newsday’s editorial director and senior vice president of the local media arm of Cablevision, Newsday’s owner. Two years later, she was named co-publisher.

Before joining Newsday, Krenek enjoyed a successful seven-year career at the News, where she was executive editor for four years and then editor-in-chief from September 1997 to April 2000. During her stint as EIC, the News won a 1998 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary for Mike McAlary’s columns about the Abner Louima police brutality case. She served as executive news editor of the Dallas Times Herald from 1981 to 1987, her first major job in journalism since graduating from Texas A&M in 1978 with a B.A. in journalism and marketing.

The date:   Wednesday, May 15, 2019
The time:   Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres at 6 p.m., dinner at 7:15 p.m.
The place: The National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South

Prices for the three-course dinner and open bar are $115 each for members and $130 for guests. Members are entitled to bring one guest at the member price. No one will be admitted without a reservation, all tickets must be paid for in advance, and reservations must be made by May 8. Tickets are expected to go quickly, so it’s best to reserve early. Here’s how.

1. You may purchase tickets by credit card through Eventbrite by clicking on the following link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/silurians-excellence-in-journalism-awards-gala-tickets-60683006506

2. You may also pay by check by sending an email to dinner chair Aileen Jacobson, telling her how many seats you want, listing the names of your guests, telling her who you would like to be seated with, and mailing your checks to her. Her contact information may be found by clicking on to the Eventbrite link shown above, or by referring to the email sent to all members by Silurian president David Andelman announcing the dinner. For privacy concerns, we are not running her contact information on our website.

We’re looking forward to another gala evening and hope to see you there.