U.S. Masters Swimming June Krauser Communications Award

Recipient:	Pacific Masters Update Editors
Year:	2018
LMSC:	Pacific

A group of volunteers from Pacific Masters were recognized for their efforts to produce the LMSC’s biweekly electronic newsletter. It was distributed to 24,000 LMSC members and interested parties. Those honored were Linda Shoenberger, Jeremy Cohen, Peg Flynn, Carol Nip, Linda Hepworth, Ali Hall, Charlene O’Brien, and Chris Ottati. Charlene and Chris served as the Pacific Masters Office Administrators (past and current respectully). The others were past and current editors. The VP of Communications and Technology, Bob Anderson, oversaw the production.

The Pacific Masters Update offered articles covering over 20 pool events, 7 open water events, clinics, monthly meetings, the annual meeting, and other noteworthy community information. The honorees formed a team of editors who traded off production responsibilities. Each person rotated their duties so they were the point person and editor every 4 months. As point person, they wrote the articles, kept track of openings/closings of events, embedded links, and offered encouragement to the community to take part. The other 3 months they assisted by proofreading material and offering feed back to the other point persons. This shared work load helped the team maintain its production schedule and they worked together by offering suggestions throughout the process. It appeared that this method of organizing significantly prevented writer/publisher/editor burnout, while assuring adequate editing prior to publication.

The Update was the primary source of information on all Pacific Masters activites. When special circumstances arose, such as the death of a member or the acknowledgement of great achievement by a member, the editors wrote with sensitivity and respect.