By Heidi M. Pascual
It was one of the most memorable moments of my life -- February 11, 2006, at the DoubleTree Hotel in Madison, Wisconsin. It was the First Anniversary celebration of my baby, Asian Wisconzine. Well-wishers included State. Senator Mark Miller, our guest speaker, and Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk. The attendees were a very diverse group -- all colors!
The event was a big success, a very happy occasion, and time to thank the people and organizations who helped me the past year, without whose help Asian Wisconzine would not have survived, really.
I gave the following major awards:
* Publisher's Award -- to MG&E for the 12-month advertising support that helped print the magazine for one straight year.
* Outstanding Ally Award to Terry Manley of MG&E, for supporting Asian Wisconzine by building the bridge between his corporation and the magazine
* Editor's Award -- to Paul Kusuda for a straight 12-month column that talked about diverse issues on health care, family, social security, and others.
* Outstanding Writer's Awards -- to Laura Salinger and Ben Freund. They wrote highly informative articles about Asian American communities in Madison, did a lot of research, and helped make the quality content Asian Wisconzine now has.
I myself made Certificates of Appreciation to individual members of the Editorial Advisory Board for their precious ideas, time and effort in writing columns and articles, to volunteers, as well as to my advisors, Agnes Cammer and Jonathan Gramling. All of them made Asian Wisconzine the best of its kind.
My heartfelt thanks also go to our volunteer performers: Meenakshi Ganesan and her Kalaanjali dancer Renee Karr Johnson and emcee Lakshmy Rahaswamy, Pipa superstar Xiaoli Wu, Pianist and violinist Anna Maria Manalo, spouses Rufino and Eppie Licos, and singer Gemma of Million Voices Choir.
I was surprised, however, to receive certificates of recognition from the Governor (through DWD's Frances Huntley-Cooper) and Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk. They truly made the event doubly memorable for me. I guess our hard work paid off, my friends! Thank you, thank you!
Let's plan for the next bigger event by starting to work on our next stories and columns!!!! |
