Sunday I was, to my surprise, awarded the Ada Arts Council’s 2019 Outstanding Adan in the Arts during the annual Cozy Up with the Arts event at Wintersmith Lodge.

I love the idea of supporting the arts, and I certainly feel like I want to be an artist, but often I get into ruts that make me feel more like a mechanic, grinding out news content day after day without putting enough feeling into it. It’s an easy rut to fall into, and journalism really is hard work.

An award like this can provide inspiration to be more artistic, more involved, more creative.

I was nominated by my editor, and overwhelmingly supported by one of my longest time and best friends Jamie, who is on the Ada Arts Council, and she said that when they made the nomination, it was unchallenged and eagerly approved.

I hate to sound like an actor at the Oscars with my, “I’d like to thank everyone,” but that’s exactly what I did when I was given the award. One thing I said that is absolutely true: I could never have done the work that I do without the community, who welcome me and appreciate what I do.