In Army journalism we have this thing called the Keith L. Ware awards. They are like the Grammys, only for journalists and only for the Army. And there is no ceremony. Or red carpet. Ok, they are nothing like the Grammys except that both are awards. Moving on.

So each year, we all spend time pouring over all our stories from the previous year searching for that magical story that’s well written, appropriate to the military community and is better than everyone else’s.

Each year, I work hard combing over the categories, trying to find my best stories for each category. Not so much because I care too much about winning, because we don’t really win anything, but moreso for the recognition of a job well done. Often, when I’ve submitted all my best stories into the main categories, such as News and Features, I look to the smaller categories where there may not be as many entries. Categories such as Sports or Commentary.

Well, I guess entering as many categories finally worked out for me as I won third place in Sports for the Southwest Region 2005 Keith L. Ware Competition for my article “Smoker serves up knuckle sandwich” (about a boxing tournament).

Of course, third place doesn’t really mean anything. I’ll get a cheap certificate and that’s about it, but it still does feel good to be recognized, even if it wasn’t for one of my better stories.

Regardless, I have no intention of continuing in journalism when I leave the Army, so no one get any ideas. Writing isn’t my thing at all.