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LI Now wins Best News Blog PCLI award

June 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I’m proud to share that my newsday.com/towns team won first place for Best New Blog at the 2011 Press Club of Long Island Media Awards dinner on June 9.

Contributors to the blog, Long Island Now, during 2010, which is when the blog posts we submitted ran, included Erin Geismar, T.C. McCarthy and Josh Stewart, as well as Long Island Desk reporters such as Patrick Whittle.

The recognition tells us we’re going in the right direction with our aim to deliver creative, compelling community news content with a multimedia bent. From stand-up videos from the field sent from our mobile devices, to effectively using social media to share and solicit information, to great writing and video storytelling, we’ve done it all.

And, best of all, we’re having fun doing it.

Thanks to our editors for giving us the freedom to try anything we’ve thrown at them.

Here’s PCLI’s complete list of winners.

Carl Corry, Erin Geismar, T.C. McCarthy and Josh Stewart accept the first-place award for best news blog at the 2011 Press Club of Long Island Media Awards. Photo by Diana DeRosa; courtesy Press Club of Long Island

Here’s Newsday’s press release about all our winners:

 

NEWSDAY AND NEWSDAY.COM RECOGNIZED WITH
27 MEDIA AWARDS BY PRESS CLUB OF LONG ISLAND

Newsday Reporter Sandra Peddie Named
2011 Outstanding Long Island Journalist by Press Club of Long Island


Melville, NY, June 10, 2011 – Newsday and newsday.com have been honored with a total of 27 media awards by the Press Club of Long Island (PCLI). The awards were presented at PCLI’s annual Media Awards Dinner on June 9, 2011 at the Woodbury Country Club.

Newsday investigative reporter Sandra Peddie was named PCLI’s 2011 Outstanding Long Island Journalist, PCLI’s highest individual honor. The award was presented to Peddie for her ongoing, tenacious investigative reporting. Over the years, Peddie’s ground-breaking work has exposed numerous legislative and policy issues affecting the people of Long Island.

“Newsday is extremely proud of all of our finalists and winners, and we want to thank the Press Club of Long Island for recognizing our achievements,” said Debby Krenek, Editor of Newsday. “These awards are a tribute to our newsroom’s commitment to journalistic excellence and delivering the information that matters most to the people of Long Island.”

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Game on at Stony Brook

June 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I get the coolest gigs.

I recently helped judge the Stony Brook University computer science department’s annual video game programming competition. Eleven teams spent the last six weeks first coming up with a concept and then building their projects from scratch.

The games ranged from word-based Tetris-ish concept to the ol’ Ninja-slice-and-dice.

Then there was “Charlie Sheen’s F’ed Up Adventure.” The idea is to have this little Charlie Sheen fight nurses, tigers and other assorted enemies with the goal of getting him over the rainbow. If you’re really good, you get a tiger blood power-up. When he jumps, the little guys shouts “winning!” The team tried tweeting Sheen, but he never got back to them. Go figure.

But, for the first time, there were co-winners in the competition. First place was shared by Twine Associates, for “TowerCraft,” its intricate Medieval tower protection game Tower Craft, and Virtual Void, which developed “Volume Revolution,” an innovative way to use music notes to break down barriers, literally, at least in game terms.

Twine Associate included Tom Ayalon, Joshua Belanic and Anthony Lomonaco.

The Virtual Void team was made up Louis Ahola, Daniel End, Nick Trombetta and Emily White.

The honors were well deserved.

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A tree blooms …

May 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I look forward all year long to this time of the season, when the cherry tree in front of my house blooms. It last only a few weeks, so capturing it’s very important to get a shot at just the right time.

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Fire engulfs truck at cemetery

May 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I happened to be passing Wellwood Cemetery on the way to work when I saw smoke billowing up from the center of the property. You don’t see that everyday. So I drove into the cemetery and snapped a picture and some video with my BlackBerry.

The cops hadn’t arrived yet, but I learned later that no one was hurt, thank goodness.

 

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Atop the Fire Island Lighthouse

April 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

One a another cold, windswept day, I went to the Fire Island Lighthouse to witness the return of the lighthouse’s original Fresnel lens, along with a showcase building for the lens currently under construction. Afterward, I was invited to go up to the top of the lighthouse. How could I refuse? This view is looking west toward New York City.

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A nice thing about living near a beach

April 24, 2011 By 1 Comment

Smith Point County Park is only a few miles from my house, and no matter what time of year it is, there’s always a great vista. I took this on a freezing cold day at the beach after an assignment there, looking toward the Atlantic Ocean.

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Shirley gas leak – a story to remember

January 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

After so many years in the business, I don’t often save “clips” anymore. But this is a story of which I am particularly proud to have covered.

On the morning of New Year’s Day, my wife nudged me awake: “Carl, I think you need get up. There’s a gas leak and there’s going to be a press conference at William Floyd” – the high school not three minutes from my home.

I called Newsday’s Long Island Desk to see if there was anything I could do to help. Turned out, with the combination of it being a Saturday and a national holiday, few people were available to get to the scene quickly.

I got to the high school just before local and county officials began what would be the first in a number of updates for about 150 residents from the 900 homes and businesses that were evacuated after a propane tank behind the Kohl’s department store in Shirley started leaking thousands of gallons of gas from a cracked plastic valve.

The tank was still leaking, and no one was sure when it would be fixed, how long people would be kept out of their homes or exactly how serious the situation was. If ignited, could it level the area?

More: Newsday’s coverage

While many were able to find other accommodations, the people at this makeshift Red Cross evacuation center — tired, confused and concerned — had nowhere else to turn.

I wound up staying at the center for 10 hours, all the while sending phone and email dispatches, as well as photos from my little Canon Elph. And tweeting, of course. News crews from around the region descended on the center, and Newsday staffers were soon going after every angle.

By mid-afternoon, I was quickly able to recite the stories of many evacuees.

When updates from officials went dry, I went hunting for information at locations across the area. I got turned away at the entrance of the emergency disaster headquarters set up at Brookhaven Calabro Airport, until another official I had been in touch with throughout the day called to let me know the “hot zone” had been deemed safe and people were about to be informed that they would soon be let back into their homes.

I got back to the evacuation center, now the only journalist at the scene, just in time to see a police captain to inform the crowd of the good news. They all erupted in cheer.

It’s a sight I won’t forget any time soon.

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Introducing newsday.com/towns

September 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I’m happy to announce the recent launch of newsday.com/towns, a place to find out news and information about every community on Long Island — all 274 of them.

As part of the venture, we’re bringing on board a few roving community reporters to find the news that often goes under the radar.

They’ll be around with backpacks in tow, all set to share the chatter of the town. These folks will be out in the community each day, posting stories, photos and videos and looking for your input on what’s happening in town.

Of course, newsday.com/towns brings you all of Newsday‘s daily news and information well, with the ability to navigate by township or individual community.

Looking for a job, a home or a car? You can now search right in your neighborhood. Also, you can check out all the restaurants near by or find out when your high school football team is playing next. It’s all there.

Finally, we want to hear from you. Each page highlights the latest updates from readers. Here you can submit photos, videos, tips and events. You never know, you might just end up in the paper.

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Mario Corry nominated for best director

August 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

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Dad nominated for Best Director in one-act festival

August 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment

In his directorial debut, my father, Mario Corry, was nominated for best director in the 18th annual Strawberry One-Act Festival at Theatre at St. Clement’s for the play, “Something like Penguins.”

The play, written by Levi Wilson, won Best Play, the festival announced on Aug. 22.

The story comedy about a girl in love with two people with entirely different personalities. The actors include Janaya Combs, Ryan Nazionale and Levi Wilson. Combs was nominated for best actress and Wilson for best actor.

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