Dear Friends and Family,
It was quite a remarkable evening... receiving an award in the company of Mike Wallace,
Paula Zahn, Matt Lauer and dozens of the most talented journalists and broadcasters
in the business ... when it came time for NPR's [National Public Radio's] award -
they said, accepting the award is host Jacki Lyden and producer Davar Ardalan - we
both went on to the podium and spoke our alloted 30 seconds - it was one of the most
thrilling moments in my life by far - after kids and marriage of course!
Davar Ardalan
(PS: Don't write me back - just wanted to share)
Davar and Jacki's Big Night at the Gracies
Thoughts from Jacki Lyden
Of all the various awards journalists receive, the Gracies may be the most fun and
elegant -- and lets face it -- one of the only awards that celebrates women and programming
that is by women, for women or about women -- as was oft-mentioned.
This award has been given for 50 years from the American Women in Radio and Television
and honors pioneering radio comedienne Gracie Allen. Appropriately, then, Joan Rivers
emceed this year's bash for about 500 people at the New York Hilton, and made, as
per the current news and we assume her own research, a profusion of botox jokes.
We wrinkled our brows in laughter. We met Mike Wallace and ogled, along with everyone
else, the television news personalities -- Paula Zahn, Jane Pauley and Phyllis George,
and Davar's favorite from The Nightly Business Report - Susie Gharib, and my huge
idol from Chicago days, Carole Marin. She won a lifetime achievement award, and she
is a total class act. Cynthia Nixon, a star of Sex and the City, introduced
three of her writers, all of whom were about 30, looked smart, and probably earn
double what NPR's CEO does.
On stage, for our star moment, we thanked all the powers that be -- WATC, Bruce,
Barbara, Doug Roberts -- and praised the radio documentary, long may it echo. And
then it was time to withdraw in our gowns, Davar in black silk and me in red-and-green
striped Frieda Kahlo style garb, one of the ten women there not wearing black! In
the end, Joan Rivers picked up the plants, but we didn't get one.
The Gracie, though, is about 10 inches tall and very attractive. Look for it in the
NPR awards cabinet in the lobby of 635 Massachusetts Avenue [Washington, D.C.]!
Jacki Lyden
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