By Michael Bold
FORT BELVOIR, Va. (March 30, 2017)—Following an unprecedented number of votes cast, award-winning Army AL&T magazine announced today the winners of its annual “ALTies” honors, celebrating the best article, commentary, graphic, ad and photograph that appeared in the magazine in 2016.
The System of Systems Engineering and Integration Directorate (SOSE&I), based at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, was the only command to win three ALTies: Col. Terrece B. Harris won the honors for best commentary, while Vanessa Flores won for best graphic. Flores was also a runner-up for best photograph.
Lt. Col. Steven D. Gutierrez was the runaway winner for best article for his look at a Training with Industry (TWI) fellowship at Amazon.com Inc. The article received nearly 2,000 more votes than the runner-up, “Lessons for the Long Haul” by Maj. Jonathan W. Judy and Ruby P. Hancock with the Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS).
The nominees for the 2016 awards were selected based on traffic to the e-magazine, Army.mil and the Army AL&T News blog. Voting was conducted online and resulted in the highest level of participation ever—more than three times the number of votes cast for the 2015 honors. (To read the e-magazine, subscribe, download the mobile app or learn how to submit an article, go to https://asc.army.mil/web/publications/army-alt-magazine/.)
The level of enthusiasm shown in the high voting numbers reflects Army AL&T’s mission. It is a magazine by and for the Army Acquisition Workforce. While a number of the magazine’s articles are staff written, most come from the subject matter experts around the Army acquisition community.
“My staff of talented writers and editors and I provide thematic guidance for each issue, but the stories—probably 90 percent or more—come from the Army Acquisition Workforce,” said Editor-in-Chief Nelson McCouch III. “It’s awesome, if you think about it, because the stories are coming straight from the subject matter experts, the people actually doing the real work. They’re not filtered through writers trying to understand complex engineering or program management concepts, but from the actual experts.”
So it is only right that our readers select which of their peers’ contributions are honored. Here are the winners for 2016:
Col. Raymond Phua, USARIEM Commander, presented the Best Photo ALTie award to Mr. Anthony Karis, a research physical scientist from USARIEM’s Military Nutrition Division.
BEST ARTICLE
Winner: “One ‘Peculiar’ Fellowship”
Lt. Col. Steven D. Gutierrez, TWI
July – September 2016
Runner-Up: “Lessons for the Long Haul”
Maj. Jonathan W. Judy and Ruby P. Hancock, PEO EIS Information Systems
April – June 2016
BEST COMMENTARY
Winner: “Modernization by the Numbers”
Col. Terrece B. Harris, SOSE&I Directorate
July – September 2016
Runner-Up: “Sustaining a World-Class System”
Lt. Gen. Michael E. Williamson, Army Director, Acquisition Career Management
April – June 2016
Mr. James Shields, left, and BG Alfred F. Abramson III presented Ms. Audra Calloway with her Best Photo Runner-Up ALTie award.
BEST GRAPHIC
Winner: Adding It Up
Vanessa Flores, SOSE&I Directorate
July – September 2016
Runner-Up: Mapping the Benefits
Denise Rule, PEO Command, Control and Communications – Tactical
April – June 2016
BEST PHOTOGRAPH
Winner: Hot Dog Data
Anthony Karis, U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine
January – March 2016
Runner-Up: Reconnecting
Vanessa Flores, SOSE&I Directorate
January – March 2016
Brig, Gen. Eric Sanchez, Commanding General, White Sands Missile Range and Edna Chavez, U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center, presented Mr. John Hamilton the Best Advertisement ALTie.
Runner-Up: Digitized Precision
Audra Calloway, Picatinny Arsenal Public Affairs Office
April – June 2016
BEST ADVERTISEMENT
Winner: White Sands Missile Range
White Sands Missile Range
January – March 2016
Runner-Up: Accelerating Synergy Between Intel and Force Protection
PEO Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors
April – June 2016
Runner-Up: Army Sustainment Magazine
Army Combined Arms Support Command
April – June 2016
