Stephanie Geery-Zink, a two-term past president of Nebraska Press Women, was named Thursday as the 2011 NPW Communicator of Achievement.
Geery-Zink, of Lincoln, is the communications director for the Center for People in Need, a Lincoln nonprofit organization that provides comprehensive services and opportunities to help people pull themselves out of poverty. Her selection was announced at an awards luncheon marking the 65th anniversary of NPW, an organization of women and men in communications.
The Communicator of Achievement award is the top honor NPW bestows on its members. The award goes to a member who has made outstanding achievements and contributions to the profession of journalism, to the community and to Nebraska Press Women and the National Federation of Press Women.
Geery-Zink, in the words of one supporter, “has done so very much for NPW and rightly deserves this recognition.” She served as NPW president from 2004 through 2008. She previously held the positions of vice president and secretary. While holding other offices, she filled in as treasurer and helped put out the newsletter.
Most recently, she has led planning for the 2011 NFPW convention. She is a Nebraska co-chair for the event, which is jointly sponsored by Nebraska and Iowa Press Women chapters. The convention, to be held in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Omaha, Neb., kicks off Thursday evening and runs through Saturday.
Before her present job, Geery-Zink worked for Swanson Russell, a Lincoln marketing and communications agency. She also has done freelance writing, was a reporter at the Beatrice (Neb.) Sun from 1995 through 2002 and was a reporter and photographer at the Derby, Kan., Daily Reporter from 1991 through 1995.
A graduate of Lincoln Southeast High School, Geery-Zink earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and political science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1987 and took graduate coursework in anthropology from Wichita State University in Kansas.
Geery-Zink serves on her church board and planning committee. She has been a Girl Scout leader and delegate to the Girl Scouts’ national convention.
