TALMA contest winners and next virtual training session

Dear TALMA members, 

First, thank you for your patience as we navigated this year’s contest entries without having the ability for the Media and Communications Commission to judge the entries. Instead, I directed members of the National Headquarters staff to serve as judges for this year.

They sifted through 91 entries in five categories. The winners they selected were approved by the three-member TALMA task force and by the full commission at the virtual commission meeting last week.

The full list of winners can be found here. Thank you to everyone who participated. Soon we will announce some exciting enhancements to the 2021 contest, after we learned a few things during this year’s judging.

I also wanted to give you an update on the October training session for TALMA members. In October, members from Headquarters staff will provide tips on where to find, and how to use materials such as publications, videos, flyers and more from HQ.

Department of Michigan Public Relations Director Mark Sutton will serve as the host. M&C Division Deputy Director Henry Howard and Virtual Arts Manager Holly Soria will be the panelists. The session will be held Wednesday, Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. Eastern via Zoom. If you have questions you would like to submit beforehand or suggested topics to be addressed, feel free to email them in advance. During the session, participants will be able to type questions into the chat window.

Replays of all previous training sessions are available in TALMA’s private Faceook group.

Last but not least, we are finding ourselves in a new membership year for TALMA. If you joined before Aug. 1, your membership will expire Sept. 1, 2021. So no need to renew for yourself. But what about others you know who could benefit from the great resources, training sessions and other amenities of TALMA? Encourage others to join by visiting this page.

Thank you for all that you do on behalf of The American Legion Family, our veterans, their families and communities throughout this great nation.