CONNECTICUT PRESS CLUB

Press Release

Connecticut Press Club Honors Diane Smith with
Mark Twain Distinguished Journalist of the Year Award

            The 2^nd Annual Mark Twain Distinguished Journalist of the Year Award has been given to broadcast journalist and author Diane Smith of CPTV and WTIC Newstalk 1080. 

Diane Smith was selected to be recipient of the Mark Twain Award in recognition of her noted contributions to Connecticut, according to CPC President Juliette Weiland.

            “Diane Smith is host and producer of CPTV’s “Positively Connecticut,” a popular series of feature stories,” said Juliette Weiland. “Diane originated the idea for this series in 1982. At that time, she was a newly hired reporter at WTNH TV, Channel 8, when she hit on the idea to off-set the bad news with some heart-warming stories about Connecticut.” 

            For the next sixteen years at WTNH, Smith earned her reputation as a top flight news anchor, reporter and executive producer, for her prime time “Positively Connecticut” series and Action News Close-Up documentaries, resulting in an Emmy and twelve Associated Press Awards, among others.

            In 1999, when she left WTNH to embark on a new direction, she felt so strongly about  “Positively Connecticut” that she worked out an agreement with the station, enabling her to find a new home for the series at CPTV.

Today, Smith is also co-host of WTIC News Talk 1080, a top-rated morning show with Ray Dunaway and the author of three books - “Positively Connecticut,” based on her weekly TV features; a sequel “Absolutely Positively Connecticut;” and “Christmas in Connecticut,” published in 2001.

This past Christmas season, in a spirited response to September 11, Diane introduced a new CPTV program, “Christmas in Connecticut: A Positively Connecticut Holiday Special,” based on her newest book.

Her series of stories touched people’s lives, with the festivities, spiritual reflection and joyous embrace of the season’s holiday traditions, reported Weiland.

“Diane Smith’s warmth, her outreach, her sensitivity are hallmarks of her professional excellence,” said Weiland.

Smith has served as spokesman for Friends of Connecticut Libraries, Easter Seals and the American Cancer Society on breast cancer issues.  She is as an active promoter of Connecticut business and tourism. Diane has been called a “goodwill ambassador” of the state. 

She is the recipient of the Connecticut Tourism Industry’s Media Award for “Positively Connecticut.” In 2001, she was named “Person of the Year” by the Homebuilders Association of

Greater New Haven for “showing Connecticut to the world in a positive light.” 

            “Her credentials, her diversity in talent, knowledge and experience, her continual, significant contributions to Connecticut and the media are testimony to Diane Smith as an exemplary candidate for the Mark Twain Award,” said Weiland.

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