2010 CAA Recipient
At the June 23, 2010 Annual Awards Banquet, Postprandial Toastmasters awarded the prestigious Communication Achievement Award to local author David Cay Johnston.
This award is presented annually, “To a member of the Rochester community who has distinguished himself or herself as a leader or spokesperson for a worthy cause, who through, word and deed, epitomizes exceptional accomplishment within his or her field of endeavor.”
Johnston is an investigative journalist with the New York Times who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting in 2001, “For his penetrating and enterprising reporting that exposed loopholes and inequities in the U.S. tax code, which was instrumental in bringing about reforms.”
He retired from The Times in April 2008 after 13 years there and has continued his career as an author, lecturer and commentator about issues relating to equity in the tax code.
His latest book in print is Free Lunch, a national bestseller exposing massive transfers of wealth from the poor, middle class and affluent to the super rich. He is also the author of Perfectly Legal, a national best seller on our tax system that won the 2004 Investigative Book of the Year award. His first book was Temples of Chance, an expose of the casino industry.
His nomination for this award stated that, “Whether or not you are interested in the subject matter that Johnston writes about or agree with his point of view, it’s clear that he embodies the spirit of the Communication Achievement Award by effectively communicating his message to a variety of audiences through print, broadcast media and public speaking. He is locally and nationally known for his work, lives in our community and would be a positive addition to our distinguished list of award recipients.”
Past recipients of this award have included Rochester Mayor Robert Duffy, Businessman Thomas Golisano, Non-Profit Executive Jean Howard and the late Andrew Langston, Owner and Chairman of WDKX radio.
Johnston’s remarks at the banquet were focused on effective communication and delivery of a person’s intended message to his or her audience. He was well received by the Postprandial audience with several members hoping for a longer speech. As many of us know, leaving your audience asking for more is significantly better than having them wish you will stop! Congratulations to David Cay Johnston on his award this year.