JIM CARMICHEL HONORED BY
POMA & NSSF
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA — Feb. 2,
2008 — The Professional
Outdoor Media Association
(POMA) and the National
Shooting Sports Foundation
(NSSF) honored veteran
journalist
Jim Carmichel
during the State of the
Industry
Dinner and Gala at
the Shooting Hunting Outdoor
Trade (SHOT) Show. Carmichel
of Jonesborough, Tenn., was
presented with the
prestigious POMA/NSSF Grits
Gresham Shooting Sports
Communicator Award.
In honor of legendary
outdoor communicator
Grits
Gresham, POMA and the NSSF
developed the award in 2005
to recognize communicators
within the firearms/shooting
sports/Second Amendment
arena who grasp the ideals,
foster the commitment, and
display the talent Gresham
has shown during his storied
career. Tom Gresham
presented the award, a
bronze of one of Grits
Gresham’s signature hats, to Carmichel.
"Whether he's writing about
shooting pigeons from the
roof of a court house with a
pellet gun in his humor
series, describing his
latest African safari, or
detailing the esoteric fine
points of precision rifle
shooting, Jim Carmichel has
delighted two generations of
American shooters and
hunters with solid
information and
entertainment about the
shooting sports,” Gresham
said when presenting the
award. “It's fitting that
Jim receive this award, not
only because he deserves it,
but because he and Grits
have been friends, as well
as contemporaries, for many
years."
“To be honored by the
Professional Outdoor Media
Association as a recipient
of the POMA/NSSF Grits
Gresham Shooting Sports
Communicator Award is the
greatest recognition any gun
writer could ever hope to
achieve,” Carmichel said.
“Honestly, I am overwhelmed.
Grits has been a treasured
friend for many years, so
receiving the Gresham Award
has all the greater personal
and sentimental meaning.
Carmichel’s good friend and
the 2007 Grits Gresham Award
recipient, J. Wayne Fears,
expounded on Carmichel’s
impact on current and future
generations of communicators
and sportsmen.
“He has been a great role
model for shooting sports
writers and his books and
magazine articles have set
the communications bar high
for future journalists,”
Fears explained. “Jim has
done much to pass along the
shooting heritage to a new
generation."
As shooting editor of
Outdoor Life magazine
for over a quarter century,
Jim Carmichel’s life is
utterly absorbed with—and
dedicated to—the use, study
and development of sporting
firearms. From early
childhood memories of
crawling under a bed to
stare—for hours—at the
pistol hidden under the
springs, to ownership of a
comprehensive firearms test
facility, Carmichel’s
attentions seldom stray from
the field of firearms.
“If I live for five-hundred
years, there won’t be enough
time for all the shooting
and hunting I have planned,”
Carmichel admits.
Nominations for the award
are garnered from all
corners of the shooting
sports industry. Carmichel
was unanimously selected as
this year’s recipient by a
panel representing NSSF,
POMA and the Gresham family.
Nominees and recipients of
the POMA/NSSF Grits Gresham
Shooting Sports Communicator
Award are not required to be
affiliated with any
communicators or industry
organization. All shooting
sports industry
professionals are encouraged
to make nominations for the
award through the POMA Web
site at:
www.professionaloutdoormedia.org/grits_nom.htm
###
About Jim Carmichel
Shooting Editor of OUTDOOR
LIFE Magazine for over a
quarter century, Jim
Carmichel’s life is utterly
absorbed with—and dedicated
to—the use, study and
development of sporting
firearms. From early
childhood memories of
crawling under a bed to
stare—for hours—at the
pistol hidden under the
springs, to ownership of a
comprehensive firearms test
facility, Carmichel’s
attentions seldom stray from
the field of firearms. “If I
live for five-hundred
years,” Carmichel admits,
“there won’t be enough time
for all the shooting and
hunting I have planned.”
Even in his early teens,
Carmichel learned to reload
ammunition, was building his
own guns and even designed a
high performance-hunting
cartridge. He paid his way
through college making
richly carved and inlaid
reproductions of “Kentucky”
style long rifles and earned
four letters on the varsity
rifle team, Captaining the
team for two years.
During the 1960’s young
Carmichel began writing
about guns and shooting on a
part-time basis but there
was soon such a demand for
his writings, especially on
the technical and
do-it-yourself aspects of
firearms, that he became a
full-time writer and was
named Shooting Editor of
OUTDOOR LIFE in 1971.
Now in its 110th
year of publication, OUTDOOR
LIFE is read by many
thousands of outdoorsmen
monthly, making Carmichel
one of the most followed
firearms spokesmen of all
time. He has hunted on six
continents in over twenty
countries, including 29
African safaris. He also
maintains an active
competitive shooting
schedule and has won awards
in small-bore and big-bore
rifle, silhouette, skeet and
benchrest, most recently
winning the Two Gun
Championship at the 2007
National Benchrest
Championships.
In 1998 Carmichel was the
first recipient of The Jack
Slack Award for journalistic
excellence, a two-time
winner of the Anschutz Gun
Writers Award, and in 1980
named Winchester’s
Outdoorsman of the Year.
In addition to his duties at
OUTDOOR LIFE, Carmichel
served twelve years as a
member of the NRA Board of
Directors, has authored five
books: The Modern Rifle, The
Compleat Just Jim,
Do-It-Yourself Gunsmithing,
The Woman’s Guide to
Handguns and Jim Carmichel’s
Book of the Rifle, and also
co-authored other books.
Carmichel’s successful
cartridge designs include
the .22, 6mm and 6.5 Cheetas,
the 6mm CBR, .260 Bobcat,
6.5 Leopard, and 6.5
Panther, which was
commercially adopted as the
.260 Remington.
Jim Carmichel and his wife
Linda, a university
professor who is also a
shooting champion, make
their home in the scenic
mountains of East Tennessee,
only a short stroll from
their shooting range.
###
Grits Gresham and the
Award’s History
|
Grits Gresham |
Grits Gresham, a long
esteemed outdoor
communicator, was honored
with a Lifetime
Achievement Award by the
National Shooting Sports
Foundation at the State of
the Industry Gala, Feb. 9,
2006. Gresham was recognized
for his extraordinary
achievements made in support
of America's hunting
heritage and firearms
freedoms.
"Year after year, Grits
Gresham has brought his
great talent, his wisdom and
his heart to bear in support
and in defense of what all
of us so much value and
believe in," said Doug
Painter, president of NSSF,
in making the presentation.
Though Gresham modestly has
said that no one knew who he
was until he appeared in a
series of nationally aired
Miller Lite television
commercials, Gresham has
long been known to the
outdoors community for his
work in wildlife management
and for his contributions to
television programming such
as the original "American
Sportsman," magazines, books
and other aspects of
communication on the
outdoors.
In honor of Gresham's
lifetime achievements,
Painter announced that NSSF
and the Professional Outdoor
Media Association (POMA)
would begin presenting the
POMA/NSSF Grits Gresham
Communicator Award in 2007.
Honorees
2007 Inaugural Honoree — J.
Wayne Fears
2008 Honoree — Jim Carmichel
###
