I am proud of the work my staff at The Record does on a daily basis.

They work hard, they juggle a lot, and they have come a long way in the past two years as we transitioned to a multi-platform, Digital First philosophy for producing content.

In addition to their print responsibilities, they routinely shoot and edit video, live blog from events, post story updates directly to www.troyrecord.com, interact with their audience on a variety of platforms, send out text messages with breaking news alerts directly to your phones, partner with local organizations to sponsor events that benefit this community, etc.

It can be exhausting, but it's also been an exhilarating two years.

Having said all that, it's particularly nice when others salute their work.

In Metroland's "Best of the Capital Region 2012" edition, City Editor Jim Franco and Bob Goepfert, content coordinator for weekender, our weekly entertainment product, are recognized in the media category.

Jim is named "Best Print Columnist," while Bob gets the nod for "Best Print Arts Writer."

As many of you know, Jim writes our popular, political column "Talespin," which appears in our print edition on Mondays and is updated daily on our website. He is also the recipient of various awards from the Associated Press and the New York News Publishers Association.

In recognition of Jim's efforts, Metroland writes:
"We find ourselves getting a lot of enjoyment (and gleaning much useful info) from James V. Franco's Talespin column. Troy politics are endlessly entertaining, and Franco helps us keep up."

Bob, who headed up Albany's Palace Theatre for many years and who has written for The Record's entertainment products for several decades, took on content coordinating responsibilities for our arts coverage a few years ago following the death of our longtime features editor Doug deLisle. In addition, Bob writes "The Arts Whisperer" blog on our website and is an award-winning theater director.


About Bob, Metroland writes:
"Bob Goepfert's interviews and profiles get at the heart of the subject at hand, and his theater criticism is excellent. He has a lot of ground to cover, and he covers it well. A must read."

Congratulations gentlemen, and thanks Metroland for recognizing their efforts!