The Army Public Affairs Association is pleased to call for nominations for its newest award, the Colonel Errol K. 'Buck' Honaker Visual Information Leadership Award. The award was first announced last fall during the annual APAA Awards Night and is the newest addition to the association's stable of awards for excellence. Deadline for submission is June 30, 2025.
The eligibility and nomination form with required attachments can be found at the Awards tab.
“We are all so delighted to launch this newest of our recognition programs. We have worked hard this last year and a half to welcome our visual information partners into the Army Public Affairs Association,” said Rebecca Wriggle, president of the association. "Supporting VI Steering Committee sessions and adding a position on our Board of Directors specifically designated for a VI professional - and we thank Tony Sweeney so much for serving as that inaugural designee - were a first step. Next, thanks also to Tony, we actively partnered with the Office of the Chief of Public Affairs to award our Ancient Order of St Gabriel to two superb long time visual information leaders, Bob Kramer and Mike Maxey.
“For years we have all served together in numerous assignments such as the American Forces Networks, in Army garrisons, corps and divisions, in Combatant Commands, and on various deployments," Wriggle added. "In support of our Army's merge of these critical communities into one team, we're so happy to take another step by recognizing our outstanding VI colleagues with a leadership award commensurate with our other association awards for excellence."
The Honaker award is the brainchild of retired Army Colonels Hiram Bell, Jr. and Richard H. Breen, Jr., both of whom served with Honaker at Lowry Air Force Base in Denver, Colorado from 1985 until the summer of 1987. Lowry AFB was the home to many visual information training skills: television production, still photography, graphic arts illustration, audio and television equipment maintenance, and even at one time motion picture production. The joint training under the management of the 3400th Technical Training Wing trained Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps visual information service members until the base closed in September 1994 under the Base Realignment and Closure program. The schools consolidated at Fort Meade with the broadcast journalist and print journalist schools under one umbrella at the Defense Information School.
Colonel Buck Honaker was the commander of the 560th Signal Battalion at Lowry, a satellite command of the 29th Signal Brigade, Fort Eisenhower (formerly Gordon) in Augusta, Georgia.
“The Army trained thousands of visual information professionals both at Lowry and Fort Monmouth, New Jersey for decades,” said Bell, who was the Director of the Visual Information Technical Training Division at Lowry when Honaker was in command. “Buck was instrumental in building relationships with the public affairs community and set the groundwork for the eventual merger several years later.”
“Colonel Honaker was the senior voice for the Army’s Visual Information Career Field at a time when the Signal Corps wanted to eliminate most of the positions and convert them to computer operator billets,” explained Breen, who was Honaker’s Director of Training Development and later the executive officer and commander of the student company for the 560th Signal Battalion. “He partnered with the Air Force to convert the then United States Army Element to a numbered signal battalion to align the Visual Information Soldiers with the rest of the Signal Corps. It was his leadership that broke open the field for the Soldiers to have a career path from E-5 to E-9. Without Buck Honaker, there would probably be a very limited visual information presence in the Army today, if one at all.”
The first Honaker award will be presented at the 2025 APAA Awards Night and will then take its well-deserved place at the association's premier annual event.
“The is a wonderful, positive step for the Army Public Affairs Association and our visual information Soldiers, civilians and leaders who are instrumental in the success of the VI profession and of the Army,” said Wriggle. “On behalf of the entire Board of Directors, we thank Cols. Rich Breen and Hi Bell for creating the award , we are proud to serve as one community, and we are so honored to recognize VI excellence with our new Col. Errol K. 'Buck' Honaker Visual Information Leadership Award."