National Edward R. Murrow Awards Ceremony

We are back in Idaho, after an incredible vacation! After downloading nearly 700 photos last night, I think I'm ready to tackle the feat of documenting and sharing highlights from our adventure. With so many unique elements to this trip, I'm going to break them down into separate posts. This may take awhile....

I'll start with the National Edward R. Murrow Award Ceremony, since it is why this entire trip came to be. I'm so proud of Gary, and honored that I got to experience New York City and the Award Ceremony with my talented, yet humble, hard-working husband. He puts so much time, effort, and integrity into his work, he clearly earned this award. (I included a small clip of his winning story at the bottom of this post).

The ceremony was held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, which is also where we stayed. Here is a photo of the ballroom lobby, where we were greeted with drinks and hors d' oeuvres, and glimpses of celebrity news figures.

After instruction for award recipients, Gary met Natalie Morales, from The Today Show.

It's rare that we find ourselves in formal settings these days. That made it extra fun to get dressed up and enjoy this special occasion together. (This was the first time I'd seen Gary in a tuxedo -- he looked great!)

NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent, Richard Engel received an award for Network Television Continuing Coverage.

Natalie Morales was one of the presenters.

For dinner, we were served delicious garden salads, crab cakes, filet mignon, potato cakes, steamed asparagus, carrots, tomatoes, and great wine...

...topped off with these amazing dessert tarts and coffee.

Gary with his award (there's a short clip of him accepting it below).

Proud to stand by my award-winning husband!

Hoda Kotb, from "The Today Show," is incredibly nice! She went out of her way to honor our request for a photo with her, and was so genuinely kind.

After the ceremony -- what a wonderful, one-of-a kind date night!

This first clip is when Gary accepted his award. You'll hear the presenter, Brian Ross from ABC News, say "Gary Salzman, chief photographer." They showed clips and read off the winners in each category before handing out awards.

And here is a short clip taken from Gary's story, "Oregon Trail Wagon Man," which won the National Edward R. Murrow Award in Videography -- Small Market Television: