Somebody said there was an announcement.
   In a way I felt a disquieting expectation for something completely unexpected.
   But I was the news, in fact, not the President!
     In Dallas on Monday, we learned we had been selected to receive The Jim Foster Award for 2025.
    Sabiha and I were surprised and quite taken aback to be singled out at Air Cargo 2025 Conference in Dallas, Texas, when Brandon Fried presented The Jim Foster Award as part of the Opening Day Program.
     “The Jim Foster Award is named after the founder of the Airforwarders Association and honors individuals who have made a significant contribution to the value of our industry, organization, and membership,” that’s how it is pronounced.
    Now having had a bit of time to digest this unexpected attention with humility and thanks as we celebrate 50 years of covering the air cargo story, here are some thoughts and comment, as I stumbled through March 3 here in Dallas.
    So here we are, pictured in the middle of the Airforwarders Association Board members clutching the AfA award!
    This is an item that I need to handle with care.
    It is also very beautiful and classy.
     “The Jim Foster Memorial Award is the highest honor Airforwarders Association can bestow,” said AfA Executive Director Brandon Fried.
    “Every year we ask our members to nominate and vote for a recipient of this award, named after our founding Executive Director.
   “This is an award that stands for excellence,” Brandon said.
    “It is an honor to present Geoffrey with the Jim Foster award, that means so much to our industry – after 50 years of front-line reporting on our sector, Geoffrey is a well-deserved winner.”
    When it comes to people who deserve awards and thanks from all of us, we think of Brandon Fried who has served selflessly for the past two decades, moving from the exalted halls of government in Washington to the smallest hamlets, offering air cargo people a leg up from his organizational presence and persistence; Glyn Hughes who retired from a distinguished career as IATA Head of Cargo, to once again picking up his sword out of retirement, today serving at TIACA Director General, are people amongst us that work for the betterment of air cargo.
     Add Mike White, former President of CNS as an individual who makes a difference relentlessly advancing the air cargo form in public forums around the world.
     I can never forget the pictures we published of Donna Mullins, as COVID fear and restrictions raged, when everything else aside, she was out on the truck lines in the cargo area at ATL handing out little white plastic bags of warm food from a local chicken restauran to cargo drivers otherwise holed up inside their lorries.
     The reality is that there are legions of air cargo people, who every day are doing great things for their customers and each other.
     We just got lucky to be able to share these chronicles over the years.
    The affirmation is this very thoughtful honorarium and makes us think that occasionally we got the stories straight.
     With me, every step of the way, is and always has been my wife Sabiha. She gets as much credit as I, for sure. I know that I would not be here, or able to continue, without her.
    Grateful, thanks to our branding partners, as we deepen our efforts to use imagination and passion in delivering their unique messages.
     Here in Texas after the roundup, I am told, the local saloons would fill up with all types of characters.
     Things could get a bit rowdy, but the rule was always, “whatever happens, don’t shoot the piano player.”
     Am eternally grateful that after 50 years publishing thousands of narratives, so far no one has decided to shoot the messenger . . .
     But moving forward, am taking nothing for granted!
     I will cherish this day for the rest of my life.
     Thanks once again for this wonderful honor.
     Keep ‘em flying, air cargo.
GDA