Arts & Entertainment
Tom Rinaldi, Author & ESPN correspondent, wins Christopher Award
The Tenafly author's book, "The Red Bandanna," is one of 12 recognized by The Christophers at the 69th annual gala in NYC.
Tenafly, N.J.-based author and ESPN national correspondent Tom Rinaldi has won a Christopher Award for “The Red Bandanna,” (ages 10 and up, Viking/Penguin Young Readers Group). It is one of 12 books for adults and young people by 19 authors and illustrators to be celebrated on May 17, 2018 at the 69th annual Christopher Awards in New York along with the writers, producers and directors of 9 feature films and TV/Cable programs.
The book explores the life of 9/11 hero Welles Crowther who worked on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center’s South Tower. He helped lead 18 people to safety before being killed himself. Children who weren’t born in 2001 learn about Crowther’s fearless choice. It celebrates the difference one life can make and illustrates how important a small gift can be. The title refers to the red bandanna Crowther’s father gave him when he was small. He always kept it in his pocket. One of the survivors he saved remembered the man wearing the red bandanna.
Rinaldi has been a national correspondent at ESPN since 2002. Among other honors, he has won fifteen national Sports Emmy Awards and six national Edward R. Murrow Awards. Born in Brooklyn, New York, he is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He lives in New Jersey, with his wife, Dianne, their son, Jack, and daughter, Tessa.
The Christopher Awards were created in 1949 to celebrate authors, illustrators, writers, producers and directors whose work “affirms the highest values of the human spirit.” The Christophers, a nonprofit organization founded in 1945 by Maryknoll Father James Keller, is rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition of service to God and humanity. The ancient Chinese proverb—“It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness”— guides its publishing, radio, and awards programs. More information about The Christophers is available at www.christophers.org.