Nominees for the Storytelling Award of Distinction have demonstrated a unique perspective and ability to connect with visitors when sharing the site’s history, heritage and culture. Join Destination Dutchess in celebrating all the honorees at the 13th annual Tourism Awards of Distinction on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026, at The Henry A. Wallace Center at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Home in Hyde Park.
Read on to learn more about each Storytelling Award of Distinction finalist.
• Cliff Laube, Public Programs Specialist, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, Hyde Park
• Pam Malcolm, Historic Site Regional Supervisor, Taconic Region, NYS Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation (representing a nomination group of Dave Murray, Mary Alden, Linda and David Lund: volunteers who present multiple free interpretive walking tours and hikes for the site)
• Joel LeVangia, Owner/General Manager, Tenmile Distillery, Wassaic
• Cliff Laube, FDR Presidential Library and Museum: In addition to its world-class museum experience, the Roosevelt Library presents a full calendar of public programs including film screenings, author talks and annual, family-friendly events.
• Pam Malcolm, Staatsburgh State Historic Site: Staatsburgh is a Gilded Age mansion and estate along the Hudson River in Staatsburg, NY, the former country home of Ruth and Ogden Mills, offering house tours and costumed theme tours highlighting the property's historic past. As a special addition to the indoor programs, a group of volunteers offers wonderful interpretive tours of the estate grounds and outbuildings, the landscape, neighboring historic estates, the hamlet of Staatsburg surrounding the historic site, and birding walks. These free tours attract many new visitors to the site, including many from outside Dutchess County, and they uniformly receive rave reviews! The site is so grateful to these volunteers for supporting this facet of its programming to expand the stories we tell about the history of the historic estate and the hamlet.
• Joel LeVangia, Tenmile Distillery: Tenmile Distillery is focused on making hand-crafted single malt whisky, gin, and vodka the way they were intended to be made, cutting no corners and using only the finest ingredients.
• Cliff Laube, FDR Presidential Library and Museum: To complement the ongoing schedule of special exhibits in the William J. vanden Heuvel Special Exhibit Gallery, the Library offers innovative and educational programs for students and the general public that focus on exhibition documents, artifacts and themes.
• Pam Malcolm, Staatsburgh State Historic Site: One tour focuses on how Staatsburgh's landscape was shaped by the Mills family's desire to provide picturesque grounds that hide the many parts of the estate where the labor was performed to maintain the beauty and luxury they enjoyed; another, "History Hidden in the Woods," relates the history of the site and its former neighboring estates while providing a light workout of a hike. The Staatsburg hamlet tour focuses on the many connections between the hamlet and the estate, which employed residents for many different jobs. Many people attend all these programs, attracted by free programing, and then decide to visit the historic house for more history and indoor beauty!
• Joel LeVangia, Tenmile Distillery: Tenmile Distillery has a new collectible series of whiskies called the Revolutionary Series, which honors the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America. Each of the 57 bottles in the series (55 battles, plus two unique pivotal figures) will carry its own specialized label detailing an aspect of those pivotal moments in a time where America either lived to fight another day or became a footnote in history. Just as the crafters of the Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution looked to the principles of the Enlightenment and drew Democracy from the past into today, so too does Tenmile Distillery pull techniques from the past to create a golden era spirit, The Whisky of Reason.
• Cliff Laube, FDR Presidential Library and Museum: The ongoing challenge to exploring new themes for exhibits and programming is reaching those new audiences who can best relate to subject matter the Library has rarely explored before. The Library actively engages regional programmatic partner organizations to reach potential visitors and expand our community connections.
• Pam Malcolm, Staatsburgh State Historic Site: It can be challenging to keep a group together and all within hearing range when outside, as people walk at different paces and often spread out; the volunteers have become skilled in cat-herding in a gracious way!
• Joel LeVangia, Tenmile Distillery: When presenting this series of whisky, we strive to tell stories of the battles of the Revolutionary War in a way that brings the history to life.
