This October, NHPR and its partner Stay Work Play celebrate twelve years of partnership on the Rising Stars Awards. Each year, the much-anticipated awards ceremony recognizes talented young people from throughout New Hampshire who are making a difference by choosing to stay, work and play in the Granite State. The 2021 winners have been announced earlier this month. In addition, companies and programs that create impact through recruiting and retaining young people are also honored. Introduced this year for the first time in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, The COVID-19 Crusader Award will also be bestowed upon dedicated and brave young essential and/or frontline workers that positively impacted their community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
NHPR is proud to be a partner of Stay Work Play on this initiative – a successful collaboration that now spans nine consecutive years of the twelve-year-long course of this event. This year’s Rising Stars Awards ceremony will be held Thursday, October 21, at the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester. The audience can reserve their tickets here. Daniela Allee – NHPR’s Spanish News Managing Editor and Upper Valley Monadnock Region Reporter – will step behind the lectern to serve as the evening’s host.
Daniela leads New Hampshire’s first and only Spanish language radio news service, ¿Qué Hay de Nuevo, New Hampshire?. She also covers regional news, housing, and the state’s energy system as the Upper Valley and Monadnock Region reporter.
Born in Colombia and raised in Central Illinois, Daniela has fulfilled (with slight deviations) the 10-year master plan she laid out for herself in 10th grade! She comes to NHPR after earning a degree from the Missouri School of Journalism and stints with FLiP Colombia (Fundación Para La Libertad de La Prensa), Here & Now and Planet Money.
Daniela is an avid runner, amateur baker and loves bringing people together over good food.
Here, Daniela shares her thoughts on why she chooses to “Stay, Work and Play” in New Hampshire:
WHY SHE STAYS: Growing up in the Midwest, I heard little about New Hampshire, and hadn’t given much thought to ever living in New England. But when my now-husband got into Dartmouth for grad school, I found internships that made our long-distance relationship more of a medium distance one. I treasured rides on the Dartmouth Coach from Boston to Hanover, as the cityscape gives ways to hills and mountains. Even after four years in the Upper Valley, there’s still so much I’m uncovering and learning. Sometimes it feels like a fantasy-land: I wake up and see Moose Mountain out my window; I live 15 minutes from a local ski hill, eight minutes from the Connecticut River for a cool swim during the summer, and five minutes away from the Appalachian Trail for hikes or trail runs.
WHERE SHE WORKS: I’ve been given a lot of room to grow and try new things at NHPR, like leading ¿Qué Hay de Nuevo, New Hampshire?, our Spanish news program. I also love collaborating with my colleagues, whether that’s on housing coverage with Casey McDermott or energy issues with an Upper Valley/Monadnock Region focus with Annie Ropeik.
HOW SHE PLAYS: Getting out on runs is one of my favorite ways to see familiar spaces with new eyes and become familiar with new ones. There is an abundance of trails in the Upper Valley, and I’ve come to appreciate New Hampshire’s hills on my road runs (which are quite different from the ones in Central Illinois). My husband and I love to cook, bake and have folks over for a good meal. We also get out to other parts of the state for hikes, camping and rock climbing.
