{"id":442408,"date":"2026-10-30T10:44:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T10:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/442408\/"},"modified":"2026-10-30T10:44:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T10:44:14","slug":"organizers-scramble-save-best-and-brightest-after-chamber-bows-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/442408\/","title":{"rendered":"Organizers scramble, save Best and Brightest after Chamber bows out"},"content":{"rendered":"

The annual Best and Brightest program<\/a> that awards over 100 scholarships to local students will shine on after nearly going dark this year.<\/p>\n

Here’s why: Following the program’s May ceremony, the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce<\/a> \u2013 which helped establish the program \u2013 told organizers it was bowing out of the program that has recognized over 3,000 public and private high school seniors and has distributed over $1 million in scholarships over the years.<\/p>\n

That set off a scramble among organizers to save the beloved program, which ends with an annual celebration at Ruby Diamond Concert Hall at Florida State University.<\/p>\n

Now, the show will go on with the Best and Brightest established as its own non-profit organization under Sachs Media<\/a>, whose founder established the program with community partners. Ron Sachs<\/a> did not hold back on his criticism of the Chamber’s abrupt decision.<\/p>\n

“It was a fairly stunning, unfortunate and unilateral decision by a new chamber leader \u2013 who hadn’t even been here for a year \u2013 to essentially dump a respected and proven community program that has honored high school seniors and built a culture of service for more than 20 years,” Sachs said in a prepared statement, referring to the chamber’s new CEO Michael Dalby<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“He didn’t confer about it in advance with us, and apparently not even with his own leadership team or board chair, chair-elect or executive committee. It was a shocking display of disdain, disrespect and disregard for a beloved community program.”<\/p>\n

\"Ron<\/p>\n

Ron Sachs gives brief remarks as high school seniors from Leon County Schools were recognized for their academic achievements in 15 categories during the 20th Best & Brightest ceremony at the Ruby Diamond Concert Hall on Wednesday, May 14, 2025.<\/p>\n

While Sachs said there was no heads up ahead of the chamber’s decision, Dalby, who stepped into the CEO role last year, told the Tallahassee Democrat in an Oct. 29 text message that he informed Sachs Media of the decision on June 3 \u2013 three weeks after the May 13 award ceremony.<\/p>\n

The chamber also offered to assist with the transition, according to a statement emailed to the Democrat on Oct. 29.<\/p>\n

“Three weeks after this year’s Best and Brightest event, we notified Sachs Media that we would be redirecting our resources and could no longer provide administrative support for the program,” the chamber said in its statement.<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/p>\n

Michael Dalby<\/p>\n

“Many of our member businesses will continue to support Best and Brightest, which we strongly encourage. It is a wonderful program, and we are grateful to have played a role in its history. We wish Sachs Media and all of the program’s partners continued success as they move forward.”<\/p>\n

Related news: ‘Incredible impact’: Tallahassee’s Best and Brightest shine<\/a><\/p>\n

First launched in 2006, the community effort is bolstered by major sponsors and partners like Addition Financial Credit Union, Sachs Media and the Tallahassee Democrat.<\/p>\n

The Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce, acting through its affiliate, World Class Schools of Leon County<\/a>, has been involved with the Best and Brightest Awards for more than two decades, since the program’s inception in 2006.<\/p>\n

Best & Brightest class of 2026<\/p>\n

1 of 61<\/p>\n

Seniors from Leon County Schools were recognized for their academic achievements in 15 categories during the 2026 Best & Brightest ceremony held in Ruby Diamond Auditorium on Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (Alicia Devine\/Tallahassee Democrat)<\/p>\n

Without the Chamber’s logistical support, Best and Brightest has been established as a nonprofit with the help of the award program’s retired and longtime former director Laura Rogers, who worked on the change with Sachs Media’s CEO Michelle Ubben. It now operates as the “Best & Brightest of Leon County, Florida.”<\/p>\n

Through the program, students are nominated by their schools for one of 15 categories ranging from technology to art, and finalists are then interviewed and selected by judges to be one of the top three finishers as a winner, runner up or honorable mention. Eighth graders also participate in an essay contest about the meaning of service.<\/p>\n

\"Laura<\/p>\n

Laura Rogers presents the Spirit of the Best & Brightest Award to Dylan Lawson on Wednesday, May 13, 2026.<\/p>\n

Other partners and sponsors in the program include Leon County Schools, the City of Tallahassee, Leon County, Hub International, Sperry Construction and Comcast.<\/p>\n

“The Best and Brightest program is a treasure, and it belongs to our community,” Rogers said in a statement sent to the Democrat.<\/p>\n

“For 21 years, it has promoted a culture of service and made sure that students who excel across a wide range of interests have a chance to be recognized. As we take steps to position it to live on well into the future, we will need a volunteer corps, especially during this transition year.”<\/p>\n

What’s next, how to help<\/p>\n

The next Best and Brightest Awards Ceremony for the community’s high school senior class of 2027 will be May 12, 2027 at Florida State University’s Ruby Diamond Concert Hall.<\/p>\n

The program is actively recruiting a dedicated corps of volunteers to help move the program forward for the Class of 2027 \u2013 and beyond.<\/p>\n

Sponsors corner<\/p>\n

Here are all the businesses, local governments, individuals and sponsors that make the Best and Brightest happen.<\/p>\n

Sachs Media and Ron & Gay Sachs<\/p>\n

Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare<\/p>\n

Nabors Giblin & Dickerson<\/p>\n

Florida Association of District School Superintendents<\/p>\n

The Beatitude Foundation, Inc.<\/p>\n

Challenger Learning Center<\/p>\n

Tarah Jean can be reached at tjean@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @tarahjean_.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Organizers scramble, save Best and Brightest after Chamber bows out<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The annual Best and Brightest program that awards over 100 scholarships to local students will shine on after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":["post-442408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}