March 12, 2010Sunshine Week, March 14-20, starts Sunday

This year's Sunshine Week celebration will honor individuals who fought tirelessly last year to make their state or local public institutions more open and accessible.

During Sunshine Week (March 14-20) media organizations and other groups throughout the nation will highlight the efforts of these Local Heroes whose work has made their communities better places to live.

Sunshine Week, launched in 2005 by ASNE, is held annually to promote dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Participants include hundreds of print, broadcast and online news media, civic groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools and others interested in the public's right to know.
Some examples of the kinds of achievements that might qualify for Local Hero status include the following:
           
-- A citizen who launched a successful campaign to open local public meetings.
           
-- A blogger who filed a state or federal FOIA request or sued a public institution under FOIA laws and uncovered previously hidden information that had a major impact in their community.
           
-- An investigative reporter whose use of state or federal public-records laws revealed a threat that moved local officials to make changes that protected the safety of local citizens.

ASNE encourages local media and civic organizations to nominate one of their own employees or members to compete for a Local Hero prize. Nominations may be submitted by completing a brief form on the Sunshine Week Web site and uploading supporting materials. The deadline for nominations is Friday, Feb. 26.
Winners will be announced the following week.

If you have any questions about the contest or Sunshine Week, please contact Cristal Williams Chancellor at 703-453-1138 or cwilliams@asne.org.

Sunshine Week is funded primarily by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation of Miami.

Sunshine Week also has received major organizational support from the National Freedom of Information Coalition the Society of Professional Journalists, the Radio and Television Digital News Association and others who have partnered to ensure that it thrives and grows.

Sunshine Week information and promotional material can be found at asne.org.

March 12, 2010MPF Better newspaper Contest begins

The rules and categories for the 2010 Missouri Press Foundation Better Newspaper Contest are now posted on the MPA website.

You can download the rules and categories, label sheet and entry log sheet HERE.

The material will be mailed with the printed Bulletin next week, but if your newspaper no longer receives the printed Bulletin, you'll have to download the information or contact MPA to have it emailed to you.

ACTIVE member newspapers of Missouri Press are eligible to enter the contest.

Two categories have been added: "Best Breaking News Story" and "Best Video."

A few other minor changes to the rules and entry regulations were made when the Contest Committee met by conference telephone call on Feb. 23.

No Gold Cup points will be counted in the Best Video category, but award plaques and certificates will be awarded. It's a probationary category to determine interest.

The Best Breaking News Story category is for coverage of events that occur (or begin to occur) within 24 hours of deadline. Gold Cup points will be counted.

All of the additions and changes to the rules are explained in the entry guidelines and category listing. No categories were deleted.

The contest entry deadline is April 30, but you need not wait until then to send in your entries. Do not put off gathering contest materials until the final few days. Entries received after the deadline will not be accepted.

Here are other minor changes made by the Contest Committee:

€ Best Special Section language has been changed slightly to instruct the judges to put more emphasis on the cover design.

€ Some categories, as in the past, require entries from specific dates chosen at random each year by the MPA staff.

€ Prints up to a maximum size of 8x10 along with tearsheets may be entered in Photo categories. As in previous years, photos also may be entered as full-page tearsheets or as photocopies of tearsheets.

€ In the General Excellence categories, judges will be instructed to comment only on the winning entries rather than all entries.

€ A Best Headline Writing entry will consist of five headlines ‹ three from specific periods (see category listing) and two headlines of choice.

March 3, 20102010 offers Foundation summer internships

Missouri Press Foundation (MPF) is offering Missouri newspapers the opportunity to host interns in the summer of 2010 for four, six or eight weeks. Depending upon the length of the internship, MPA will grant each newspaper $500, $750 or $1,000 to help pay its intern.

A Foundation committee will review newspapers' internship applications and approve requests. Up to 10 summer internships will be funded this year, with preference given to newspapers that have supported the Foundation.

A list of newspapers that will have Foundation internships will be emailed to Missouri college and university communications and journalism departments. Students who are interested will be instructed to contact the newspapers directly. Newspapers will be responsible for hiring their interns.

If your newspaper is interested in hosting an intern, complete the application form and return it to the Missouri Press Foundation, 802 Locust St., Columbia, MO 65201. Applications must be received by Monday, March 15.

If you have questions about the application form or the program, contact Doug Crews at 573-449-4167 or dcrews@socket.net.

March 2, 2010Viers to offer more InDesign training in Warrenton

More than 60 newspaper professionals learned how to build their newspapers faster using InDesign and Photoshop with Russell Viers at his last workshop in Odessa.
 
If you missed it, plan to come to Warrenton on Thursday, April 8, for a repeat performance. (And read on for comments from Odessa on why you should.)
 
9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
First State Community Bank Community Room
1022 N. Hwy 47, Warrenton (Just off I-70)
$20 registration fee
Lunch sponsored by Atomic News Tools
 
This seminar is design to do one thing: help you build your newspaper faster with the same or better quality. You'll learn tools and techniques in this workshop that could save you hours each week building pages and ads. This not just for users of CS4, either. Features covered are available in many versions.
 
Some of what you'll learn includes:
• Building ads faster in InDesign
• Processing photos faster for best reproduction
• Building a template that cuts production time
• Building editorial pages faster in InDesign
• Automating mundane, repetitive work
• Using Word to format copy for InDesign
• Improved workflow ideas
• Mastering Styles for speed, consistency and quick editing
• Tapping into the power of Libraries and Snippets
• How InDesign's Data Merge could change your life
• GREP styles and how they cut editing time
• Editing copy faster through automation
• Using Bridge for faster Photo handling
• Much, much more
 
Here are just a few of the reviews from the Odessa evaluations:
·        This is the first training I have participated in that I felt engaged the whole time.
·        The most beneficial training I’ve received so far… wish I had a week to learn more.
·        I’ve tried using some of the techniques before with no success. Was able to understand better after today. Can’t wait to try it out.
·        Entire production staff should have attended.
·        Great!
·        Excellent presentation!
·        An eye-opening experience
·        Hilarious – time flew!
·        Excellent – great speaker/training
·        Russell – fantastic public speaker!
·        Very affordable – excellent presenter
 
To register for this training, contact the Missouri Press Foundation at (573)449-4167 or fax or mail a registration form, available HERE.
 
Workshop trainer Russell Viers began his career as a reporter/photographer at the age of 16 in Lamar, Mo. His entire career since has revolved around newspapers: printing and publishing. As an Adobe Certified Instructor, he travels the world teaching production techniques to save time and improve quality. He offers more than technology, however, as he has sold advertising, laid out papers, worked in darkrooms, pasted up, reported and photographed the news and designed papers.
 
And even though he has worked with some of the largest newspapers in the world, his first love is small community newspapers.

OLDER NEWS