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PEOPLE & PLACES
Student journalists on The Optimist staff at Abilene Christian University had a
grand time at the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association convention this
spring, winning 51 awards, including overall excellence in their division,
sweepstakes in radio and third-place sweepstakes in TV. More here. ... For the second consecutive year, DailySkiff.com, the news and information
web site of the TCU Daily Skiff, was the first-place Mark of Excellence winner
in SPJ Region 8, which encompasses news organizations in Texas and Oklahoma.
This year’s first-place MOE regional winners also included TCU’s Daily Skiff as best daily paper and Image as best magazine. The DailySkiff.com
staff will be recognized at the SPJ national convention in August in
Indianapolis where this spring’s web editor, Julieta Chiquillo, will be among 12 student journalists on The Working Press covering it. ... Alex Muhindura on The Collegian staff at Tarrant County College, and The Shorthorn editorial
board, UTA, are also national MOE finalists. ...
If journalism is dying, someone forgot to tell the finalists for the 14th annual
AltWeekly Awards. The 2009 winners come from 57 member papers and include the
Fort Worth Weekly’s Jeff Prince in arts feature and feature story. The final placement of the winners will be
announced at the AltWeekly Awards luncheon June 26 during the 32nd annual AAN
Convention in Tucson, Ariz. ...
“The Best of the Black Cow: Great Writing by Great Kids,” a collection of stories from Westlake Academy’s school newspaper, has been named the winner in the education/academic category
of the 2009 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. The paper’s volunteer adviser, Star-Telegram columnist Dave Lieber, won in the same competition, in the social change category, for “Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong.” ...
Fort Worth-based GCG has launched a new moniker, GCG Marketing, along with a new
web address, gcgmarketing.com, and agency blog, gcgideas.com. At the same time, its sister agency, Zag Integrated Marketing Communications,
is open for business. The full-service agency employs up-and-coming student
talent for project execution and will focus on small businesses and nonprofits.
Zag IMC is located within GCG’s space at 1612 Summit Ave.
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NEW MEMBERS
SPJ ... Tiffany Figueiredo, freelance writer + editor
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PRESIDENT’S COLUMN
Andra Bennett House, APR, Greater Fort Worth PRSA
First, the kudos. A suh-weet tweet goes out to GFW PRSA board members Lauren Kwedar, Richie Escovedo and Terry Morawski for coordinating and presenting an informative half-day professional
development workshop on social media ROI with guest speaker Beth Harte last month. Also, thanks to Linda Jacobson, APR, for making the contact with Beth and to the Sheraton Fort Worth Hotel & Spa for sponsoring the luncheon.
And be sure to join us Wednesday, June 10 — same bat-time, same bat-cave — when we explore what’s up in the world of weeklies with a panel of weekly editors and publishers. Go here for details and to register. Thanks to program chair Carol Murray, APR, for organizing our luncheon speakers and to hospitality chair Lara Kohl for taking reservations and handling details with the Petroleum Club.
Speaking of speakers: Calling all eChaser readers with the gift of gab — the PRSA Southwest District recently started an online speakers bureau and needs people to fill it. This gives us a central location to find experts on
topics and also a place to promote our own super-worthies to the rest of the
district. SIGs may want to access the speakers as well. For everyone with the
APR, speaking at luncheons and conferences counts toward accreditation
maintenance credits. And IABC, TPRA and SPJ friends, you don’t have to be a PRSA member to be part of the speakers bureau. All of us, if we
have something to say, let’s say it!
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PRESIDENT’S COLUMN
First off, I must profess my love for the “Pie Lady,” Mary Dulle. I think my husband dreams about her delicious baked goods. After winning the
most coveted prize at the last communicators Christmas party and JPS book
benefit, we have enjoyed a different pie each month delivered directly to our
door. Mary is an amazing woman with quite a talent for pie crusts. Thank you,
Mary!
The end of the school year is near, and with it comes the changing of the guard
at IABC Fort Worth. This is my last month as chapter president, and I’m proud to announce that everything is in good hands. Marketing guru Cheryl Hart provided exceptional leadership during my maternity leave and will continue to
be a source of strength to our board and membership. Her creativity and
excitement are contagious, and I can’t wait to see the direction IABC will take with her as president.
Thank you, board members, for your dedication to IABC. I think we’re the best group around, and you are a big reason why. You are so underpaid
(not paid at all!) yet so hard working, and I appreciate your support. It has
been an honor to work with all of you.
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OVER & OUT
John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ
Student SPJ members who have shown a commitment to the First Amendment, perhaps
through a student media outlet or a campus program, may apply for the Robert
D.G. Lewis First Amendment Award. The $500 prize must be used to attend the SPJ
Convention and National Journalism Conference, Aug. 27-30 in Indianapolis, Ind.
Apply by July 14. Details here. ...
Banks aren’t the most stable institutions these days, but SPJ’s bank — the job bank — is more stable than ever. Now all members can post résumés and career profiles, and registered employers can search the profiles. Even if
you’re not currently looking, it never hurts to have your information on hand. Click
here to get started. ...
Attorneys in SPJ’s Legal Advocacy Network pledge to assist journalists in this changing media landscape. Network members
aim to provide legal information to help journalists find the right legal help
when they need it and to encourage collaboration between the journalism and
media-law communities. More from Mary Morgan at 317-927-8000, ext. 213.
Closing words: “It is the poet’s privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the
courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice
which have been the glory of his past. The poet’s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the
pillars to help him endure and prevail.” — from William Faulkner’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech in 1950 ... “One must think like a hero to behave like a merely decent human being.” — author May Sarton ... “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.” — Nobel Peace Prize recipient Elie Wiesel
Closing words II, family values division: “If girls realized the consequences of sex, nobody would be having sex. Trust me.
Nobody.” — Bristol Palin, sitting at her parents’ lakeside patio table
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