Zia Awards Update

contributed by Sari Krosinsky, Zia Awards Chairperson
An outstanding New Mexican writer will be honored for her work in fiction next spring when her book receives the prestigious Zia Award.

Women writers living in the state are invited to submit their books for consideration for the award, given each year by the New Mexico Press Women at the annual spring conference. The 2010 conference will be held in
Albuquerque, April 16-17.

For full submission guidelines, visit us here.

New Mexico Communication Contest Update

contributed by Connie Gotsch

Here’s a reminder to everyone to enter the Communication Contest.  The Deadline is Jan. 12.  Anyone interested can download the contest brochure at our website, and fill out the entry form in MS Word.  If  hard copies are desired, please call me at 505. 566. 3377 or email gotschc@sanjuancollege.edu.

Each complete entry must be submitted in a 9×12 manila envelop with the entrant’s name and class on it.  If the entry won’t fit in that size envelope,  a larger one may be used.  I’ll answer any questions and help with entry confusion.

Scholarship Update

contributed by Laurie Mellas

The NMPW Scholarship Information is updated and available for download from the NMPW site. If you have higher education contacts in the world of higher education,  please forward the information along  to faculty and others electronically.

Thank you to Sari for making it look snazzy and thank you to everyone for spreading the word about this great opportunity for college students. Here’s the link:

NMPW 2010 Scholarship

More on the September 2009 National Conference

As we reported in the Autumn 2009 Broadsheet, Carol Clark was elected  to the National Board to serve a two-year term as Secretary. What we didn’t report is that she was also quite the shutterbug at the conference, but now we’ve got the pictures to prove it! (More photos will be uploaded soon.)

Feature Contribution

What’s in a Name? 60 Years of History

By Denise Tessier
NMPW Historian

One could conclude that I’m in favor of keeping the name New Mexico Press Women, based on that headline.

But as a member of this organization for half its existence – 30 years, nearly 20 of those as NMPW’s historian – I submit this article rather as an as-close-as-I-can-get-to-factual observation about previous attempts to take the “women” and the “press” out of our organization’s name, so that when it comes to a vote at our 60th anniversary conference in April, members will have the benefit of a bit of institutional memory.

I became a dues-paying member of New Mexico Press Women in the fall of 1979 after attending a regional meeting of the National Federation of Press Women held in Las Cruces. I was not a “joiner” at the time – I had turned down offers from various groups in both high school and college – and wasn’t sure this group had anything to offer.

I was surprised to discover in NMPW something I hadn’t realized I needed. That is, an antidote to the all-male world I worked in then. This was a time when newspapers were still running stories about the “first female fire chief,” “first woman” this and “first woman” that. The world was still pretty much run by men.

At that point in my short career I had covered the Second Judicial District Court and its 12 judges, all male. I could probably list the women attorneys by name, there were so few, most of whom worked in the public defender’s or DA’s offices. The same was true when later I covered federal court, with its three male judges and male federal attorneys. Most PR people I dealt with at the federal agencies and farm and ranch groups I covered were also male.

Then there were the press organizations – SDX and the New Mexico Press Association – whose boards pretty much consisted of all men. Albuquerque Press Club ran the Gridiron and gave out “Ape” awards, but it was essentially a social club.

NMPW, on the other hand, was run by women and was an advocate for women in terms of pay and promotions. It offered professional workshops at its conferences and monthly luncheons, offered a “mini-grant” for members to take professional courses. I liked that it supported youth – both male and female – with a scholarship for college students and a high school contest that allowed first-place winners to compete nationally. NMPW gave its Zia book award annually to a New Mexico woman author. And probably most important, it ran a communications contest that offered the opportunity for national competition.

It still does all those things.

Formed in 1950, New Mexico Press Women grew out of the Albuquerque Press Women’s Club of the 1940s, and became an affiliate of the National Federation of Press Women soon after its start. At that time, there were no chapters, but two divisions: Division 1 for Albuquerque and Division 2 for the rest of the state.

NMPW has since seen the creation of several geographic chapters, the history of which is included here because they also grappled with the question of whether to change their names.

NMPW’s first chapters – Eastern New Mexico and Santa Fe Press Women – formed around 1976. Albuquerque Press Women started in 1978, and in 1980, Las Cruces Press Women grouped after hosting the 1979 regional national conference. Also, a Western chapter was organized in Grants. In 1985, Lea County Press Women formed in Hobbs.

NMPW membership in 1980 was about100. In 1991, membership reached an all-time high of 204 (and did not top 200 again).

That peak year, an NMPW conference was held in Roswell, a new chapter was formed, and to attract more members in this small community, its founders chose a gender-neutral, press-free name: Roswell Media Association.

Las Vegas Press Club almost went that far when it formed, and three chapters modernized around this time by dropping “women” and/or press from their names, creating Eastern New Mexico Media Association, Santa Fe Media Association and Taos Press Club. A Western Media Association was re-formed to include Cibola, McKinley and San Juan counties.

On the national level, in 1991, NFPW changed its highest award – the Woman of Achievement – to Communicator of Achievement to include men (and affiliate states followed that lead). A heated debate ensued soon after on whether national also should change its name.

At a national conference, members voted to keep the name National Federation of Press Women. But the vote came after hours of sometimes emotional and pointed comments, including a plea for change from the male president of the North Carolina Press Club, and the final tally was close.

By February 1995, 36 percent of the state affiliates had changed their names to titles like Ohio Professional Writers and Wyoming Media Professionals.

New Mexico talked about it, but did not change. In 1994, NMPW had surveyed its members in order to set goals. The more than 40 responses to a 24-page questionnaire revealed most members remained in NMPW for networking, professional enrichment and friendship. And when asked how members felt about changing NMPW’s name, four respondents said to change it, 16 said don’t and 10 said change it only if national does.

By this time, only the Albuquerque and Las Cruces chapters still had “Press Women” as part of names.But by 1999, only those two chapters remained. The rest had closed.

What happened?

To be fair, Las Vegas Press Club and Roswell Media Association were still fairly young when they petered out and Western Media Association closed because key members moved elsewhere in the state.But Santa Fe, Taos and Eastern had been active stalwarts of NMPW.A key year to review is 1993. Both Roswell and Western already had disbanded.The Santa Fe Media Association, having elected Biddle Duke as president the previous year, was headed by T.J. Sullivan, president, and Steve Terrell, first vice president, and
switched to an informal meeting format mid-year with sessions at The Green Onion, a local tavern. Eastern New Mexico Media Association found itself regrouping under the leadership of Mike Pierson, Public Information Officer at Cannon AFB, after the departure of Marsha Vohs. Women still led Albuquerque Press Women, Las Cruces Press Women, Las Vegas Press Club, and Taos Press Club.

The leadership pattern among chapters was similar in 1994, but by mid-year, Santa Fe was unraveling. At that time, Hollis Walker stepped in to serve as “ad hoc president” and reported that four chapter meetings were held during the year, with only four or five attending at each. A winter holiday party was cancelled, then moved to the Eldorado Hotel bar, where about 20 showed up. In 1996, the Santa Fe chapter disbanded after nearly 20 years. The treasury balance of $1,000 was turned over to NMPW’s Doris Gregory Memorial Scholarship Fund.By 1999, Taos and Eastern had also folded.

At this point, I would like to offer personal observation.

The facts as presented here should not, in my opinion, lead to the conclusion these groups folded because more men were involved. In fact, Albuquerque Press Women and Northern New Mexico Press Women (which formed in 2004 to encompass northern communities like Taos, Santa Fe and Los Alamos) are both being led at this moment by men – Dan Mayfield in Albuquerque and R. Thomas Berner in Santa Fe – and seem quite healthy in terms of regular chapter programs and membership involvement.

But I would submit that taking out “Press Women” from NMPW’s name changes the organization and the expectations of those who join it.

Those currently advocating the change say it’s needed to attract new members. They say communications professionals and students resist joining, either because they think the name is sexist or because they’re not a member of bonafide press. Keep in mind that all of us who are members joined NMPW under the current name – including the men.

I say, the name does not have to accommodate men and those who aren’t members of the “press.” Because of past support, I still get invitations to join the NAACP – one does not have to be black to support its civil rights initiatives. (Note: The NAACP has not changed its name since its inception in 1909, despite the fact the term “colored people” is dated.)

Those who support NMPW obviously are comfortable with its support of advancement for women and First Amendment rights of a free press – with the added membership benefits of networking, work tips and contest recognition in all aspects of communications, including the Web.

Keep in mind that people generally are resistant to joining organizations, and might be using the name as an excuse not to get involved in a commitment or expense. Changing the name does not guarantee more people will join NMPW.By changing our name to something like New Mexico Media Network (the acronym of which, as our board member Nora Heineman-Fleck pointed out, is a palindrome, NMMN being reversible), NMPW is bound to change, perhaps fundamentally. After 60 years as an organization, perhaps it is time.

But I still like that the organization is primarily women, with the inclusion of some terrific men who are obviously confident enough to support and be active in a women’s organization.
If you think we no longer need an organization that advocates for women, read The Mismeasure of Woman column that ran recently in The New York Times. Perhaps you feel, as columnist Joanne Lipman once did, that we are beyond issues of gender, or race. She says now:

“The truth is, women haven’t come nearly as far as we would have predicted 25 years ago. Somewhere along the line, especially in recent years, progress for women has stalled. And attitudes have taken a giant leap backward. “

Right now, NMPW’s numbers are growing. Our contest is open to anyone and attracts new members each year because those who win at the first place level have to join NFPW to compete on the national level. Hundreds of young people have benefited from New Mexico Press Women’s college scholarships and high school contest and no doubt reflect positively on the name of that benefactor. And our Zia Book Award is a prestigious honor, hawked by
publishers of the books that win it. It is only given to a New Mexico woman author. This is part of NMPW’s reputation and legacy.

I say: Offer the programs, the contests, the scholarships, the awards and the advocacy – and get the word out about these benefits and accomplishments – and members will come.The name neither draws nor repels people. It is simply who we are.

A final note: The latest issue of NFPW’s “Agenda” shows that as of October 1, NFPW had 1,480 members in 37 affiliates. The top three affiliates in terms of membership, as far as I can tell from the map with this article, are Virginia Press Women (141), Illinois Woman’s Press Association (86) and New Mexico Press Women (85). (We actually have more members on the state level, but this reflects only those who also pay national dues.) All of these states kept “women” in their names. And, according to the state directory section of the NFPW Web site, 22 of the state affiliates still have “women” in their names; 15 do not.

Chapter News

North Chapter president R Thomas Berner is reporting brisk sales for his book Tamaqua: Then and Now, in which he shows old photographs of the Pennsylvania coal town where he grew up, side by side with the current scene. He took the photographs on a return visit last summer.

“Facebook has been a wonderful way to reach people,” Berner says, although he notes he doesn’t find many of his high school classmates online—just their children and great-grandchildren. He is donating his royalties to his hometown public library.

(Though he doesn’t mention it, looks like Tom has been nominated for Communicator of Achievement for the Northern chapter! See Anne Hillerman’s member news, below.*)

The Las Cruces Press Women Chapter has been busy with a wide range of events. In the last few months, they’ve offered a well-received half-day writing workshop with noted nature writer Susan Tweit, which wrapped up with a private reception at St. Clair Bistro; a meeting focused on graphic design with a presentation by college instructor Abby Osborne; a holiday potluck and two networking socials. The chapter continues to attract new members through these activities. They plan to kick off 2010 with a presentation on social networking media and another on research for non-fiction writing.

As the hosts for the 2011 NMPW conference, Las Cruces Press Women looks forward to preparing an exciting program for their fellow members statewide and showing off what has put Las Cruces on “best of” lists nationwide.

contributed by Cheryl Fallstead

Member News

Anne Hillerman writes:
My restaurant guide/cook book, Santa Fe Flavors: Best Restaurants and Recipes won the New Mexico Book Award for best cookbook of 2009. The book is a result of my years of hard, calorie-laden research as restaurant reviewer for the Albuquerque Journal in Santa Fe.
My newest book, Tony Hillerman’s Landscape: On the Road with Chee and Leaphorn, was released in late October. It got a glowing review in both the November issue of New Mexico Magazine and in Publisher’s Weekly. Photographer Don Strel and I have set up a number of promotional appearances as benefits for libraries, literacy organizations and the Hillerman-McGarrity Scholarship fund at UNM. On Dec. 15th, we’ll be in Taos as a benefit for the Taos Public Library. Don, also an NMPW member, has created a fabulous slide show of photos from the book, other shots of places we visited in our three years of research, and family pictures of my Dad. The text includes some memoir by me, quotes from Dad’s books describing the scenery, and some description of the sites themselves.

*I’m also the point person for Tom Berner’s much deserved nomination as Communicator of Achievement for our northern Chapter of Press Women.

Find Anne at  www.annehillerman.com

Artemesia Publishing of Tijeras, NM recently published Belle’s Star, a book for 8-12 year olds, by NMPW member Connie Gotsch of Farmington. A free download of an activity book with discussion questions about Belle’s Star is available from the publisher’s website. The activity book was written by NMPW member Margaret Cheasebro of Aztec. Belle’s Star tells the story of an abused dog, Belle, who finds a good home and discovers that, even though she may not be able to change circumstances in her life, she can react appropriately to them. When used with the activity book, Belle’s Star becomes a dynamic tool for use in classrooms, homeschool situations, and a variety of organizations involving young people. It’s a great gift idea for any time of the year for a child or for an adult who works with kids.

Gail Rubin writes:

I’ve started a blog called The Family Plot: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die.  The blog is designed to provide information, inspiration and tools to plan and implement creative, meaningful and memorable end-of-life rituals for people and pets.

When I wrote “Matchings, Hatchings and Dispatchings,” an Albuquerque Tribune column on life cycle events, I found that the columns on death elicited the greatest reader response, indicating a need for the kind of detailed information that people don’t usually deal with until there is a death in the family. It’s presented with gentle humor and offers a unique opportunity to help Baby Boomers face the death of their parents – as well as members of their own generation – with the care and creativity they have embraced all their lives.

Note from the editor:

Due to other obligations, Karen Lehmann will regretfully be stepping down as NMPW’s Broadsheet newsletter editor at the end of 2009. It’s been a great year, and I highly recommend that another of our members give this role a try! Thanks to Sari’s technical wizardry and the genius of WordPress you can put the newsletter together and edit it straight into the NMPW Web site/blog. Reach me at karen@phrasesincorporated.com if you need a helping hand.

Call For Volunteers

The NMPW Board is still looking for a Secretary, a PR Chairperson and now – a Newsletter Editor as well.  We encourage our members to step up to fill these positions. Bring your ideas,  your vitality and creativity to these roles and help make the NMPW an even stronger and more diverse organization than it already is. You’ll see, it will be fun!

Call For Auction Items

Susan Walton writes:

What would you like to buy at our April 2010 Silent Auction?  We’ll have a variety of items, gift certificates and books for you to bid on at our Friday, April 16, 2010 fundraising auction at the Sheraton Albuquerque Uptown.

New Mexico Press Women hosts this silent auction during our annual awards banquet at the state conference to raise money for our two college scholarships, awarded annually to New Mexico students pursuing careers in journalism, public relations, writing, photography and other areas in our field.

Please help us to find “treasures” from all over New Mexico by donating one yourself, or by asking stores and places you do business with to contribute.  I can send letters to ask, if you’ll give me names, addresses and a description of what donation I should request.

If you have any questions, or need a receipt contact me at (505) 338-3004 or swalton@sandiaprep.org.  Thank you in advance for your generosity!  This Silent Auction is when and where I love to do my annual Christmas and birthday present shopping. So as you shop this month, keep April in mind for future purchases!

Carol Clark Elected to National Board

Our own NMPW President, Carol Clark, held a place of honor at the National Conference in San Antonio, Texas this month, as she was officially instated as Secretary of the NFPW.  You can watch a video of the of all the new officers being installed at the NFPW website, here.

Congratulations Carol!

New Chairpeople Named at August Meeting

It’s autumn, and change is in the air. It was announced at the August Board meeting that Sari Krosinsky will take over as Zia Award Chairperson, and Nora Heineman-Fleck will take on the position of New Media Chair. Congratulations and good luck to Sari and Nora! We’re still looking for a Publicity Chairperson and a Secretary – so please consider helping out and contact Carol Clark for more details about these positions.

NMPW History to be Published in 2010

NMPW Historian Denise Tessier and Treasurer Sandy Schauer spoke of their intention to publish a book chronicling our organization’s history.  After years of hard work, the book is complete and ready to go to press after one final edit by the team, who propose self-publishing with Booksurge. After some lively discussion on the various merits of some different self-publishing companies, and on alternatives for financing the project, the Board offered their unanimous approval and encouragement for the project, and agreed to work out the details as they become germane.

Other Board News

From the August 2009 NMPW Treasurer’s Report:

Profit from the April conference is $2,233.22 which was made possible with the donations of Los Alamos National Bank ($5,000 — thank you, Carol) and NM Beef Council ($1,000 — thank you, Sharon). Half of this ($1,116.61) goes to the Northern NM Chapter as sponsoring organization.

NMPW paid one-half registration for ten people to attend the NFPW conference in Texas;  three more had their full registration paid through the NFPW Education Fund. Good showing in San Antonio!

My Two Cents

Contributed by Karen Lehmann

New Mexico Press Women Board Considers Name Change

How about “New Mexico Media Professionals”?  No, wait  – um: “New Mexico Media Network”?

At the latest NMPW Board meeting there was a good deal of discussion not only of the past (thanks to our able historians), but of the future.  How do we best find our organization’s way forward? In what ways have we responded to the changing nature of journalism and communication in the new century, and what might be next for us? Is our new reality reflected fully in our organization’s name? Do we hold on to that name in order to reflect and honor our origins? Or do we change it to facilitate our future? Is it exclusionary? Is it justified? Do we really mean it?

New Mexico Press Women was organized in 1950 as an affiliate of the national organization. On our website and other promotional material we state our mission as an “organization of professional journalists and communicators that promotes the highest ethical standards while looking to the future in professional development, networking and protecting First Amendment rights”. NMPW was born in the days when it could be really tough to find a woman in the newsroom, and those women whose job titles included the word “editor” or “publisher” were even harder to find. It would be half a century before the extent of electronic communication via the Internet would prove to be a profound challenge to the viability of the traditional printed daily newspaper; as well as drastically changing the way we share information. Nowadays, many newspapers are making drastic cuts or even closing their doors, while others convert their publications to the internet. Journalists blog, tweet and flickr instead of turning in typed (or even word-processed) copy or developing photos in the darkroom. That’s right, there are even new verbs that have developed to express the mechanics of spreading the news in the digital age and, yes – there’s a blog to keep track of them.

This excerpt from Michael Massing’s article in the 9/24 edition of the “New York Review of Books”* both acknowledges the news industry’s woes and points us toward a hopeful new path:

“The American news business today finds itself trapped in a grim paradox. Financially, its prospects have never seemed bleaker. By some measures, the first quarter of 2009 was the worst ever for newspapers, with sales plunging $2.6 billion. Last year, circulation dropped on average by 4.6 percent on weekdays and 4.8 percent on Sundays. Earlier this year, Detroit’s two daily papers reduced home delivery to three days a week, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer ended its print edition, and the Rocky Mountain News shut down altogether. This summer, The Boston Globe, which is losing more than $50 million a year, survived only by giving in to the draconian cutbacks demanded by its owner, the New York Times Company, while the Times itself, weighed down by the Globe, had to take out a $250 million loan from Carlos Slim Helú, Mexico’s richest man, at a junk-bond-level interest rate of 14 percent a year.

Yet amid all this gloom, statistics from the Internet suggest that interest in news has rarely been greater. According to one survey, Internet users in 2008 spent fifty-three minutes a week reading newspapers online, up from forty-one minutes in 2007. And the traffic at the top fifty news Web sites increased by 27 percent. While this growth cut across all age groups, the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism found, “it was fueled in particular by young people.” The MTV generation, known for its indifference to news, has given way to the Obama generation, which craves it, and for an industry long reconciled to the idea of its customers dying off, the reengagement of America’s young offers a rare ray of hope.”

Mr. Massing doesn’t mention the change in the balance of women and men in the workplace over the past half-century, but there is now, in the U.S.,  greater equality for women and men in the communications business than there ever has been before. This professional evolution may also play an important part in our discussions about the potential for change in the way we describe, or name, our organization. As communicators, it’s a given that we cherish the power of words.  As an organization, we began at least partly as a result of institutional exclusion. Now, men are actively engaged and play leadership roles in our organization – yet there is no place for them in the naming of that organization.  Have the excluded become exclusive in our own turn, in name if not in deed? Can we  pay due respect to the origins of the New Mexico Press Women, while also recognizing that the naming of a thing is important –  and may no longer reflect the reality of what we do, who we are and how we’d like to position our organization for the future?

I’m kind of partial to the “New Mexico Media Network” moniker. What can I say? I’m a fan of symmetry.  What do you think? Let me know, at karen@phrasesincorporated.com.

*excerpt from “The New York Review of Books” Volume 56, Number 14, September 24, 2009

A New Horizon for the News by Michael Massing

Chapter News

North Chapter

There’s no meeting planned for September; but we’ve got a humdinger coming up in October. In an event that will be jointly sponsored by the North Chapter and Santa Fe Community College, Anne Hillerman and her husband Don will talk about her book Tony Hillerman’s Landscape: On the Road with Chee and Leaphorn – to be published in November 2009. Don’t miss this event, the second Saturday in October.

On December 5^th you’ll find us in Santa Fe (location to be determined). Our speaker will be Lois Manno, the author of Visions Underground: Carlsbad Caverns through the Artist’s Eye. Ms. Manno has been working in the arts for over 30 years. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree and has spent many years working as a graphic designer, professional illustrator and fine artist. Lois has illustrated over a dozen books for various publishers, and is a published author herself. After a few years of wandering various western states, she settled permanently in New Mexico, which has been her home for 20 years. There she raised her two daughters and became deeply involved in the sport of caving, working regularly as a volunteer at Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

Las Cruces Chapter
According to their blog, the Las Cruces  Press Women chapter has a meeting planned for September 24 at 5:30 p.m. at Doña Ana Community College. Abby Osborne will give a presentation on graphic design.

November brings a writing workshop given by Susan Tweit , and look for the Holiday Potluck on December 10 at 5:30 p.m

For more information, please contact Cheryl Fallstead (cfallstead@hotmail.com) or lcpresswomen@gmail.com.

Albuquerque Chapter

Greg Fouratt, the newly named U. S. Attorney for New Mexico, spoke at the Monday luncheon on September 14^th.

D.D. Wolohan, who edits the bimonthly magazine of the American Society of Radiologic Technologists, is the Albuquerque chapter’s new Vice President. D.D. has been involved with APW and NMPW in the past (nearly 30 years ago, now!) and is happy to once again be more active in the organization.

Rivkela Brodsky, a staff writer at the Albuquerque Journal, has been named the chapter’s new Secretary.

Although there’s been some talk of a venue change for the Albuquerque folks, the chapter plans to continue meeting at the MCM Elegante through December 2009.

Please contact Dan Mayfield (dmayfield@abqjournal.com) for more information on the Albuquerque chapter.

Member News

To share your news, e-mail it to karen@phrasesincorporated.com by the 15^th of the month.

Sharon Neiderman will facilitate a writing workshop at the Mandala Center in October. The workshop is titled Writing from Personal Experience: Memoir, Journal, Family History and More and it runs Wednesday – Sunday, October 21 – 25. Participants will mine their personal experience as a source of inspiration and understanding, and record a legacy during this intensive retreat-workshop. They’ll find opportunities to explore memory and ways of expressing the remembered eras and moments of their lives, all in the meditative space of The Mandala Center. Sharon has made her living as a writer for 15 years. She’s the author of six non-fiction books and has published thousands of articles in regional and national publications. Her debut novel, Return to Abo, published by the University of New Mexico Press, was a finalist for the 2006 Willa Literary Award in Contemporary Fiction. In September, 2008, Sharon’s latest book, New Mexico: An Explorer’s Guide First Edition was published by Countryman Press. For more information, visit Sharon’s website.

Lisa Lenard-Cook’s upcoming writing workshop is called:

after practice:
piecing together your scattered writings (& life) in four easy lessons

There’s only one slot left for this popular workshop, to be held in Corrales the weekend of October 17. Limited to eight participants, it runs both Saturday and Sunday from 9 am – 4 pm. $250 includes lunch both days. Contact Lisa at lisalenardcook@gmail.com for more details.

NMPW Web Site  Makeover

Thanks to Sari Krosinsky, NMPW’s Web site has a fresh new look! It’s been updated to feature easier navigation and an interactive blog. Check it out at https://newmexicopresswomen.org. Members are invited to contribute multimedia content like photos, video or audio from NMPW and chapter events. The new site also includes links to members’ Web sites and blogs. (Reciprocal links to NMPW would be appreciated, but are not required.) Send submissions to New Media Chair Sari Krosinsky at michal@unm.edu.

Where in New Mexico is NMPW’s 60th Anniversary?

Planning will soon be underway for NMPW’s 60th anniversary conference, and we need your help choosing a location. Vote and comment at https://newmexicopresswomen.org/blog.

Some issues to consider:

• Accessibility for attendees and presenters from both in and out of state.

• Potential for chapter building and/or recruitment of new members.

• Local journalism/media history, resources and culture.

NMPW April Conference: Sweepstakes Winners

Oops! Looks like we neglected to mention some deserving winners in the Annual Conference Wrap-up Issue. Our apologies. We offer belated, but no less sincere, congratulations to the Sweepstakes Winners:

Individual Category
Denise Tessier:  1st Place
Chris Burroughs:  2nd Place
Tania Casselle:  3rd Place

Organization Category
Santa Fe New Mexican: 1st Place
The Weekly Alibi:  2nd Place
New Mexico Independent:  3rd Place

NFPW 2009 Annual Conference: Close to Home and Half the Price!

The NMPW Board has voted to pay half the registration fee for any members who wish to attend the National Conference to be held Sept. 10-12 in San Antonio, Texas. This is a fantastic opportunity to attend a national conference that is both close to home and discounted! You can link to the conference agenda here.

More information on the conference can be found at the NFPW Web site, here.  For information on applying for NMPW to pay half of your registration fee, please contact Chris Burroughs at coburro@sandia.gov.

Chapter News

North Chapter

Please mark August 1 on your calendars for the next meeting, to be held in Los Alamos. Local author Dorothy Hoard is the featured speaker. Lunch will be catered by Katy Korkos’ husband David Korkos, who served as top chef of Katherine’s Restaurant in White Rock for 25 years. Lunch costs $10 per person (the chapter is contributing $5 per person toward the real cost of $15). Expect a reminder and a request for positive RSVPs about a week before the event.

Dorothy Hoard has written several books including her latest, Historic Roads of Los Alamos, which was published in April of this year.

Others include:
A Guide to Bandelier National Monument January 1983
Los Alamos Outdoors December 1993

Dorothy and husband Donald Hoard arrived in Los Alamos with their four children on Sept. 9, 1963. For 10 years, she and fellow hikers from the Los Alamos Outdoor Association walked down every canyon and every mesa in Bandelier, which led to the publication of her book,  A Guide to Bandelier National Monument.

Dorothy founded Friends of Bandelier in 1987 and has served as president since its inception. In 1982, she helped catalog the Los Alamos County petroglyphs. The survey took 10 years to complete. In 1995, Sentinels in Stone was published and White Rock Canyon and its art were given a place on the National Register of Historic Places. Dorothy and a co-author received a Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation. “Casa Dorotea” is the name Bandelier National Monument archaeologist Rory Gauthier selected for a small site Dorothy discovered during her years of hiking in Bandelier. Dorothy organizes the annual butterfly count in Los Alamos, has inventoried local plants and teaches plant identification classes.

Many thanks to member Bonnie Gordon, who is the public affairs director at UNM-Los Alamos. She has reserved the student lecture hall for the meeting at no charge.

The annual membership fee of $10 is due by Sept. 1. (Dues were last collected in June 2008.) Dues can be paid at the Aug. 1 meeting or mailed to:

Suzan Hall
1408 Seville Road
Santa Fe, NM 87505

Las Cruces Chapter

Please contact Cheryl Fallstead (cfallstead@hotmail.com) for information.

Albuquerque Chapter

Please contact Dan Mayfield (dmayfield@abqjournal.com) for information.

Member News

To share your own news, send it to karen@phrasesincorporated.com

NMPW President Carol Clark is running for Secretary of the National Federation of Press Women. What follows are some words in support of her campaign, excerpted from the NFPW website:

“Ten years of experience interviewing, writing and reporting for newspapers, radio and television provide the skill set Carol Clark feels will enable her to fulfill all the duties of NFPW secretary. In addition to her job as managing editor of the Los Alamos Monitor, her journalism background has honed the attention to detail, accuracy and clarity that are necessary for keeping the functions of an organization in order through the taking of minutes at board meetings and general membership meetings. Carol has been active in her affiliate, New Mexico Press Women, currently serving as president, and having been vice president, as well as chair and co-chair of state conferences and chapter president.”

You can check out all the candidates for NFPW office at the NFPW Web site, here.

Good luck in Texas, Carol!

Connie Gotsch writes:

My children’s book  Belle’s Star comes out August 11 with Artemesia Press in Albuquerque. Written from a dog’s point of view, Belle’s Star tries to show kids that once removed from a bad situation, they can take control of their lives by making wise choices.

Connie also had two of her black and white photos juried into the Durango Art Center’s 33rd Annual June Show in Durango, Colorado. Two additional photos were juried into the 2009 Gateway to Imagination show at Farmington’s Gateway Museum.

Sari Krosinsky came across this group, NM Web Journalism/Media Awards, on Facebook.  She thought NMPW folks might be interested. As it states at the site, the title (NM Web Journalism/Media Awards) is only tentative. This Facebook group is the budding effort of New Mexico’s electronic journosphere to form an annual awards competition.

R. Thomas Berner writes:

Press women might be interested in these Indie Publishing workshops conducted by Tom Johnson, who has been at the North Chapter’s bi-monthly lunches. On July 28, Johnson presents an introduction to Indie Publishing at the Santa Fe Complex beginning at 7 p.m., followed on Aug. 22 by a day-long seminar at St. John’s Methodist Church in Santa Fe. The workshop highlights basic computer programs and techniques readily available to help writers publish their own novels, memoir, poetry, dissertation, cookbook and even photo collections enhanced with text. Participants will learn to use free, on-line web applications that guide writers though the formatting of their work so it will look good in print. They will learn how those formatted pages, created with easily available word processing templates and including graphics, can be saved and uploaded to Web-based print-on-demand companies. For more information, go to http://indiepubwest-santafe.eventbrite.com/.