Hello everyone who attended the 2015 NMPW Conference last weekend!

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Hello everyone who attended the 2015 NMPW Conference last weekend!
We wanted to send out a quick email to follow-up on conference attendees due to some feedback we heard. This blog post is a chance for you to give us any comments you might have regarding the conference: don’t hold back, you are all communicators! Plus, good or bad, any feedback will help us improve the conference for next year to make it even better! Continue reading

2015 Ghost Ranch Annual Conference on “The Power of Storytelling” is Sold Out

If you remain interested in attending the April 24-25 NMPW conference at Ghost Ranch, you can join the wait-list. Please email Loretta Hall at loretta@authorhall.com with the following information:

Name____________________  Phone Number__________ Email Address ___________

  1. Full Conference _____$180 for Members  or __________$200 for Non-members _____$150 for Students/Guests/or members of both NMPW & NFP
  2. Zia Award Lunch ____$45 for Members or ___________$50 for Non-members
  3. Awards Banquet _____$60 for Members or ___________$65 for Non-members
  4. NMPW Membership Dues ______$13   NMPW/NFPW Membership Dues ______$90

We anticipate contacting individuals on the wait-list between late Friday afternoon, April 3rd, and Tuesday, April 7th. At that point, the person must arrange for immediate payment by providing a credit card number or by sending a check to Loretta Hall. If a person has changed his or her mind about attending, she will contact the next person on the wait-list. Since the last day to request a refund is April 5th, she will immediately resell any cancelled registrations.

For more information on the conference click here.

Be sure your work is represented in the 2015 New Mexico Press Women Communications Contest

If you haven’t entered your best work of 2014 for this years Communications Contest, be aware — the electronic deadline is February 9 with an earlier postmark February 2 deadline for hard copy such as books. With 64 entry categories there’s something for every communicator – journalists, writers, photographers, social media websites and blogs, authors, poets, screenwriters, playwrights, speeches, graphics, PR and advertising, and TV and radio.

The state website has information on the communications contest page and, as you scroll down, lists details about all the categories. If you’re impatient to enter directly, go to https://omnicontests4.com/?comp_id=6F36FE10-4DC7-49C0-B7FF-DCF5F024F34F and click the white REGISTER tab to begin the process. If you didn’t already jump ahead to the contest link, enter thru the NFPW site. Go to http://www.nfpw.org/communicationsContest.cfm and click on Enter the 2015 Competition and then follow directions. First REGISTER where you will also create your user name and password.

Entry fees remain $10 for the first entry, $5 for each additional entry for members. You will pay your fees to national and can use a credit card or pay offline.

State membership alone is $13, and is paid by check to NMPW, Loretta Hall, Treasurer, 3219 El Toboso Drive, NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104. Also, if you are entering a hard-copy entry such as a book there is an extra $15 mailing fee to send by check to Loretta.  Totally stuck and abysmally confused? Contact NMPW Communications contest chair Diane Schmidt at dianeschmidt22@hotmail.com  or 505-890-8363, and arrange an evening time to go through the process over the phone, and she can also send you an additional instruction sheet on how to enter a book.

The system will allow you to interrupt your entries and return to them later, provided you’ve SAVED. If you don’t save, you have to start all over. The system will require you to enter the division and category and then save. After that you enter the rest of the information. If there is no co-entrant, be sure to check the NO box on that tab. If your category requires a one-page statement, you will upload that as well. When you upload, first select URL or UPLOAD so that the #1 box appears. If you are entering a hard-copy book, be sure to read the directions for hard-copy entries – you will also need to create and upload a short online info  requested as well.


If you have a question about categories as you’re preparing your online entry, you can also look on the national web site www.nfpw.org/pdf/2014NFPWContestCategories.pdf
and see the 2014 category descriptions. They won’t change for 2015. You can also contact Diane Schmidt, communications contest chair, at dianeschmidt22@hotmail.com about categories.

You can upload pretty much any kind of file. But let’s say you have an entry with an elaborate layout that doesn’t convert well to an online entry, or you have a book and don’t have an e-version you can enter. You will still be allowed to send paper versions postmarked by the contest deadline. You can view all your entries. You can make changes until you hit the final submit. Once you click submit, you’re done.


Entries will be judged by out-of-state media and communications professionals and receive comments. All award places, including honorable mentions, receive certificates. All certificates are presented at the Saturday night banquet at the 2015 NMPW Conference, The Power of Storytelling, held at Ghost Ranch this year. 


First place winners who are members of NMPW and the National Federation of 
Press Women will go on to compete nationally. The system is fairly simple and flexible. For those of you with more than one entry, it’ll help you to set up your own contest folder beforehand.


For those interested in the Zia Award, the deadline for that contest has been extended to Jan. 31. This year it is for non-fiction books by a New Mexico woman author published within the last three years. 

Albuquerque Press Women, Santa Fe Northern New Mexico Press Women and Las Cruces Press Women are all active local chapters with monthly professional programs.   

New Mexico Press Women Awards Sherri Burr Communicator of Achievement Award

Sherri Burr was named the 2014 New Mexico Communicator of Achievement, the organization’s highest honor, at the annual New Mexico Press Women conference in Las Cruces on April 26.

Burr, a Regents Professor at the University of New Mexico, served as New Mexico Press Women’s Vice-President and Bylaws Committee Chair and is currently chair of the NMPW 2015 state conference. A graduate of Mount Holyoke College, Princeton University and Yale Law School, Burr has authored or co-authored 20 books, published hundreds of articles and written four columns. Her audio books, Sum & Substance on Entertainment Law and Sum & Substance on International Law, are part of Thomson West’s “Outstanding Professor” series, which purportedly “captures America’s best law professors on compact disc.” As Chair of the Law School’s Art Committee, she spearheaded the launch of an Art Gallery to showcase community creativity.

Burr has spoken at a NFPW conference, and received numerous NFPW and NMPW awards for her publications and television show ARTS TALK. She strives to live her life purpose to teach and create, while caring for a brother who has been in a coma since 2009.

NEW MEXICO PRESS WOMEN 2014 CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Las Cruces – Sherry Robinson, of Albuquerque, won first place for overall excellence in the 2013 New Mexico Press Women Communications Contest. The award for overall excellence goes to the entrant with the highest point score for achievement in individual categories.

Margaret Cheasebro, of Aztec, won second place, and Leota Harriman, of Edgewood, won third.

In first place for overall excellence by organization, also determined by points, is The Independent, of Edgewood. New Mexico In Depth, an online news site, won second. Rio Grande Books took third.

Awards were presented April 27 at the annual NMPW conference in Las Cruces.

The NMPW contest is the broadest of any media competition and includes print (writing, editing, design), photography, radio, television, electronic communications, advertising, public relations, speech, and books.

Nonmembers may enter, and the organization welcomes men as members. First-place entries go on to competition with the National Federation of Press Women.

Here are the winners in individual categories:

News story, newspaper: 2nd place, Lindsey Anderson, Las Cruces Sun-News.

Continuing coverage or unfolding news: 2nd place, Leota Harriman and Ellen Burgess, The Independent; 3rd place, Mary Alice Murphy, Silver City, Grant County News Beat.

Investigative Reporting: 1st place, Sherry Robinson, Gallup Independent; 3rd place, Laura Paskus, New Mexico In Depth.

Enterprise Reporting: 1st place, Diane Schmidt, Gallup Independent; 2nd and 3rd place, Lindsey Anderson, New Mexico in Depth.

Special Series: 1st place, Heath Haussamen, Trip Jennings, Deborah Busemeyer, Diana Alba Soular, Robert Nott, New Mexico in Depth; 2nd place, Bud Russo, Las Cruces, Southwest Senior.

Editorial/ Opinion, newspaper: 1st and 2nd place, Leota Harriman, The Independent.

Editorial/ Opinion, online publication: 1st place, Heath Haussamen, New Mexico In Depth; 2nd place, Trip Jennings, New Mexico n Depth.

Feature story, newspaper: 1st place, Peter St. Cyr, Santa Fe Reporter; 3rd place, Sharon Steely, Taos News.

Feature story, magazine: 1st and 2nd place, Lyn Bleiler-Strong, Taos, Santa Fe Trend Art & Architecture Magazine; 3rd place, Claudette Sutton, Santa Fe, Tumbleweeds; honorable mention, Loretta Hall, USA Today Special Edition NASA’s Future in Space; honorable mention, Jessica Savage, Las Cruces magazine.

Feature story in an online publication: 1st place, Loretta Hall, RocketSTEM; 2nd place, Benito Aragon, New Mexico Mercury; 2nd place, V. B. Price, New Mexico Mercury; 3rd place, Chris Burroughs, CNM.

Personality profile: 1st place, Peter St. Cyr, Santa Fe Reporter; 2nd place, Sherry Robinson, UNM Mirage; 3rd place, Margaret Cheasebro, Majestic Living; honorable mention, Daniella Wiedel, Las Cruces Sun-News.

Specialty articles, agriculture: 1st place, Bud Russo, Las Cruces, Southwest Senior.

Specialty articles, arts and entertainment: 1st place, Margaret Cheasebro, Majestic Living.

Specialty articles, business: 1st place, Sherry Robinson, Gallup Independent.

Specialty articles, education: 1st place, Margaret Cheasebro; 2nd place, Majestic Living; Chris Burroughs, CNM.

Specialty articles, environmental: 1st place, Margaret Cheasebro, Majestic Living.

Specialty articles, history: 1st place, Sherry Robinson, Wild West and New Mexico News Services; 2nd place, Bud Russo, Southwest Senior; 3rd place, Jerry Ueckert, The Independent.

Specialty articles, science or technology: 2nd place, Karen Wentworth, UNM.

Specialty articles, sports: 1st place, Margaret Cheasebro, Majestic Living and Four Corners Sports.

Specialty articles, travel: 1st place, Bud Russo, Southwest Senior.

Columns, humorous: honorable mention, Wendel Sloan, Portales News Tribune.

Columns, general: 1st place, Claudette Sutton, Santa Fe, Tumbleweeds.

Columns, informational: 3rd place, Sherri Burr, Albuquerque, Southwest Sage.

Columns, personal opinion: 1st place, Merilee Dannemann, Albuquerque, New Mexico News Services; 2nd and 3rd place, Sherry Robinson, New Mexico News Services; honorable mention, Diane Schmidt.

Headlines: 1st place, Claudette Sutton, Steve Harrington, Shirl Harrington, Tumbleweeds.

Sections or Supplements: 1st place, Leota Harriman, The Independent.

Publications regularly edited by entrant: 1st place, Melissa Stroud, Sandia Prep; 2nd place, Claudette Sutton, Tumbleweeds; 3rd place, Ruth Friesen, Wagon Tracks; and honorable mention, Spanish Traces.

Single photograph, news or feature photo: 1st place, Julie Carter; 2nd place, Marjorie Fiske, The Independent; 3rd place, Roger Holden; honorable mention; Leota Harriman – all of The Independent.

Single photograph, sports: 1st place, Carlton Kenway; 2nd place, Brenda Tapia – both of The Independent.

Single photograph, general photo: 1st place, Carlton Kenway, The Independent; 2nd and 3rd place, Ruth Friesen, Spanish Traces.

Photo essay: 1st place, Andi Murphy, New Mexico In Depth; 2nd place, Mary Alice Murphy, Grant County News Beat.

On-the-scene report, radio: 1st place, Laura Paskus, KUNM.

Interview, radio or television: 1st and 3rd place, Leora Zeitlin, KRGW; 2nd place, Sherri Burr, UPublic TV.

Talk Show, radio or television: 1st place, Gail Rubin, Toginet; 2nd place, Sherri Burr, UPublic TV.

Writing for the Web: 1st place, Wendel Sloan, ENMU

Website editing: 1st place, Karen Wentworth, Carolyn Gonzales, Steve Carr, Mara Kerkez, UNM; 2nd place, Wendel Sloan, ENMU, and Mary Alice Murphy, The Grant County Beat; 3rd place, Angela Plusquellic, LCF Research website for the New Mexico Health Information Collaborative.

Blogs, nonprofit, government, or educational: 1st place, Mariah Nissen, Lorena Hughes Stephanie Nakleh.

Blogs, personal: 1st place, Merilee Dannemann; 2nd place, Mandi Kane; 3rd place, Lauren Camp.

Advertising campaigns built around one subject (print, online, or combination): 2nd place, Sharon Steely, UNM.

Advertising posters, billboards, and banners: 2nd place, Sharon Steely, UNM

Radio advertising: 2nd place, Wendel Sloan, ENMU

Marketing program or campaign for new or existing service or product: 2nd place, Scott Alley, New Mexico State Fair.

Speech: 1st place, Loretta Hall, “Pre-OSHA Space Research in New Mexico,” New Mexico Chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers.

Novels: 1st place, Elaine Hampton, Solar Noon; 2nd place, Anne Hillerman, Spider Woman’s Daughter.

Nonfiction books, biography or autobiography: 1st place, Elaine Hampton, Anay’s Will to Learn; 2nd place, Gale O’Brien, Transformation; 3rd place, Elizabeth Raby, Ransomed Voices.

Nonfiction books, history: 1st place, Sherry Robinson, I Fought a Good Fight: A History of the Lipan Apaches; 2nd place, Don Bullis, Unsolved; 3rd place, Gary Herron, Duke City Diamonds; honorable mention, Richard Melzer and John Taylor, Murdery, Mystery and Mayhem in the Rio Abajo.

Nonfiction books, general: 1st place, Janet Yagoda Shagam, An Unintended Journey; 2nd place, Sally Ooms, Finding Home; 3rd place, Gary Herron, Duke City Diamonds; honorable mention, Paul Rhetts, Voices of New Mexico, Too.

Young-adult books, nonfiction: 3rd place, Sharleen Daugherty, Young Voices of Silver City.

Short Stories, collection: 1st place, Paul Rhetts, Voices of New Mexico, Too; 3rd place, Sharleen Daugherty, Young Voices of Silver City.

Creative Verse, single poem: 1st place, Lauren Camp; 3rd place and honorable mention, Ruth Friesen.

Creative Verse, book of poetry: 1st place, Lauren Camp, The Dailiness; 2nd place, Robyn Hunt, The Shape of Caught Water.

Essay, chapter, or section in a book: 2nd place, Sherri Burr, “Lunch with Max Evans” in SWW Anthology.