The President’s Message: NMPW Board Meeting and Setting a Direction

By Regina Griego
Hello, members of the New Mexico Press Women (NMPW). I chaired my first board
meeting on June 29, 2024. We engaged in filling necessary board positions, reports
from the treasurer, the historian, the vice-president, and our chapter representatives.
We are financially healthy and all is well with our NMPW organization. We also have
very strong participation and regularly scheduled regional meetings held by the
Albuquerque Press Women’s (APW) and Northern New Mexico Press Women’s
(NNMPW) chapters.

The board approved a revision of our Procedure Manual. Loretta Hall led the effort and
had several modifications she knew needed to be made. I looked at it through the eyes
of a newcomer and suggested several changes coming from my background in
Requirements Engineering. After reviewing changes with those most affected by them,
we asked for input from the board and ultimately the board approved the new
Procedures Manual with minor changes suggested at the board meeting. You can find
the Procedures Manual on the website.

At a more strategic level, we approved three initiatives:
1) changing the way the Broadsheet is produced and distributed,
2) standing up a Tech Committee whose goal is to decide on the portfolio of tools
and applications we use and their role in the operations, communications and
marketing of NMPW, and
3) moving ahead with developing a bid process to upgrade our website.

These actions align with my vision for NMPW moving forward. We need to
enhance our visibility. We need to provide valuable information to our members.
To maintain our viability as an organization, we must integrate social media, the
Broadsheet, and our website, for outreach to new members, contest entrants,
and other people we touch in our activities at the state and chapter level.
Our ultimate goal is to grow our membership and widen our demographics so we
stay healthy as an organization. I would love your input as members in this effort,
please e-mail me at president@newmexicopresswomen.org. Please refer to Léonie
Rosenstiel’s article on the changes to the Broadsheet.

Finally, the board discussed the annual Communication Contests and NMPW Annual
Conference. The NMPW professional and high school contests will begin on November
1, 2024, a month later than last year. The NMPW Annual Conference will be held at
Isleta Resort and Casino, on Mar 21-22, 2025. Our theme will be “Artistic Expression.”

The board approved a Conference Committee that includes the chairs of the board’s
contests, scholarships, and publicity committees. Please send me your input and ideas
for speakers and panels for our 2025 Conference.

The 2025 National Federation of Press Women (NFPW) conference will be held on
September 11-14, 2025, in Golden, Colorado. It’s a great opportunity for all members of
NMPW to attend since it is so close. I’ve reached out to the Colorado Conference
Planning team and told them that we would help in any way we could. Mark your
calendars for the NMPW and NFPW Conferences and prepare your contest entries!

27 New Mexico Entrants Placed in Nationals

36 Entries Submitted for National Contest on June 22, 2024 at the NFPW Conference in St. Louis. 
(Each line represents a placement in the national contest)
  • May 6 is the deadline to apply for First-Timer’s grant from the NFPW Education Fund 
  • May 10 is the deadline to send NFPW photos for the awards slide show
  • May 20 is the last day to get the early-bird discount on conference registration.
  • Photos, phonetically spelled names, and questions can be sent to haplotkin@outlook.com
Entrant First Name
Entrant Last Name
Glenda
Balas
 
Jennifer
Black
 
Sherri
Burr
 
Sherri 
Burr
 
Sherri 
Burr
 
Sherri 
Burr
Jonny
Coker
 
Mary Lou
Cooper
 
KC
Counts
 
Merilee
Dannemann
 
Sonja
Dewing
 
Susan
Dunlap
 
Jill
Gibson
 
Katy
Hammel
 
Natalie
Hegert
 
Kathleen
Hessler
 
Patricia
Hodapp
 
Tara
Lumpkin
 
Angelina
Malone
 
Vicki
Mayhew
 
Anthony
Moreno
 
Noah
Raess
 
Sherry
Robinson
 
Sherry
Robinson
 
Sherry
Robinson
 
Leonie
Rosenstiel
 
Janet
Ruth
 
Mark
Tiarks
 
Mark
Tiarks
 
Jim
Tritten
 
Jim
Tritten
 
Christian
Valle
 
Khadijah
VanBrakle
 
Patrica
Walkow
 
Leora
Zeitlin
 
 
The entrants in yellow above have co-entrants: 
 
Anthony Moreno’s co-entrant is Evelyn Sandoval – evelynsandoval9395@gmail.com, an NFPW member
 
Jim Tritten has two co-entrants: NFPW member Joe Badal and Dan Wetmore, who NFPW was unable to find in its membership database. Co-entrants must be NFPW members to be recognized  with an NFPW award.

New Mexico communicators win national awards

Communicators in New Mexico have won a slew of awards — nine first-place awards, six second-place, six third-place and seven honorable mentions — from the 2016 National Federation of Press Women annual communications contest. The official awards will be given at NFPW’s national conference in Wichita, Kansas Sept. 8-10, 2016.

1st place winners

  • Ross Van Dusen, Children’s books
  • Heath Haussamen, Investigative reporting
  • Megan Kamerick, Talk show (radio or television)
  • Mandi Kane, Personality profile 500 words or fewer
  • Richard Melzer, History nonfiction for adult readers
  • Sharon Niederman, Cookbooks nonfiction for adult readers
  • Peter St. Cyr, News story – print-based newspaper
  • Kelly Urig, General nonfiction for adult readers
  • Catherine Wanek, Book editing

2nd place winners

  • Mary-Charlotte Domandi, Interview for radio or television
  • Kathleen McCleery, Prepared report for television and special programming for television
  • Sherry Robinson, Specialty articles – green/environmental
  • Diane Thomas, Novel for adult readers
  • Ross Van Dusen, Children’s books

3rd place winners

  • Margaret Cheasebro, Specialty articles – business
  • Merilee Dannemann, Personal blog
  • Bob Diven, Graphics
  • Ruth Friesen, Book design
  • Mary Alice Murphy, Photo essay
  • Diana Sandoval-Tapia, Reports

Honorable mentions

  • Nicolás Cabrera, Feature story – online publication
  • Margaret Cheasebro, Specialty articles – history
  • Ariana Kramer, Specialty article – arts and entertainment
  • Tara Lumpkin, Website editing/management
  • Sherry Robinson, Continuing coverage or unfolding news
  • Marsha Scarbrough, Biography or autobiography
  • Peter St. Cyr, Enterprise reporting

New Mexico Press Women would like to congratulate all of the winners listed above for your remarkable achievements, and thank you for representing our state and our organization so well!

 

Download the news release in case members would like to include it in your publications.

 

National Federation of Press Women is a dynamic nationwide organization of professional women and men pursuing careers across the communications spectrum. NFPW is comprised of affiliate organizations across the United States. Learn more at www.nfpw.org.

18 First-Place National Awards for New Mexico Press Women in National Federation of Press Women Contest, 43 awards total

by Diane J. Schmidt, 2015 Excellence in Communications Contest Chair

     The National Federation of Press Women Excellence in Communications Contest results have just been announced and the New Mexico Press Women state affiliate has won 43 Awards: 18 First-Place Awards, 11 Second-Place, 7 Third-Place and 7 Honorable Mentions. Twenty-five states submitted 405 first-place entries. New Mexico submitted 64 entries of their state’s 65 first-place winners. Award announcements are going out by email to each individual from NFPW this week, and the results are listed below. Certificates will be mailed out in September following the national conference in Alaska.

     Highlights of the New Mexico wins include first place author awards: to Norma Libman for her adult novel, “Lonely River Village”; to Janie Chodosh for her young-adult novel “Death Spiral, A Faith Flores Mystery”; and to Daniel Gibson and Kitty Leaken for their biography of Native American artist “Kevin Red Star.” Hats off to Winter Ross, for her short story, “Orienting Heaven” and to Nicolas Cabrera for his single poem, “La Yerbabuena.”

     Salutes to print reporters for their hard-won first place awards, notably to Peter St. Cyr for two first place wins, for his news story “Ticket to Nowhere” on immigrants being scammed, and for his investigative reporting piece “Rx Test” on the potency of medical marijuana products being sold. Congratulations to reporter Lindsey Anderson for her coverage of the most difficult subject, child abuse. Hats off to Mary Alice Murphy for winning first-place in the 500 word personality profile category for “A determined and dedicated 4-Her does not let injury deter her.” Acclaim to Albuquerque Journal’s long-time “Sage” editor Carolyn Flynn, and to Donna Olmstead on another difficult topic, addiction, with “Recovery Road.” Marissa Bond walks away with top awards for her writing, Claudette Sutton garners two first place awards, one for columns and another for the book trailer for her award-winning book “Farewell, Aleppo.” Ellen Berkovitch snags another first-place for her website Adobe Airstream, with a mysterious-sounding pod piece – I just love that title “Blue Curry on Tourism and sitelines,” and a really big win for Tara Lumpkin’s website, “Voices for BioDiversity” won first for websites, and TV awards to Kathleen McCleery and Megan Kamerick for their quality productions. You all make New Mexico look good for all of us!

     2015 New Mexico Press Women Communications Chair Diane Schmidt says “Congratulations to everyone! this is a real honor to be recognized among your colleagues.” Award announcements are going out by email to each individual from NFPW this week. Certificates will be mailed out in September following the national conference being held this year in Alaska, where Anne Hillerman will be representing New Mexico as this year’s New Mexico Communicator of Achievement.

     For your convenience download press release or formatted excel listings by category, name, placement, entry titles. Here is the complete list of NFPW contest winners.

     Here are the awards won by New Mexico authors in the 2015 National Federation of Press Women Contest as follows:

Place Name Entry Title Category
First Peter St. Cyr “Ticket to Nowhere” News story – Print-base newspaper 01A – Santa Fe Reporter
First Peter St. Cyr “Rx Test” Investigative reporting 03x – Santa Fe Reporter
First Lindsey Anderson “Child Abuse Series” Enterprise reporting 04x – New Mexico InDepth/Las Cruces News-Sun
First Mary Murphy “A determined 4-Her does not let injury deter her” Personality profile – 500 words 09A – Grant County Beat
First Marissa Bond “A Tuna Christmas” “Holiday Cheer” Specialty articlesReviews (personal opinion must be expressed) 10O
First Claudette Sutton “Tokens of Love” “Writing Dad” Columns – General 11B
First Carolyn Flynn “Sage Magazine” Publications regularly edited by entrant – Newspaper 15A – Albuquerque Journal
First Kathleen McCleery “Jet Fuel Leak” Prepared report (news, features, sports,opinion) Television 22B – PBS News Hour
First Kathleen McCleery “A New Mexico Town Confronts Immigration Crisis” Special programming – Television 23B – PBS News Hour
First Megan Kamerick “Interview with Valerie Plame” Interview (radio or television) 24x for KNME-TV – New Mexico in Focus
First Tara Lumpkin “Voices for Biodiversity” Web site edited or managed by entrant – Nonprofit, 28A
First Ellen Berkovitch “Blue Curry on Tourism – and Sitelines” Podcasts 29x- Adobe Airstream
First Claudette Sutton “Farewell, Aleppo” (Book Trailer) Videos for website – Special-interest 32C
First Norma Libman “Lonely River Village” Novels for adult readers 56x Rio Granata Press
First Kitty Leaken and Daniel Gibson “Kevin Red Star” Nonfiction books for adult readers – Biography 57A – Gibbs Smith Publisher
First Janie Chodosh “Death Spiral, A Faith Flores Science Mystery” Young-adult books – Fiction 59A – The Poisoned Pencil Publisher
First Winter Ross “Orienting Heaven” Short stories – Single story 60A
First Nicolas Cabrera “La Yerbabuena” Creative verse – Single poem 61A
Second New Mexico News Port staff of 13 UNM undergraduates* UNM New Mexico NewsPort State Election Campaign Coverage Continuing coverage (adult category) 02x
Second Donna Olmstead “Recovery Road” on addiction – Special series 05x Albuquerque Journal
Second Margaret Cheasebro “Meditating Among Trees” Editorial/Opinion – Magazine, newsletter, non-newspaper print publications 07B
Second Ariana Kramer “Presidential Hopeful?” “Act of Kindness” Specialty articles – Arts and entertainment 10C Taos News
Second Sherri Burr Arts Talk: Max Evans and a Few Friends Talk Show (radio or television) 25x
Second Marguerite Kearns “Book on Suffrage Martyr” “New film” Blogs – Nonprofit 30A
Second Marguerite Kearns “‘Spirit of 1776’: A suffragette anthem” Videos for website – Nonprofit 32A
Second Angela Plusquellic Advertising Campaign “NMHC” Advertising campaigns 34x
Second Kyle Lord, Michael Warren, Kate Nash “Treasurer candidates hit the long road” Writing – News – College 52A
Second Donald Levering “The Water Leveling With Us” Creative verse – Book of poetry 61B Red Mountain Press
Second Kathleen Dexter “Commit” Screenplay 62x
Third Colleen Keane “After the Guns Have Been Laid Down” News story – Online publication – New Media Street News 01C
Third Karen Wentworth “Reading the history of the Chiricahua Apaches in what they left behind; Lifelong activist donates collection to UNM Center for Southwest Research” Specialty articles – History 10J
Third Karen Wentworth “Researchers discover catalytic converter breakthrough” “UNM startup to prove it can protect crops from the desert locust” Specialty articles – Science or technology 10P
Third Claudette Sutton “Tumbleweeds Magazine for Santa Fe Families” Publications regularly edited by entrant – Magazine 15B
Third Isabel Gonzalez, Kate Nash “Land commissioner living the wild life” Writing – Features – College 52B
Third Dede Feldman “Inside the New Mexico Senate: Boots, Suits and Citizens” Nonfiction books for adults – General nonfiction 57F
Third Diane Schmidt “What Chanting A Prayer Might Just Do for You” in “Music: Carrier of Intention” Essay in a book 63x
HM Dianne Layden “Alleged Hate Crimes at Nosh Deli in Albuquerque” News story – Magazine, newsletter, non-newspaper 01B
HM Marissa Bond “A century and counting” “Mesilla home offers many stories to owner” Specialty articles – Home (interior décor, furniture, arch) 10L
HM Lyn Bleiler-Strong “Highest Peak Retreat” “Lift – From one pioneer to another” Specialty articles – Sports 10R
HM Mary Murphy “About Grant County Beat” Writing for the web 27x
HM Ellen Berkovitch Web site edited or managed by entrant – Corporate or for-profit 28B – “Adobe Airstream”
HM Merilee Dannemann “Triple-Spaced Again” Blogs – Personal 30C
HM Natalie Reid “Those Good Gertrudes” Book edited by entrant 64x – John Hopkins University Press

*Congratulations to the 13 UNM undergraduates and their instructor:

Liam Cary-Eaves

Micaela Eldridge-Lane

Kyle Lord

Jessi Mace

Michael Warren

Kendra Williams

Aaron Anglin

Priscilla Banuelos

Moriah Carty

Marcus Jaramillo

J.R. Oppenheim

Jillian Roach

Kate Nash, Instructor