It was a pleasure to represent NMPW at the National Federation of Press Women (NFPW) Conference held in St. Louis on September 20-22, 2024. At the members meeting on Thursday I participated in a candle ceremony for members who have passed away in the last year. We honored Colleen Keene and Valorie “Vicky” Ramakka two members of NMPW. That evening we went to the St. Louis Artist Guild for the opening reception, which was a beautiful space where local artists were featured. We were treated to local wines, beers, and food from the area. It was delightful to meet again with the eclectic group of members from various states.

Friday’s keynote was “History in the Headlines” featuring Lynne M. Jackson and Dr. Jody Sowell. Lynne M. Jackson, the great-great-granddaughter of Dred and Harriet Scott and founder and president of the Dred Scott Heritage Foundation, talked about the 1857 Dred Scott v. Sanford decision. A precursor to the American Civil War, the decision is largely considered to be one of the worst ruling ever by the U.S. Supreme Court. Dr. Jody Sowell, president of the Missouri Historical Society, gave a very visual presentation on little-known fun and important facts about St. Louis.

A panel called “AI: Partner and Pestilence” discussed the role of AI and its possible repercussions. There were several interesting workshops in the afternoon and Friday culminated in the Communicator of Achievement (COA) Award Banquet. The 2024 NFPW Communicator of Achievement Award winner was Gwen White from North Carolina and the runner up was Sharon Almirall from Colorado. Gwen’s speech was funny and folksy, she has many years in the NFPW including being past president.

Saturday morning NFPW president (and NMPW member) Julie Campbell moderated a panel on “The Challenges of Local Journalism” followed by Organizational Psychologist Rita Ernst demonstrating techniques to break out of negativity spirals and encourage more positive outcomes in work and life. Student awards were held during lunch and the students were all very talented and it was a tough choice for the judges. In the afternoon, a panel on “Trends in Journalism Education” followed by panels and workshops that provided choices for participants.

The conference culminated with the Communications Award Banquet on Saturday evening where two NMPW contestants received their awards. Susan Dunlap from Hillsboro, NM was presented a Second Place Award for Feature Story for Online Publication. Christian Valle from Las Cruces, NM was presented a Third Place Award for Special Programming, Television. We congratulate all our NMPW contest winners that also won awards at National!

By Léonie Rosenstiel

In 2024, New Mexico Press Women entered 33 First Place New Mexico winners’ works into the NFPW competition. These entries had been written by 27 different members. Of these, 11 New Mexico entries won First Place Awards. Click here for a list of all the winners, and their winning creations.

 Glenda Balas, New Mexico

• 3rd Place — Public Relations Campaign > Internal Communications for “Communication Day”
• 2nd Place — Collegiate / Education > Faculty Adviser of Student Publication, Station or Site for “UNT Dallas Arts Journal”

Jennifer Black, New Mexico

• 1st Place — Blog > Corporate or for-profit for “Into the Weave”

Sherri Burr, New Mexico

• Honorable Mention — Columns > Humorous for “The Writing Life: Grace”
• 3rd Place — Columns > General for “The Writing Life: Spare”
• 2nd Place — Speech for “The Underground Railroad: A Journey from Slavery to Freedom”
• 2nd Place — Personality Profile > 750 words or fewer for “The Writing Life: Diana Gabaldon”

Jonny Coker, New Mexico

• 1st Place — Video for Web > Web reporting, single news or feature story for “Local and federal agencies respond to humanitarian crisis at U.S.-Mexico border”

Mary Lou Cooper, New Mexico

• 2nd Place — Special Programming > Radio for “UNM Voices weigh in on anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, parts 1 and 2”

Merilee Dannemann, New Mexico

• 2nd Place — Blog > Personal for “Resorting to the unthinkable”

Sonja Dewing, New Mexico

• 3rd Place — Writing > Short Stories > Collection of short stories written by multiple authors for “ThrillHers”

Susan Dunlap, New Mexico

• 2nd Place — Feature Story > Online publication for “A look back at what the last year has wrought”

Jill Gibson, New Mexico

• 1st Place — Specialty Articles > Science or technology for “Harnessing the Power of the Sun”

Katy Hammel, New Mexico

• 1st Place — Writing > Short Stories > Single story for “Where the Wild Things Still Are”

Natalie Hegert, New Mexico

• Honorable Mention — Publication Regularly Edited by Entrant > Magazine/Magapaper for “New Mexico Field Guide 2023”

Kathleen Hessler, New Mexico

• 3rd Place — Specialty Articles > Personal essay for “Precious Penny”

Patricia Hodapp, New Mexico

• Honorable Mention — Writing > Essay, Chapter, or Section in a Book for “Ahh, Paris”

Tara Lumpkin, New Mexico

• 1st Place — Website Edited or Managed by Entrant > Nonprofit, government or educational for “Voices for Biodiversity”

Angelina Malone, New Mexico

• Honorable Mention — Social Media Presence > Nonprofit, government or educational for “KRWG Public Media Social Media pages”

Vicki Mayhew, New Mexico

• Honorable Mention — Writing > Children’s Book > Fiction for “How the Unicorn Said Goodbye”

Anthony Moreno, Evelyn Sandoval, New Mexico

• 1st Place — Talk Show > Television for “Fronteras 1323 – Conversation with Denise Chávez”

Sherry Robinson, New Mexico

• Honorable Mention — Specialty Articles > History for “Georgia Volunteers in the Mexican-American War, 1846-1848”
• Honorable Mention — Columns > Personal opinion for “FEMA not helping disaster victims for 20 years”
• Honorable Mention — Publication Regularly Edited by Entrant > Newsletter/other publication – non-profit, government, or educational for “La Cronica”

Leonie Rosenstiel, New Mexico

• Honorable Mention — Publications Regularly Written by Entrant > Newsletter/other publication, nonprofit, government or educational for “The Broadsheet”

Mark Tiarks, New Mexico

• Honorable Mention — Specialty Articles > Arts and entertainment for “Get a Taste of Old Granddad No. 4”
• 1st Place — Specialty Articles > Reviews for “Ailyn Pérez a force of nature in Santa Fe Opera’s ‘Rusalka’”

Jim Tritten, New Mexico

• Honorable Mention — Specialty Articles > Travel for “Papal Blessings”

Jim Tritten, Joe Badal, New Mexico

• 2nd Place — Book Edited by Entrant for “Holes in Our Hearts”

Christian Valle, New Mexico

• 3rd Place — Special Programming > Television for “Clara Belle Williams: New Mexico Pioneer in Education”

Khadijah VanBrakle, New Mexico

• 1st Place — Writing > Young Adult Book > Fiction for “Fatima Tate Takes The Cake”

Patrica Walkow, New Mexico

• Honorable Mention — Writing > Nonfiction Book for Adult Readers > Autobiography or Memoir for “Life Lessons From the Color Yellow”

Leora Zeitlin, New Mexico

• 1st Place — Interview > Radio for “Chess and music: A two-part interview with national chess master Lior Lapid”

• 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 me at haplotkin@outlook.com

By Denise Tessier

“A Time of Dire Need for Courageous Communicators”

NMPW President Sherri Burr awards Courageous Communicator Award to George RR Martin

George R.R. Martin has received and been nominated for numerous awards – the Nebula, the Locus, the Bram Stoker, the Hugo and more; film versions of his novels have won Emmys. But the author who has sold more than 100 million books says the award he received last month from New Mexico Press Women – the “Courageous Communicator” – really made him pause and reflect.

“We are in a time of dire need for Courageous Communicators,” he told those at NMPW’s 75^th anniversary conference on March 16. And he wondered aloud, was he truly among the courageous?

During a generously long and thoughtful keynote speech at the NMPW awards banquet, he pondered this question after grimly assessing the pulse of free speech: “We used to have it here in the United States. I think we may be living in one of those dark periods.” And he warned his audience at the outset: “This is not a safe space. This is not a safe speech. I don’t like being told what words to use.”

He took listeners on a historical tour of banned speech, of truth and lies, quoting along the way some of his “heroes,” like George Orwell, Kurt Vonnegut, Oscar Wilde, and Voltaire. He quoted William Butler Yeats’ The Second Coming:

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.

In 1644, John Milton urged England’s Parliament to let truth and falsehood “grapple in a free and open encounter,” believing that “truth will surely prevail.” “He was a godly man,” Martin said of Milton, one who felt that “to be truly moral, we must be free to grapple with immorality.” In 1667, Milton’s Paradise Lost was “promptly banned.”

Literature, art, journalism and democracy itself are in peril, Martin warned. He noted that 41 states have or are considering banning books, with so-called morality groups turning in lists of dozens of deemed offenders, including “To Kill a Mockingbird,” the Harper Lee novel that consistently tops the list of educators, librarians and regular citizens as one of America’s best.

Martin said he has come to expect book banning and censorship from the right, but to have it come now from the “woke” left, he said, “appalls me.”

Joe McCarthy’s “red scare” inquisitions in the early 1940s, he noted, ended many careers, including that of the highest-paid writer in Hollywood, Dalton Trambo. Trambo, whose credits include Spartacus, Roman Holiday and Johnny Got His Gun, summarized that period in what is considered a treatise on free speech and thought, Time of the Toad. Censorship became a part of the process in both film and TV with the advent of “sensitivity readers” (censors), Martin said.

“People are afraid now, including me,” Martin said. “Being named a Courageous Communicator makes me wonder if I’ve done enough.” Martin then recognized that Meow Wolf, the wildly popular immersive art experience in which he invested millions, had recently canceled the sold-out appearance of Jewish-American singer Matisyahu after the venue was inundated with threats of protest from pro-Palestinian groups the day of the show. (That cancellation, and subsequent cancellation in Santa Fe of a talk by the Israeli general counsul have since sparked a series of letters, columns and a pro-freedom of speech editorial in the Santa Fe New Mexican.)

Unfamiliar with this entertainer, Martin said looked to the internet and still wasn’t sure what to make of Matisyahu’s art – based on the Chicago Tribune’s performance description of a “soul-shaking brand of dancehall reggae . . .that captures both the jam band vibe of Phish and the ska–punk of Sublime.” Martin was certain, however, of how he felt about the cancellation.

“Those people who take credit (for the cancellation) and are proud are wrong,” he said simply.

He noted that another of his investments, the Jean Cocteau theater in Santa Fe, was among the few brave enough to screen “The Interview” after threats from its satirical target, Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. At the NMPW banquet, Martin’s Beastly Books had a table that sold not only his works, but banned books, including The Handmaid’s Tale and two James Bond books by Ian Fleming.

Martin lauded the bravery of Alexei Navalny and quoted British writer Beatrice Hall, who in her 1906 biography The Friends of Voltaire, wrote: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” as an illustration of Voltaire’s beliefs.

Who gets to decide what is hate speech? Martin asked. And “the Steal,” he noted, “is a lie that refuses to die.”

We have to “grit our teeth and learn to live with hate and falsehoods,” Martin concluded. As for being a Courageous Communicator,  “I will try to do better in the future. I promise.

“All of us need to do better.”