Here’s the latest on the NMPW and NFPW Communications Contest from our new 2015 contest chair Diane Schmidt:

We are about to announce this year’s contest as soon as the electronic website is live, which we are expecting very soon. We have a contest deadline of Feb. 9, with an earlier Feb. 2 deadline for hard copy such as books. Entry fees remain lower: $10 for the first entry, $5 for each additional entry for members, and newsrooms can enter under one membership fee with a minimum ten entries.
            This year’s contest will be online, which should streamline the entry process for everybody – entrants and judges. Forms and categories haven’t changed. 
TO see categories, go to the national website link, for now you can look at the categories on the national website, http://www.nfpw.org/communicationsContest.cfm.  On the communications contest tab, scroll down to last year’s 2014.pdf link there for details on the guidelines and categories listed under 2014 Contest Guidelines, Divisions, Categories, and Forms.
            You will be making your entry on the electronic Omni site, but the site is not yet live. When it is, we will announce the link, and be sending out the general press release, followed by postcards, eblasts, and social media posts.
             For future reference: At the link, you will click on New Mexico and then click on register, which will call up a page where you enter your user name and password. The system will allow you to interrupt your entries and return to it later, provided you’ve SAVED. If you don’t save, you have to do it 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 that category requires a one-page statement, you will upload that as well.
            If you have a question about the category as you’re preparing your online entry, you can click on a menu above and see the category description.
            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 submit. Once you click submit, you’re done.
You will pay your fees to national and can use a credit card or pay offline.
            The system is fairly simple and flexible. NFPW is still working out a few bugs, and the FAQ page is still under construction.
            For those of you with more than one entry, it’ll help you to set up your own contest folder beforehand, and also get those stories published now for categories you want to enter!
            If you have questions, you can contact Diane or the NFPW contest chair Suzanne Hanney. Watch the NMPW website for updates. These instructions, and more, will be repeated:
 
Diane Schmidt
Contest Chair
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About nmpw

New Mexico Press Women (NMPW), organized in 1950, is an affiliate of the National Federation of Press Women. It is 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.

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