ing business and new business• Partnering with member paper advertis-

ing departments on ad sales• Conducting statewide market research

on:

Virginia’s Press Virginia Press Association11529 Nuckols RoadGlen Allen, VA 23059

Summer / Fall 2017 Volume 104 • Number 1www.vpa.net

Insi

deSee the top winners and scenes from the event

J-schools in Virginia Page 4USPS Changes Uncertain with this Congress Page 2

VPA Conference & Awards Pages 5-10

w w w . v p a . n e tContinued on page 15

Continued on page 3

Message from New VPA/VPS Board President Cindy MorganThis year has been a very successful one

for the Virginia Press Association. Our industry is in an ever-changing en-

vironment and VPA has adapted very well to the changes as our organization continues to grow. We will need to constantly evaluate our place and position and adjust accordingly.

The Virginia Press Association has always been a leading organization and is respected by many other organizations. The talent has always been outstanding at the staff level as well as the board and membership.

This year, VPA has seen many accomplish-ments and changes including restructuring of some of the staff duties, which included hir-ing two new staff members who brought some different experience to the table. Laura Ben-nett, Director of Membership Services and Ashley Nixon, Public Affairs Manager, have contributed to the staff continuing to perform at peak levels.

We were fortunate to have such a great leader in Betsy Edwards, who had such big shoes to fill. Betsy has brought many ideas to VPA and did not miss a step after taking the helm as Executive Director. Betsy sparked one

During the past fiscal year, Virginia Press Association/Virginia Press Services (VPA/VPS)VPA leadership and staff worked hard to create a strong foundation for the association. This included establishing solid relationships with legislators, revamping and improving the annual conference and awards banquet, restructuring the staff, improving commu-nications between the executive director and

Looking Ahead: The VPA 2020 Planboard, and creating and launching the new PNVPVA Statewide Public Notice Website.

The board and staff decided to build on this success by developing the 2020 Plan, a three-year strategy to improve how VPA does its work and to find new ways to support members. The plan’s three goals are:

INNOVATE on behalf of our members and within Virginia’s newspaper industry.

LEAD effort to promote newspapers in Virginia.

Develop and SUSTAIN successful new and existing revenue streams.

To achieve these three goals – we know we will need to re-brand VPA and VPS; develop and utilize new technologies; conduct state-wide market research; create and implement a Why Newspapers campaign; increase display and network ad revenues;, and find creative ways to diversify VPA’s revenues streams.

Improving member services is a top priority.

We plan to conduct a member services survey so we can find out if we are focusing

on the right things and providing you with targeted and useful benefits and services. We’ll use your feedback to develop a strategic membership plan, which will include:

• Revamping our training and profession-al development programs

• Creating a new VPA website with inter-active training pages

• Developing a customer relationship management (CRM) database

• Providing members with statewide and regional networking opportunities

Revenues need to be grown and diversified.

For several years VPS advertising reve-nues haven’t grown or been diversified. The 2020 Plan looks at several ways to increase ad revenues and diversify through digital ad-vertising sales. Some of the initiatives we’ll undertake in the first year of the 2020 Plan include:

• Hiring an outside salesperson and ac-count manager/media buyer positions

• Increasing display commission on exist-

VPA President Cindy Morgan

of the great changes VPA has made this year in the implementation of the Public Notices website. The website makes it easy for people to search public notices published by news-papers across the state. Through much ef-fort, training and organizing, staff rolled out the website with participation available for all VPA members. All VPA members are expect-ed to participate and there is much help avail-able for anyone with questions.

Each year a record number of bills come through general session that could greatly im-pact the newspaper industry. Having two staff members researching, staying abreast of what was happening, and staying in communica-tion with decision makers, all made an impact resulting in good outcomes for the VPA mem-ber newspapers. The staff stayed in commu-nication with VPA member newspapers and encouraged newspaper representatives to be hands on at legislative meetings in Richmond which also had a great impact resulting in positive outcomes.

Having the new Public Notice website should help us make a great case this year when the bills relating to public notices come

up again. It is so very important for our read-ers to have easy access to public notices. There is no better way than having them published in our local newspapers and websites. It would be a great loss to the newspaper industry in Virginia if bills removing public notices from newspapers were to pass.

We will need to continue to fight to keep government meetings open. FOIA should continue to be top of mind and a push to bring government transparency and more public access to our citizens. VPA has been fortunate to have Marisa Porto serve on the Virginia FOIA Council and two years ago to serve as VPA’s president. In both roles she has been a strong advocate for FOIA.

The 2017 VPA Annual Conference was a huge success this year with a record breaking attendance. It is inspiring to have so many tal-ented people at the awards ceremony. Virginia Press Association awards are so highly sought after. Everyone realizes that winning a VPA award is such an honor. The networking and breakout sessions during the day had great at-

VPA Executive Director Betsy Edwards

Betsy Edwards, Executive Director, Virginia Press Association

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VPA Board of Directors

OfficersPresident Cindy Morgan Martinsville BulletinPresident Elect Steve Weddle The Central VirginianVice President Steve Stewart The Farmville Herald Secretary Jay Kennedy The Washington Post Treasurer Kelly Till The Virginian-PilotPast President Anne Adams The RecorderAsst. Secretary/ Treasurer Betsy Edwards, VPA

DirectorsBilly Coleburn, Courier-RecordRyan Gilchrest, The Daily PressChad Harrison, The Star-TribuneLynn Hurst, Salem Times-Register Bob MacPherson, The News & AdvanceCarol McCracken, Chesterfield Observer Maria Montgomery, The Winchester Star Paige Mudd, The Richmond Times-DispatchJeff Poole, Orange County Review Bruce Potter, Inside NOVA-Prince WilliamRoger Watson, The News Leader

VPA/VPS StaffBetsy W. Edwards, Executive DirectorLaura Bennett, Director of Membership Services Ron Clark, Accounting Manager Janet Madison, Member Services Manager Adriane Long, Account Manager/Media Buyer

How to reach us:Phone: (804) 521-7570Fax: (804) 521-7590 or (800) 849-8717www.vpa.net

VOLUME 104, Number 1(USPS 621-640)

VIRGINIA’S PRESS (ISSN 0887-5227), The official publication of the

Virginia Press Association. 11529 Nuckols Road, Glen Allen, VA 23059.

Periodicals class postage paid at Glen Allen, VA, and additional post offices.

POSTMASTER, please send change of address to: Virginia Press Association, 11529 Nuckols Road,

Glen Allen, VA 23059. Copyright 2017, Virginia Press Association.

Printing and graphic design for Virginia’s Press by Narrow Passage Press,

a Virginia newspaper and periodicals printer.

OUR MISSIONThe mission of the Virginia Press Association is to sup-port our membership through responsive services and resources. We champion the common interests of Virginia newspapers and the ideals of a free press in a democratic society.

OUR PURPOSEWe connect our members through valuable business services, effective representation, practical commu-nication and information, and relevant education and recognition.

OUR VALUESThe values important to the work of the VPA are fair-ness, dedication, integrity and honesty.

Here is something to think about. There are 855,000 people in Virginia without broad-band access. There are another 358,888 people who don’t have any wired internet providers where they live. Dozens of counties only up-date their websites every year or two and many small towns in Virginia don’t have any website at all.

These statistics are somewhat surprising and important. They are important because small towns and rural counties without web-sites have difficulty sharing information with residents and people without internet have a tough time keeping up with local government in the digital age.

Or do they? In every county (or neighboring county)

in Virginia there is a weekly or daily newspa-per that runs local, state and federal govern-ment public notices. Surveys and polls show that virtually every adult knows that they can find public notices in their local paper. People fortunate enough to have internet access also know that they can find public notices in the online version of their local paper.

So, it sounds as though – one way or the other, every Virginian can find out what gov-ernment is doing.

According to Wikipedia, the first public notice may have been published in Mercer County, Pennsylvania in 1807. The thinking was that public notices would be issued by a

The State of Public Notices in the Commonwealthgovernment agency, a  legislative  body or in rulemaking  or  lawmaking  proceedings and government jurisdictions would require pub-lic notices to allow members of the public to make their opinions on proposals known be-fore a rule or law was made.

Citizens want to weigh in on decisions about liquor licenses, rezoning or variance re-quests, or other types of approval which must be granted by a city council or board of super-visors.

This sounds like a system that works well for all parties. So why are local government of-ficials and legislators trying to take public no-tices out of newspapers?

They cite two reasons - no one reads news-papers anymore as they get all information from the internet, and the cost of publishing public notices in newspapers is too expensive for local government.

Neither of these arguments is true. More than three quarters of adults read a

newspaper at least once a week. For those who prefer getting their news online, they can find public notices on their newspaper’s website.

As for the cost of publishing notices in the newspaper. Local government spending on public notices is very low. In Virginia Beach, the state’s largest city, less than 1 one thou-sandth of one percent of the city’s annual bud-get is spent on public notices.

To make access to public notices even eas-

ier for Virginians, VPA launched a statewide public notice website on May 1. The site is free, keyword searchable and very user friendly. Thanks to many of you at our member papers – public notices are being uploaded to the site daily or weekly, so that all Virginians have an easy way to find out what local and state gov-ernment is doing.

The statewide website is also a powerful lobbying tool to demonstrate to legislators and local government officials that Virginia’s news-papers want to make sure everyone has access to public notices.

But, we remind legislators - for the website to work, a public notice needs to first be pub-lished in the printed newspaper, then on the newspaper’s website and finally on the state-wide website. We can’t eliminate the first or second step or the statewide website wouldn’t work.

Unfortunately, keeping public notices in newspapers has been an ongoing battle for VPA, our members, and other press associa-tions around the country.  VPA will continue to fight to keep public notices in Virginia’s news-papers.

VPA is working with legislators and local government officials this fall to make some mi-nor improvements to the public notice system in Virginia. We aren’t making wholesale chang-es because we know the public notice system doesn’t need to be fixed…it isn’t broken.

WASHINGTON—Newspapers that are dependent upon the mail will enter into the summer session of Congress with many un-answered questions about the near future of Periodicals Class Mail.

“We are right on the cusp of pretty serious changes within the U.S. Postal Service,” said Max Heath, chair of the National Newspaper Association Postal Committee. “The Postal Service is getting closer to a major financial shortfall, and any catastrophic event—like a recession—could push it over the edge. And the political world seems ill equipped to ad-dress the problems.”

First, the rapid progress of the Postal Re-form Act of 2017, sponsored by Reps. Ja-son Chaffetz, R-UT, and Elijah Cummings, D-MD, came to an abrupt halt in May. The bill was passed on March 16 by the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, as many NNA members looked on and lobbied their congressional delegations for a yes vote. But the bill has not yet officially been reported out of that committee.

The cause of the delay is twofold: 1) the bill, HR 756, has not yet received a score from the Congressional Budget Office, which evaluates every active proposal to determine its effect upon the federal deficit. The score is taking an unusually long time to arrive, prob-ably because the CBO has also been taxed with scoring multiple proposals that consti-tuted the American Health Care Act passed by the House last month, as well as the stopgap federal budget and the beginnings of the 2018 budget proposed by the Trump White House. 2) Chaffetz surprised his party by announc-ing his resignation from Congress. He is ex-pected to leave in June. Losing the lead spon-sor, who is also the oversight committee chair,

USPS changes uncertain with this Congressdeprived the reform bill of the momentum it needed to reach the House floor.

The reform bill has to receive the approv-al, by vote or tacitly, of the House Ways and Means Committee, which it needs before it goes to the full House for a vote because HR 756 would cause some 77,000 postal retirees to enroll in Medicare.

Those enrollments would save the Postal Service the expense of funding a separate re-tiree health program for them and stabilize the system. Although Medicare taxes have been paid for these postal employees, they have not previously taken benefits, so enroll-ing them into the program would create a new, albeit a minor cost, for Medicare. How-ever, Rep. Kevin Brady, R-TX, chair of Ways and Means, has so far been reluctant to allow these new enrollees. It was up to Chaffetz to change his mind. With Chaffetz leaving, it is not clear who the new chair might be and whether he or she will have the enthusiasm for combat with Brady.

Second, the 2018 postage rates have not yet been announced, but a number of changes are expected. And even more changes are ex-pected in 2019. Some good news for commu-nity newspapers is that USPS is considering some sort of pricing incentive to get publish-ers to use flats tubs instead of mail sacks. NNA has been seeking a discount since 2007.

USPS also is seriously testing acceptance of the white tubs without requiring lids, which would make them easier for publishers to pre-pare and truck and post offices to handle.

But approval of major rate changes is sup-posed to require approval of the Postal Board of Governors.

However, currently there are no governors.A dispute led by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT,

over some conservative nominees created a stalemate in the 114th Congress.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, refused to allow confirmation of Democratic postal governors while Sanders held up con-firmation of the Republican appointees. Thus, the final term of the last man standing came to an end in December without a replacement in the wings. All nine postal governor seats are now vacant. There is no indication that the Trump White House has any appointees to suggest yet.

Third, the Postal Regulatory Commis-sion is midway through its review of the an-nual inflation cap on postal rates. By October, a report is due to Congress on whether put-ting a cap on rising rates has been successful during the past decade. The Postal Service has already said price caps cannot work in a net-work environment because its costs continual-ly rise above inflation and its ability to control them—while mandated to perform universal service—is limited.

USPS would like authority to set its own rates with only after-the-fact review by the regulators. If the PRC agrees that the price cap can no longer be used, a new rate system is expected next spring, which will affect 2019 postal rates.

If Congress fails to pass a postal reform bill, pressure will be on the PRC to fund ser-vice through increases in rates.

Without legislative action, USPS may be inclined to cut service and raise rates to meet the obligations of ongoing labor contracts, re-placement of vehicles to develop better pack-age services in the e-tailing economy and re-tooling of its own processing and delivery

Betsy EdwardsExecutive Director, Virginia Press Association

By Tonda F RushGeneral Counsel and Public Policy Director | NNA

Continued on page 3

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Minutes, VPA Board of DirectorsFor the record

Welcome: President Anne Adams opened the meeting. Executive Director Betsy Edwards introduced the VPA staff.

Minutes: The reading of the minutes was waived on a motion by Keith Stickley, seconded by Betty Snyder.

Treasurer’s Report: Steve Stewart noted that “flat is the new up” in newspaper circles these days. He said the association is doing a little better than in recent times. Display ads are up 5 percent over the previous year. Even with classified losses added, revenues are up 1 percent. VPA had $2.7 million in display ad-vertising sales and $86,871 income from the conference. $2.4 million went out to member papers in 2017.

President’s Report: Anne noted 40 people attended last year’s programming part of the

conference, compared to 150 this year. She thanked the staff for this increase in participa-tion. She said Ashley Nixon, legislative liaison, took the VPA through the General Assembly session unscathed for the first time in years. New initiatives include a FOIA hotline for re-porters. She noted this has been a year of tran-sition in which the staff moved through some difficult and uncomfortable changes.

Election of officers:Officers of the VPA for the coming year as

unanimously elected are:Anne Adams, immediate past presidentCindy Morgan, presidentSteve Weddle, president-electSteve Stewart, vice presidentJay Kennedy, secretaryKelly Till, treasurer

Cindy Morgan accepted the nomination for president. She thanked Anne for her service and said Betsy has been amazing in her new po-sition over the past 10 months. She described Betsy as a true leader and a game changer and said she “sees nothing but positive outcomes.”

NNA report:Former board member Matt Paxton pre-

sented a report from the National Newspaper Association. He said the group, which repre-sents more than 2,000 community newspapers, fought against the disappearance of public no-tices and for the preservation of six-day mail service that affects newspapers in rural areas. He said the group is also watching the process of tax reform that is underway.

Executive Director’s Report: Betsy said key goals include the need to

find new advertisers, determine whether SCAN advertising will continue, support VPA Day at the Capitol, continue to grow attendance at the annual conference, become more proactive on FOIA issues, promote attendance by VPA member newspapers at FOIA meetings, con-tinue work to preserve public notices and in-crease rentals of space in the VPA building in Glen Allen.

The statewide public notice website, which will go public May 1, was unveiled. The website is modeled on one by the Illinois Press Associa-tion. 100 percent of VPA members have signed up. Training for the site will take place the last two weeks of April, and the site will be market-ed to contractors, lawyers and banks.

Respectfully submitted,–Maria Montgomery

Don, who manages a newspaper sales department, is always looking for ways to strengthen customer relations. “We under-stand the importance of first impressions,” he told me. “Know something about the pros-pect’s business before calling. Show up for the first appointment with a big smile and a firm handshake. Ask questions to learn about their overall situation and their marketing goals.”

“All of that is important,” he said. “But what about second impressions? I’ve been hearing a lot about that lately. We all know from person-al experience what it’s like for a sales person to treat us like royalty during an initial meet-ing, then act like they barely know us after that – especially if we don’t buy something right away. That’s why the things we do in that sec-ond contact can make a big difference in the sales person-customer relationship.”

Here are some ideas: 1. Express appreciation immediately.

“A good old-fashioned ‘thank you’ is a must,” Don said. “Simply thank them for taking the time to meet with you. An email is faster, but a handwritten note is more memorable.”

2. Email a summary of your meeting. “This can save a lot of headaches down the road,” Don explained. “The more you dis-cussed in your first conversation, the greater the need for a summary. For example, here’s a short version of what you could say: ‘Thank you for taking some time to meet with me to discuss marketing ideas. We discussed: Point 1, Point 2 and Point 3. The next step is for me to provide you with a detailed proposal by the end of next week. Looking forward to our next conversation.”

3. Send business-related information.

How to make a good second impression“Obviously, this can be related to your con-versation,” he said. “For example, if you talked about zoned coverage or click rates, send more details. If you can do a little online research, find some relevant ads that worked well for a similar business in another market. Or maybe you can find a couple of famous ads for nation-al brands, which your prospect could find in-teresting. Make sure they illustrate advertising principles that can help his or her business.”

4. Send non-business information. If you learned that he is a golfer, email a link to an interesting video about golf. If she mentioned that her family is planning a vacation to Eu-rope, send a related link or clipping from your paper’s archives.

5. Ask for more details about the things you discussed. For example, if you’re working on a marketing proposal, do you need more

information about prospective target audienc-es? Would you like to have more statistics on sales of their seasonal products? Would it help to have a list of loyal customers who could be willing to provide testimonial quotes?

“It’s smart to ask questions at this point,” Don said. “It helps you learn more and it keeps the client engaged in the development pro-cess.”

Don’s ideas make a lot of sense. A sales per-son has only one chance to make a second im-pression. (c) Copyright 2017 by John Foust. All rights reserved.

John Foust has conducted training programs for thousands of newspaper advertising pro-fessionals. Many ad departments are using his training videos to save time and get quick results from in-house training. E-mail for information: john@johnfoust.com

The Virginia Press Association/Virginia Press Services Annual Meeting, April 7, 2017

By John FoustRaleigh, NC

system to be more digitally driven with live data on the progress of mail through the net-work.

The odds of major change for Periodicals are nearly 100 percent. The only question is: which changes will occur? One thing is cer-tain. For the coming months, they won’t be

decided by the governing body of the Postal Service, and if summer wanes without postal reform, chances that Congress will speak in its 115th session grow dim. Typically, election years deliver the kiss of death to postal bills.

Postal analysts have said that without post-al reform legislation, double-digit postage in-creases of the 90s and early aughts could yet again become a reality.

tendance due to the many talented presenters. If you were not able to attend this year, please mark it on your calendar for next year as it is a great event.

I am honored to be this year’s VPA presi-dent and I plan to stay true to the VPA mis-sion and help support our membership through responsive services and resources. I am looking forward to continuing the efforts to champion the common interests of Virginia

newspapers and the ideals of a free press in a democratic society.

As we face challenges, implement strate-gies, and all work towards being the best VPA we can be, I promise to stay true to the values of fairness, dedication, integrity and honesty.

Please be sure to thank Anne Adams for her dedication as this past year’s VPA Presi-dent. Anne has been thorough in making sure VPA business was taken care of. She has been a true leader and an inspiration. Thank you Anne!

Message from President MorganContinued from page 1

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Journalism schools in Virginia

Washington and Lee University is home to the only accredited journalism and mass communications program located in a highly competitive liberal arts university. The W&L Department of Journalism and Mass Commu-nications is committed not only to educating and broadening minds, but also to inculcating habits of honor, careful analysis, reasoned dis-course and excellent writing in an increasingly diverse and pluralistic culture.

The department offers two professional majors: Journalism or Strategic Communica-tion. The Journalism major prepares students to work as reporters, editors and producers in multimedia news organizations of all types. Students may further specialize their studies in the Business Journalism sequence, which prepares them to work for financial news or-ganizations. The Strategic Communication major is designed for students interested in

public, corporate, nonprofit or government re-lations, among other fields.

Students in both majors are required to complete a minor in another discipline. They also must earn at least two credits of intern-

ship experience in their area of specialization. Reid Hall, which houses the department,

provides students with an environment that prepares them for working in multimedia communications. The building’s third floor is

its heart and soul, where students in several classes work together to produce The Rock-bridge Report, a newscast and website, which regularly are recognized for excellence by pro-fessional journalism organizations.

Since 1985, The Rockbridge Report has showcased the work of journalism students in up to a half-dozen classes who combine forc-es to report, write, edit and produce a weekly multimedia website and a newscast that in-forms an underserved rural population by cov-ering breaking news and producing in-depth reports about everything from health care and schools to politics and the environment. The newscast is aired on a local community-access cable channel, providing students with valu-able real-time and real-world experience.

At the heart of The Rockbridge Report are

By teaching both traditional and innovative media skills, the School of Media Arts & Design (SMAD) at James Madison University provides students with the tools for long and evolving

careers.Students who are admitted to SMAD

through a competitive selection process, take courses in the SMAD core as well as one of four concentrations: Journalism, Digital Video & Cinema, Interactive Design or Creative Adver-tising. In spring 2017, SMAD counted 819 full-time students.

Curricula in all four of the concentrations have been revised in recent years to align with the changing media environment, and students are learning in a fully digital, state-of-the-art facility, but SMAD is still rooted in foundation-al media skills. During the past year, our suc-cess in serving that mission has been evident.

Students in the Journalism concentration, who typically win prominent contests, out-did themselves. Of particular significance are awards for JMU’s online publications. In Fall

2016, the magazine 22807 was an Online Pace-maker winner; for Fall 2017, the magazine Port & Main and The Breeze newspaper are each Online Pacemaker finalists. This is a substantial showing in the top national contest for online journalism.

In addition, three copy editing students won internships in the nationally competitive Dow Jones Fund competition.

These honors in external adjudications are a testament to the high quality of teaching in SMAD and strong institutional support for journalism on JMU’s campus.

Similarly, student filmmakers in the DVC concentration routinely screen their work on campus and enter it in competitions. One of last year’s student films received a top award in the Broadcast Education Association’s annual festival in April. “Parties to Pacifiers,” a project

Every year, the Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture at Virginia Com-monwealth University hands out about 6,000 grades to students taking journalism, adver-tising and public relations courses. During the coming school year, the tables will be turned as the school itself gets graded – by the Ac-crediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications.

We’re up for reaccreditation by the ACE-JMC – a process we undertake every six years. It’s a rigorous evaluation that includes a com-prehensive self-study and an exhaustive site visit by a team of reviewers. But we believe it’s well worth the effort by giving the Robertson School a sort of Good Housekeeping seal of approval from the academic and professional media world.

About 500 colleges and universities in the United States have communications pro-

grams, but only 105, plus eight international institutions, are accredited by the ACEJMC. Besides VCU, the other accredited schools in Virginia are Hampton University, Norfolk State University and Washington and Lee University. Accreditation puts the Robertson School in select company.

During the reaccreditation process, we will be measured against the ACEJMC’s nine standards. The standards include our admin-istrative policies, commitment to diversity, fa-cilities and equipment, faculty qualifications and scholarship. The council also will exam-ine our curriculum and how we assess student learning.

Over the past year, the school’s faculty has been compiling our self-study to show how our undergraduate program, which has more than 1,000 majors and about 100 minors, meets those nine standards.

Dr. Tim Bajkiewicz, the associate director of the Robertson School and an accrediting site team member for other schools, has been leading the self-study. Tim spent the summer polishing the report, which we will send to the ACEJMC at the end of September.

“This is where the rubber really meets the road. What are we doing in terms of teaching, scholarship and service – the three big legs of the academy? How well are we doing it? It’s a ton of work, but we’re better for it,” Bajkiewicz said.

Take, for example, the standard on cur-riculum. The self-study documents how the Robertson School’s courses address the ACEJMC’s 12 “core values and competen-cies,” which range from critical thinking and an understanding of ethics to statistical and technological skills. For example, the council says all mass comm graduates must be able to

“understand and apply the principles and laws of freedom of speech and of the press”; “con-duct research and evaluate information by

on teenage motherhood by Courtney Coffey, Sarah Gorman, Bryn McIntyre and Alexan-dra Weatherby, won an Award of Excellence in Short-Form Documentary.

Although students and faculty enter their work in a variety of festivals, the BEA’s is a par-ticularly important venue for university film-makers.

Film/video or scriptwriting projects cre-ated by SMAD faculty won four of the BEA competition’s top honors, including a Best of Festival Award. As a result, JMU faculty won a higher percentage of BEA awards than any sin-gle university faculty in the history of the com-petition.

Winners were: “A Good Blinder” by Mike Grundmann and Shaun Wright, Best of Com-

Washington and Lee University – Department of Journalism and Mass CommunicationsBy Professor Toni Locy

Head, Department of Journalism and Mass Communications

School of Media Arts & Design (SMAD) at James Madison UniversityBy Gwyneth Mellinger

Director, School of Media Arts & Design James Madison University

VCU’s Robertson School Seeks ReaccreditationBy Jeff South

Director, Undergraduate Studies, Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture-VCU

Washington and Lee Newscast

Students Matt Weyrich and BennettConlin working on an edition of The Breeze

In the Robertson School’s CreateAthon pro-gram, students spend spring break providingpro bono marketing help to Richmond non-profits. (Photo by Brian McNeill)

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2016 Virginia Press Association AwardsLifetime Achievement Award

Dorothy Abernathy

D. Lathan Mims Award for Editorial Service to the Community

John Edwards, The Smithfield Times

VPA Award for Journalistic Integrity and Community Service

Non-Daily

The Mount Vernon Gazette

VPA Outstanding Journalists Awards

Perry Curenton, The Daily Press

Outstanding Sales Professional of the Year

Outstanding Journalist Gary Harki, The Virginian-Pilot

Outstanding Young Journalist Sara Gregory, Roanoke Times

Daily

The Richmond Times-Dispatch

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2016 Best in Show HighlightsDaily Writing

Dave Ress, Daily PressDaily News Presentation

Staff, The Washington Post

Daily PhotographyJonathon Gruenke, Daily Press

Daily ArtworkSam Hundley, The Virginian-Pilot

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Non-Daily WritingCraig Macho, Fauquier Times

Non-Daily News PresentationLarissa Tyler, Scott Bass, Jeff Bland, Chesterfield Observer

Non-Daily PhotographyDoug Stroud, Prince William/Gainesville Times

Non-Daily ArtworkLaura Stanton, Rappahannock News

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Specialty ArtworkLaurie Lawrence, Jamey Fry, Washington Business Journal

Online WritingSean Tubbs, Charlottesville Tomorrow

Specialty PhotographyMonica Escamilla, Richmond Magazine

Specialty PresentationAdrienne R. Watson, Virginia Business Magazine

Specialty WritingStephanie Breijo, Richmond Magazine

2016 Best in Show Highlights

Online PhotographyCassandra Brown, FauquierNow.com

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Best in Show, Daily 1

Cindy Copp, Staff, Northern Virginia Daily“Morning Star Lutheran

Church - Fish Fry”

Best in Show, Daily 2

Michael Matthews, Kelly Gardner,

The News & Advance“Leap Day Special”

Best in Show, Daily 3

Arjen Rumpel, The Virginian-Pilot

“Virginia Fly Fishing Festival”

Best in Show, Specialty Joel Smith,

Toni McCracken, Style Weekly

“VMFA - Kehinde Wiley”

Best in Show, Non-Daily 1

Kelly Mays, Kelly Gardner,

Nelson County Times, “Batter Up”

Best in Show, Non-Daily 2

Daniel Tate, The Smithfield Times,

“The Smithfield Times”

Best in Show, Non-Daily 3Taylor Dabney,

Fauquier Times, “Elephebra”

Best of the BestTaylor Dabney,

Fauquier Times, “Elephebra”

2016 Best in Advertising Highlights

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News Sweepstakes | Daily 1The Daily Progress

News Sweepstakes | Daily 2The News & Advance

News Sweepstakes | Daily 3The Virginian-Pilot

News Sweepstakes | Non-Daily 1The Commonwealth Times

News Sweepstakes | Non-Daily 2Page News & Courier

News Sweepstakes | Non-Daily 3Loudoun Times-Mirror

News Sweepstakes | Online Charlottesville Tomorrow

News Sweepstakes | Specialty Richmond Magazine

Advertising Sweepstakes | Daily 1Northern Virginia Daily

Advertising Sweepstakes | Daily 2The News & Advance

Advertising Sweepstakes | Daily 3Daily Press

Advertising Sweepstakes | Specialty Richmond Magazine

Advertising Sweepstakes | Non-Daily 1The Tidewater News

Advertising Sweepstakes | Non-Daily 2Courier-Record

Advertising Sweepstakes | Non-Daily 3Fauquier Times

Grand Sweepstakes | Daily 1The Daily Progress

Grand Sweepstakes | Daily 2The News & Advance

Grand Sweepstakes | Daily 3The Virginian-Pilot

Grand Sweepstakes | Specialty Richmond Magazine

Grand Sweepstakes | Non-Daily 1The Tidewater News

Grand Sweepstakes | Non-Daily 2Page News & Courier

Grand Sweepstakes | Non-Daily 3Loudoun Times-Mirror

2016 Sweepstakes Winners

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Scenes from the 2016 Conference & Awards

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Scenes from the 2016 Conference & Awards

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member news

Welcome New Members!Alexandria Zebra (Specialty)Jennifer P. Cording (Individual) Thomas R. Crosby (Individual) Loudoun Now (Associate)The Princess Anne Independent News (Associate)

The Virginia Press Association honored Dorothy G. Aber-nathy with a VPA Lifetime Achievement Award at its annual award banquet in April. The reward recognizes exceptional individual contributions to the newspaper industry. Aberna-

thy, a career journalist and longtime executive at the Associated Press, received the award at VPA’s annual conference at the Hilton Richmond Hotel & Spa/Short Pump. Before join-ing AP, Abernathy spent four years at the Kansas City Star where she was part of the reporting team that won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the 1981 skywalk collapse at the Kansas City Hyatt. Aber-nathy, who retired in the

spring of 2017, spent 35 years at the AP and for more than 30 years was the Virginia Bureau Chief in Richmond.

Daily Progress announces several leadership changesLowell Miller, a 25-year newspaper veteran and advertis-

ing director for the Central Virginia Media Group since 2015, is returning to his native Nebraska to handle major accounts for the Omaha World-Herald, also part of the Berkshire Ha-thaway Media Group.

Miller is succeeded by Frank Dubec. Dubec, 41, of Charlottesville, has a wealth of experience serving creative solutions to advertisers in multiple formats, including print, digital and events. He is a former publisher of the C-VILLE Weekly and formerly ran the digital advertising agency Good Soil. He will oversee the sales, service and design operations of the Central Virginia group’s 30-person sales department and develop and implement strategies with Publisher Rob Jiranek.

Paul Wash has been named circulation direc-tor of the group. Wash, 55, of Waynesboro, is a news-paper circulation veteran who worked at the Rich-mond Times-Dispatch for more than 30 years. In 2007, he became circula-tion director of The News Virginian and late last year joined The Daily Progress as home delivery manager.

Miguel Coradine re-places Wash as home delivery manager, re-

sponsible for home delivery and digital access for the group. Coradine, 37, of Charlottesville, previously worked as a news-paper circulation manager and has experience supervising carrier networks and managing customer service.

Brandon Barfield has been promoted to audience sales manager, responsible for sales and marketing for the news-

paper group. Barfield, 31, of Orange County, has a background in magazine publishing.

Aaron Richardson re-turns to The Daily Prog-ress as an assistant city editor. Richardson, 29, of Charlottesville, was a re-porter for the newspaper from 2011 to 2014. He has covered education, busi-ness and development for Daily Progress news part-ner Charlottesville To-morrow for the past year.

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Angela Hill has been hired as the next editor of The En-terprise, following Nancy Lindsay’s retirement. Hill, who has about 16 years’ experience in news and feature writing, copy editing and content editing, has covered a number of topics, including banking, finance, healthcare, local and state govern-ment, higher education, schools, entertainment, senior citizen issues, construction trades and tourism.

Bob MacPherson, a veteran newspaper publisher and ex-ecutive, has been appointed publisher of The News & Advance. MacPherson, who had been based in Roanoke as regional con-troller for BH Media Virginia Community Newspaper Group, succeeds Alton Brown. Brown has been named Regional Vice President of BH Media’s North Carolina Group, which includes newspapers in Winston-Salem, Greensboro and Hickory.

Scott Maxwell, a veteran adverting executive, is the new the regional advertising director for the Bristol Herald Courier. He comes to the Twin City from Enid, Oklahoma, where he most recently worked as a regional sales director for a daily newspa-per. Maxwell has worked in sales and advertising for 14 years.

Betty Ramsey has been named the publisher of The Charlotte Gazette and The Kenbridge-Victo-ria Dispatch and its digital products. Ramsey, a vet-eran newspaper leader, comes to Southside Vir-ginia from Tryon, NC, where she served as the president and publisher of the Tryon Daily Bulle-tin since 2010. Previously, Ramsey served as advertis-ing director of The Tide-water News in Franklin.

The Rappahannock News has a new editor, John Mc-Caslin, who succeeds Roger Piantadosi. John, in a journalism span of 35 years, has been a member of the White House press corps, syndicated political columnist, broadcast news anchor/talk-show host, and best-selling author. In 2015, he took leave to manage Tula’s Restaurant & Bar in Little Washington, which he purchased with business partner Mark Allen, an Alexandria and Rappahannock County real estate attorney.

Mike Szvetitz has been named to the position No. 2 edi-tor for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. He will handle day-to-day newsroom operations, oversee reporters and editors and report to Executive Editor Paige Mudd. Szvetitz has worked as the newspaper’s sports editor for the last 2 ½ years. The 38-year-old Pennsylvania native came to Richmond after serv-ing for a decade as the sports editor of the Opelika-Auburn News. He started his career as a high school sports reporter for Highlands Today in Sebring, Florida. Szvetitz is taking over for Brice Anderson, who retired in April.

The Washington Post has announced the sale of El Tiem-po Latino to El Planeta Media, a multimedia Spanish-lan-guage news and entertainment outlet, which includes the larg-est-circulating Spanish-language newspaper in Massachusetts.

Abernathy

Dubec

Walsh

Richardson

Ramsey

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Culpeper Star-Exponent ReporterThe Culpeper Star-Exponent, a five-

day-a-week publication in Culpeper, Va., is seeking a general assignment news reporter. Applicants should have previous writing ex-perience, ideally at a daily publication. Those with professional experience will receive priority, but recent college graduates with strong portfolios will be considered. The Cul-peper Star-Exponent is the primary source of news in Culpeper and the surrounding area. Culpeper, located about one hour southwest of Washington D.C. and one hour north of Charlottesville, VA, is a vital small-town com-munity that has been chosen as one of the Top Ten Small Towns in America. Interested applicants should apply online at http://www.fredericksburg.com/classifieds/job/free_lance-star_jobs/

Applicants should attach a resume and examples of previous work.

Multimedia reporterCurious, energetic multimedia journal-

ist needed at a strong community digital and print news operation. We are looking for an aggressive self-starter who can find stories and tell them in a compelling way online and in print. Coverage would include break-ing news, enterprise stories and beat cover-age. The reporter is expected to look beyond daily events and uncover the trends in the coverage area and explain why it matters to readers. Must be able to handle multiple as-signments, work effectively and productively under deadline pressure and a have a willing-ness to develop and grow as a journalist. So-cial media, video and still photography skills are critical as we strengthen our digital plat-forms. The Progress-Index is a multimedia company with a strong digital presence and a 10,000 daily circulation newspaper that is part of the GateHouse Media company. We offer a competitive compensation benefits package.

Petersburg is a historic town with a

classiFied adsgrowing, vibrant arts community. We are two hours from the beaches and mountains and 2 1/2 hours from Washington, D.C.

Applicants should have strong, dem-onstrated writing and grammar skills, back-ground in multimedia journalism, including the ability to shoot photos and video, Tweet and have a solid grasp of AP style. Experi-ence at a weekly or daily newspaper is pre-ferred.

Send resume and cover letter, plus work samples to: Brian J. Couturier, Man-aging Editor, The Progress-Index, 15 Franklin St., Petersburg, VA 23803; or edi-tor@progress-index.com. No phone calls, please. We are a drug-free workplace.

Executive Assistant to CEO / HR Coordinator

Large Richmond trade association lo-cated in Innsbrook Office Park is looking for a professional Executive Assistant who will, in addition to providing high-level administra-tive support to the CEO, coordinate Human Resources activities and foster relations with the Board of Directors, Member system CEOs and Board-level Committees. Successful can-didate will possess an Associates or Bache-lor’s degree in Business or related field. Must possess exceptional Microsoft Office, commu-nications and organizational skills. Occasion-al overnight travel required. Excellent salary depending on experience, and an outstand-ing benefits package to the right person. An EOE. If interested, contact larry@elinassoci-ates.com.

Advertising Sales RepresentativeNow Hiring – Advertising Sales Repre-

sentativeTired of sitting on 66 and 95? Dreaming

of a shorter commute with less traffic and less stress?

Piedmont Media, LLC is searching for motivated and proven sales representatives

for the Fauquier Times and Gainesville/Prince William Times, dominant print and digital newspapers serving the picturesque Virginia Piedmont. Products include three award-win-ning community newspapers, companion digi-tal news alerts and websites, and magazines tailored to target markets.

You will be responsible for selling print and digital advertising in Fauquier, Prince William, Culpeper, and Loudoun counties for Piedmont Media. Successful candidates will have a minimum of three years of proven sales experience, preferably in advertising or digital media, a history of building and sustain-ing positive customer relationships, and will be responsible, self-starters who are ready to hit the ground running.

Our offices are located in Historic Warren-ton. We offer a full benefit package with a flexible work schedule in a casual dress environment. Join a team that thinks big and gives a green light to men and women of vision.

To apply: contact Kim Simons Ksimons@fauquier.com

Marketing DirectorA RISING MEDIA

MARKETING STAR?Multi-media community publishing com-

pany in booming Northern Virginia has an immediate opening for a rising star to take over as marketing director. This position has direct authority for all aspects of driving sales in high quality print and digital environments.

The perfect candidate is an innovative, motivational team builder, savvy in develop-ing the ideal sales and support team to drive a multi-media operation. Will negotiate a lu-crative incentive-driven compensation pack-age for the right candidate.

If you’re fired up and determined to break free of typical corporate inertia, please submit cover letter and resume to

Marketing Director, P.O. Box 868 Marshall VA 20116, or e-mail dac@grthomp-son.com

Freelance WritersThe Richmond Free Press has immedi-

ate opportunities for freelance writers. News-paper experience is a requirement. To be considered, please send five samples of your writing, along with a cover letter to: editor@richmondfreepress.com or mail to:

Human Resources, Rich-mond Free Press, P.O. Box 27709 Richmond, Virginia 23261, No phone calls please

Opinion EditorVirginia Lawyers Weekly, a legal news-

paper dedicated to providing the latest legal news, is looking for a lawyer/journalist who likes to write and to analyze legal decisions. We need an opinion editor, someone who reviews all the cases we get in a given week and prepares easy-to-read digests of those cases for our newspaper and website. The job also involves recommending cases for stories. We need someone who can spot legal issues and who can get the essence of a decision, then communicate it quickly. Job requirements include an understanding of law practice, familiarity with the courts in Virginia and a strong sense of organiza-tion. A law license is required, preferably from Virginia. Past journalistic experience and past legal experience both are highly useful. This is a great opportunity for law-yer who would enjoy a job that is essentially telling other lawyers what happened last week. Salary is competitive and benefits package is excellent. If you are interested please submit a cover letter, resume and salary requirements. BridgeTower Media and all subsidiaries are Equal Opportunity Employers and value diversity in our work-place. Apply: https://ghm.applicantstack.com/x/detail-bridgetowermedia/a2n5qetn-wmkf/aaac

ReporterNorthern Virginia Daily, Strasburg, Vir-

giniaThe Northern Virginia Daily has an open-

ing for a features/entertainment writer, and two openings for hard news writers - with one focusing on business and agriculture news.

If you know AP style, have an undergrad-uate degree - preferably in journalism - and prefer a flexible schedule, little supervision and want the opportunity to write the great-est story you’ll ever write, then send your resume, three references and links to exam-ples of stories that you have written to Editor Linda Ash at news@nvdaily.com.

We are an award-winning Mon-day - Saturday small daily newspaper located in Strasburg, Virginia, not far from the Washington, D.C., metro area. Check us out online at www.nvdaily.com.

Freelance WritersAre you a talented freelance writer with a

long list of story ideas you are eager to see published? Richmond magazine is looking for new writers with fresh ideas and strong voices who have a working knowledge of AP Style and are familiar with Richmond magazine’s content and format. You’ll need to know the basics of news writing, but you should be comfortable with alternative sto-rytelling methods and first-person writing, too. We’re looking for talented writers with all kinds of expertise, from generalists and news hounds, to subject-matter experts with the inside scoop on Richmond’s food, arts, entertainment, shopping and health scenes. We want writers who can look beyond the press release to get to the real story, bringing diverse populations and unexpected voices into their sourcing and writing. Whether you can turn around a quick but informative story for the web or take the time to dive deep into a piece for our print content, we want to hear from you. Send you three best clips and three story ideas to jessicah@richmag.com.

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VCU’s Robertson School Seeks Reaccreditation

methods appropriate to the communications professions in which they work”; and “write correctly and clearly in forms and styles ap-propriate for the communications profes-sions, audiences and purposes they serve.”

The self-study maps specific courses to those values and competencies. For instance, journalism students learn writing and re-search skills in a range of courses, from MASC 203 Journalism Writing to MASC 303 Report-ing for Print and Web to our senior-level cap-stone classes such as MASC 403 Advanced Reporting, MASC 475 Capital News Service and MASC 496 Mobile and Social Media Journalism.

Similarly, the self-study shows how the First Amendment is a focus of courses such as our introductory MASC 101 class, MASC 361 History and Development of Journalism and MASC 408 Communications Ethics and Law; and how numerous classes – especially MASC 474 Diversity in the Media – address diversity issues.

Also as part of the curriculum section of

the self-study, we will verify that we comply with the ACEJMC’s strict rules on classes siz-es: Our skills courses, such as writing, editing and graphic design, can have no more than 20 students.

But the ACEJMC reaccreditation process isn’t just a paper review. Armed with the self-study, a team of reviewers will visit the Rob-ertson School from Oct. 29 to Nov. 1 to meet with the faculty and students, observe classes and inspect our facilities. The team will in-clude both seasoned academics and media professionals who cover our three undergrad-uate sequences: advertising, journalism and public relations.

The reviewers will write their report on the spot and discuss it with the administration of the Robertson School and VCU. The site team’s recommendation on whether the Rob-ertson School should be reaccredited then will go to the ACEJMC Accrediting Committee.

In March, the committee will make a rec-ommendation to the ACEJMC Accrediting Council, which will make the final decision the following month. The council’s presi-dent is Peter Bhatia, editor of the Cincin-

nati Enquirer, and it includes representatives from both higher education and professional groups.

ACEJMC accreditation is not without its critics. Last spring, two high-profile schools – the Graduate School of Journalism at the Uni-versity of California, Berkeley, and the Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University – dropped their ACEJMC accredi-tation.

One concern about accreditation is that it limits the number of mass comm courses that students can take. At most universities, students must earn 120 credits to graduate. To be accredited by the ACEJMC, a program cannot require students to take more than 48 credits (roughly 16 courses) in mass comm.

The council’s rationale is that journalists and other mass comm majors must have a firm grounding in the liberal arts. So it wants to ensure that students take at least 72 cred-its outside mass comm – in disciplines such as history, psychology, political science, biol-ogy and other sciences, math and foreign lan-guages.

While the Robertson School and many other programs believe they can adequately prepare mass comm majors for careers with-in the 48-credit limit, the rule chafes some j-schools.

“Although the ACEJMC accreditation is controversial to some journalism or mass communication programs, it’s a status that the Robertson School faculty unanimously would like to keep,” said Dr. Hong Cheng, di-rector of the Robertson School.

“To our school, being accredited is a hall-mark for strong quality, a differentiator from many similar programs and an assurance to the school’s stakeholders – students, parents, alumni, the media industry and the univer-sity community alike – about its commitment to excellence.”

The Robertson School was last reaccred-ited by the ACEJMC in 2012 after the site team for that review reported, “Students were overwhelmingly enthusiastic about the facul-ty members and their professional experience that they bring into the classroom.” We are hopeful that the upcoming reaccreditation process will yield equally good news.

Looking Ahead: The VPA 2020 Plan- Reader demographics- Newspaper and online advertising trends- Print and online advertising ROI• Developing new advertising selling

proposition and create new collateral materi-als

• Creating a new digital/online ad sales network

• Developing a print/digital agency that will include graphic design and market re-search capabilities

• Marketing VPA meeting and conference

Washington and Lee University – Department of Journalism and Mass Communications

members of a Reporting class who are as-signed to cover beats in Lexington, nearby Buena Vista and Rockbridge County. Student-producers oversee the newscast and the web-site, assigning stories and monitoring their progress. Student-copy editors read the beat reporters’ stories and make suggestions for improvement.

Depending on enrollment, The Rockbridge Report is often the largest newsgathering or-ganization within a 50-mile radius of its home base in Lexington. On election days, The Rock-bridge Report often provides city and county residents with results of local races before any other media outlet.

Journalism and Strategic Communication students are guided by faculty with a broad va-riety of academic and professional experience and achievement. The department’s programs in media ethics and business journalism are led by professors whose positions are endowed by the Knight Foundation and the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, respectively.

The faculty members are award-winning journalists who worked at some of the nation’s biggest and best news organizations, includ-ing The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Seattle Times, Boston Globe, and Louisville Courier-Journal, among others. Professors also served as news director at two TV stations in Indianapolis and as director of standards and practices at

NBC News and Telemundo Network News.But the department’s graduates are its stars:

They work as business journalists at Bloom-berg News, the Boston Business Journal and The Street.com. They handle PR and market-ing campaigns for clients at the Grey Group, Edelman and Ruder Finn in New York.

They report the news for outlets ranging from The Mercury News in San Jose, Califor-nia, to U.S. News & World Report in Washing-ton. They handle communications for organi-zations ranging from a nonprofit philanthropic foundation in Oklahoma City to private K-8 and secondary schools in Concord, Massachu-setts, and Woodberry Forest, Virginia.

They produce TV newscasts for local sta-tions in such cities as Jackson, Mississippi, and

in-depth stories for “60 Minutes” in New York. They serve as top executives at firms from coast to coast, from Zillow in Seattle to Fleish-man-Hillard in New York. They anchor local newscasts and national business reports on two of the biggest stages in journalism, in Chi-cago and New York. And one of them is a staff writer for the Emmy-nominated Fox comedy show “New Girl.”

Small by choice, W&L’s enrollment is lim-ited to about 1,800 undergraduates through a highly selective admissions process. A stu-dent-to-faculty ratio of 9-to-1 ensures small classes and inspires the development of close associations between faculty and talented, mo-tivated student who continue to excel long af-ter they leave campus.

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School of Media Arts & Design (SMAD) at James Madison University

petition in Short-Form Video or Film; Imelda O’Reilly, “Beneath the Boy’s Cry,” Best of Fes-tival in Faculty Scriptwriting and “Eggs & Sol-diers,” Award of Excellence in Narrative Video; and Joe Hinshaw, Ryan Pankhurst and George Johnson, “Alison Parker Scholarship in Tribute,” Award of Excellence in Promotional Video.

In what may be a pivotal development, our concentration previously known as Converged Media has been renamed and reconfigured as Interactive Design, to emphasize web skills fo-

cused on user experience for internet as well as social media and app development. This is an exciting learning opportunity led by innova-tive faculty, and we expect this concentration to become one of our most popular over the next few years.

Our corporate communication sequence also has been reborn as the high-demand Cre-ative Advertising concentration. In keeping with SMAD’s emphasis on media production, students in the new Creative Advertising cur-riculum are preparing for multimedia adver-tising careers.

In addition to our work to develop oppor-tunities for graduates, we also are launching opportunities for high school students seeking a place to develop media skills. This spring we selected James Faris, an aspiring young journal-ist from Midlothian, as the first recipient of the Byrd-Mims scholarship for an incoming fresh-man. The award will provide substantial sup-port for four years.

This year we also will accept applications from high school seniors for the first four-year scholarship from the endowment established after the 2015 murder of Alison Parker, one of

our outstanding broadcast journalism alum-nae. Preference will be given to a student who models Alison’s passion for and commitment to broadcast journalism.

On Friday, Oct. 27, we will host the annual SMAD Day, a career networking event that in-cludes a job fair. Although many of the media professionals who attend SMAD Day are alum-ni, many are not. Anyone who is interested in scouting our students is welcome to attend SMAD Day to accept resumes and conduct ini-tial interviews. For more information, contact me at mellingx@jmu.edu.

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Continued from page 1rooms to secure more day rentals

Developing and implementing a more proactive legislative strategy.

A strong, more proactive legislative strat-egy is critical for VPA’s long-term success. In-creasingly we face legislative threats on public notices, FOIA and other issues that require us to take swift and positive action. To ward off many of these threats and to build more positive relationships in the Virginia General Assembly, we are working with members on several steps including:

• Making sure we have 95% participation

in PNV website by October 15• Creating a Public Notice Work Group

with legislators and local government officials to fund solutions to public notice issues

• Conducting in-depth research on public notice expenditures by local government and data on foreclosure notices

• Creatinge a “State of Public Notices in Virginia” report for use with the PN work group and during 2018 legislative session

• Developing a VPA Legislative Platform to include FOIA, Public Notices, cameras in the courtroom and other key legislative issues and distributing to VPA members, General

Assembly members • Finding better ways to integrate the leg-

islative platform into all VPA communica-tions

We realize that we won’t be able to accom-plish everything outlined in the 2020 Plan in the first year of the plan. The ideas and initiatives outlined in the plan will take sev-eral years to develop and implement. How-ever, we are excited about working with VPA’s membership to lead the association in new and innovative directions.

For more details about the VPA 2020 Plan – contact Betsy Edwards at betsye@vpa.net.

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board oF directors Virginia Press AssociationVirginia Press Services

2017-2018 Officers and Directors

President Cindy Morgan

Martinsville Bulletin

President-Elect Steve Weddle

The Central Virginian

Vice President Steve Stewart

The Farmville Herald

Secretary Jay Kennedy

The Washington Post

Treasurer Kelly Till

The Virginian-Pilot

Past President Anne Adams The Recorder

Executive Director Betsy Edwards

Virginia Press Association

Billy Coleburn Courier-Record

Ryan Gilchrest Daily Press

Chad Harrison The Star-Tribune

Lynn Hurst Salem Times-Register

Bob MacPherson The News & Advance

Maria Montgomery The Winchester Star

Carol McCracken Chesterfield Observer

Paige Mudd The Richmond Times-

Dispatch

Bruce Potter Inside NOVA

Jeff Poole Orange County Review

Roger Watson The News Leader

Mike Gochenour Northern Virginia Daily