Hello, Florida Press Club members!
As you have noticed, a few things are different this summer.
I volunteered for president last year after Jennifer Cason’s departure. I had previously been membership coordinator and vice president. This year, Trisha Cormeny fills in as vice president and scholarship coordinator.
Megan Stokes remains our treasurer.
The Florida Press Club is announcing our annual Excellence in Journalism Contest, too, although we pushed back our entry deadline to get the best deal on an online contest platform. We negotiated and found the best price in omniCONTESTS. The company does contests for the likes of Associated Press Managing Editors, Virginia Press Association, SPJ Region 10 and San Diego. However, we’re pleased to be the first Press Club.
Along with “going green” and saving on postage, the online contest will streamline the process of submitting entries. It also will allow us to receive more help from journalists around the country for judging. Please let us know how you, our members, find these changes.
To allow ample time for submissions, we are keeping the contest open from July 15 to Aug. 15. As long as you do not submit your entries, all will be open to changes during the month. PayPal is our preferred method of payment.
The years of 2008-2011 have been hard on all of us, but we are looking forward to new and fortuitous changes. It is our hope that this new contest platform will allow more journalists, editors, copy editors, page designers, artists and photographers to submit entries. We have done away with low-impact categories, added new descriptions for important but forgotten ones (Freedom of Information Award) and added a division for our online media outlets.
Please forward this 2011 Call for Entries to everyone, including freelancers who might not know of us, so we can promote and keep improving the Florida Press Club.
Thank you, and I look forward to serving you.
Sincerely,
Sherry Mims