In recent weeks, Shield Law legislation has been revived and SPJ is ready to take a stand to protect reporters and the public. Here’s an update from SPJ President Sonny Albarado to tell us what that means and how we can all help.

You can find additional resources here.

Congratulations to all of the outstanding award winners in the 2012 SPJ Northwest Excellence in Journalism Contest. This annual contest honors the very best in journalism in SPJ’s Region 10 which includes Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. This year’s contest covers work produced or published in 2012 within our region.

We received more than 1,900 entries from more than 260 news outlets and journalists representing Daily Newspapers (small, mid-sized and large dailies), Non-Daily Newspapers, Alternative Newsweeklies, Magazines, TV (two market sizes), Radio and Online.

Those entries were submitted to judges across the United States – Cincinnati, Florida, Michigan, Illinois, Kansas City and Missouri – to choose our finalists in almost 185 categories. Those winners were honored on Saturday, May 18 in ceremonies in Portland and Seattle. The William O. Douglas chapter will be presenting its awards on May 22.

Please join us in congratulating our winners!

–> 2012 SPJ NW Excellence in Journalism Contest Winners <–

Ian Marquand, Regional Director
Dana Neuts, National SPJ Secretary/Treasurer

P. S.   For those who want to order duplicate awards or request corrections, we’ll post that info. next week.

Sorry for the late notice on this; my fault.

-Ian Marquand

And the winner is…

All of the entries in the 2012 SPJ NW Excellence in Journalism Contest have been judged and the winners are in. Winners will be notified this week if they have won an award for their work. However, specific information – category and place – will not be given. That information will be announced on May 18 at awards galas in Seattle and Portland. If you are not attending one of the awards events, a complete list of winners will be posted here by 11:59 p.m. on Sat., May 18.

For more information about the events, please contact your local chapter:

Portland:

Sat., May 18, 6 p.m.
Hotel Lucia, catered by Imperial
Registration $55
Contact Christian Gaston for more info.

Seattle:

Sat., May 18, 5 – 7 p.m.
Seattle Renaissance Hotel
Contact SPJ W Washington Pro Chapter for more info.

Thanks to Pia Hallenberg of The Spokesman-Review, Mark Peterson of KXLY and the Inland Northwest Pro chapter of SPJ for hosting SPJ’s Region 10 spring conference in Spokane, Washington. If you weren’t able to attend or want to access some of the information shared during the event, please visit our Region 10 Spring Conference website. You’ll also find pictures, tips and more.

We also want to congratulate the Mark of Excellence Award winners. You can view a list of winners here —>2012 MOE Winners.

The 2014 Region 10 SPJ Spring Conference will be hosted by the Greater Oregon/SW Washington Pro Chapter. Stay tuned for details!

Want to learn more about SPJ training opportunities? Visit SPJ.org or join now to get training opps delivered to your inbox!

This is a friendly reminder that we are accepting submissions to the 2012 SPJ Northwest Excellence in Journalism Contest through Fri., Feb. 22, 2013 at 4:59 p.m. If you’ve already submitted entries, thank you! If you’ve been putting it off, please be sure to submit your entries by the deadline. There will not be another deadline extension.

Region 10 Contest Info.

Submit Entries Now

Have questions? Let us know. Our support team is ready to help:  Ruth Pettis, Dana Neuts and Ian Marquand.*

*We know that journalists are well known for procrastination. We can appreciate that, but please keep in mind that we will receive hundreds of inquiries the last few days of the contest. To be sure we have time to answer your questions, please contact us sooner rather than later. Do not wait until Friday afternoon to ask your questions; we may not be able to address your concerns before the deadline. Thanks for your understanding!*

The entry deadline for the 2012 Region 10 “Excellence in Journalism” contest has been extended to 4:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (5:59 p.m. Mountain time) on Friday, February 22. The original deadline was Feb. 15.

To my fellow Region 10 SPJ members and leaders,

I confess to having a severe case of writer’s block in recent days (weeks?) when it’s come to SPJ. Don’t know why; maybe it’s because I’m self-conscious about writing things for writers, maybe I’ve been hesitant about perhaps saying the wrong thing. Or maybe the things I want to say seem so obvious as to be unnecessary:
Enter the regional contest!
Be a contest judge for another chapter that’s judging our entries!
Help with the regional conference!
Be active in your chapter and the national organization!

But apparently they need to be said–and said often. So I’ll try to shake off the blockage and write more. Specifically:

*We’re two weeks away from the deadline of the Region 10 contest. We need to make sure everyone who can/should enter it knows about it and has access to it. So help spread the word in your chapter. Chapter leaders–make sure all the news outlets and media associations know about it.
Let’s not forget that the contest is not only our way of recognizing excellence in journalism during the past year, but a major fund-raiser for all our chapters in Region 10. If it doesn’t succeed, we will have a harder path ahead.

*For our contest to work, we have to swap entries with other chapters. They judge our entries and we judge theirs. That means we need judges! I can promise you that every chapter in our region will participate in judging, meaning that, sooner or later, your chapter is going to receive a large batch of entries to judge. I suggest that it’s better to line up those judges now than try to beg people later. So talk it up among your chapter members and get names to me at marquand.im@gmail.com.

*Pia Hallenberg Christensen and her fellow SPJers in Spokane are shouldering the bulk of the early planning work for the April 12-13 regional conference. They need help with programming and event planning. They also will need volunteers to make the event flow smoothly. Pia’s in this Facebook group–tell her what you can do, who you can recruit, and what you can contribute in terms of resources–including financial support! Time is going to fly by and I don’t want the conference to be put together at the last minute.

More to come.
-ian

HELENA, Mont., January 7, 2013 – Today Region 10 of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) announced its call for entries for the 2012 SPJ Northwest Excellence in Journalism contest. The contest honors exceptional journalism published or produced in 2012 in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho and Montana in all forms of media (print, online, radio, and TV). Both SPJ and non-SPJ members are invited to participate in the contest.

The SPJ Northwest Excellence in Journalism contest is officially accepting entries today through 4:59 pm (PST) on Fri., Feb. 15, 2013. SPJ Regional Director Ian Marquand, a freelance journalist in Helena, Mont., highlights several changes to this year’s contest:

- In Alternative Weeklies, the Criticism category was renamed Critiques and Reviews.
- In the Non-Daily Newspaper category, Portrait Photography was added.
- In Magazines, News Photography was eliminated.
- In the Online category, descriptions were added for clarification. In addition, Best Site, Commentary was eliminated.
- In Radio and Television, the General Excellence category was eliminated.
- In Television, for the purpose of clarification, Spot News Reporting is now Live Breaking News Coverage and Photojournalism is now Video Photography.

In the 2011 contest, approximately 2,000 entries in 200 categories were received from around the region. A similar number is anticipated this year. In late February, entries will be submitted to out-of-state journalists for judging, due back at the end of March. Winners’ notifications will be made in mid to late April.

The Western Washington Pro and Southwestern Washington/Oregon Pro SPJ chapters will present awards to those in their respective chapters at awards banquets in Seattle and Portland on Sat., May 18. The remaining awards will be announced online that evening and presented by their respective chapter leaders.

For more information about the contest or to begin submitting entries through Omni Solutions, please visit the contest entry portal at http://reg10spjcontest.com.

For questions, please contact contest administrator Ruth Pettis at ruthpettis10@gmail.com or 206-781-8097, or SPJ Secretary/Treasurer Dana Neuts at spjdana@gmail.com or 360-920-1737, or regional director Ian Marquand at marquand.im@gmail.com or 406-529-6494.

Revised Jan. 7, 2013 (changes are noted in red) — On Jan. 7, 2013, we’ll open the call for entries in the 2012 Northwest Excellence in Journalism Contest. Here is the timeline and key dates for you to be aware of.

Jan. 7, 2013: Entry forms and instructions posted. Entries can be submitted. All entries will be submitted electronically except General Excellence awards.

Feb. 15, 2013:  Entry deadline. All entries must be submitted by 4:59 pm.  (firm deadline)

Feb. 25, 2013:  Entries to be sent electronically to our out-of-state judges.  (All judging will be done online.) Ruth to mail General Excellence hard copy entries to judges.

Mar. 25, 2013:  Judging deadline. All entries should be judged online by this date.

Apr. 22, 2013:  Winners announced via email  (names and organizations only; no places or categories will be given)

May 6, 2013:  Verbal whisper campaign, if desired, by chapters hosting banquets.

May 18, 2013: Local chapters host awards events (contact your chapter for details)

Thank you and Happy Holidays from Region 10!

Ian Marquand & Dana Neuts