Embassy Suites in Kennesaw says the rate for a king suite, if you mention that you’re attending an event at Kennesaw State, is $92 + tax.

Winners of the 60th annual Green Eyeshade Awards will be announced Sept. 11 at Kennesaw State University in Georgia.

Go here to purchase tickets to the banquet, get directions and download a campus map: https://epay.kennesaw.edu/C20923_ustores/web/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCTID=851

If you’ve been looking for info about the Green Eyeshades banquet, please bear with the GES folks. There’s been a delay in getting pricing and registration info up on the Kennesaw University website.

Meanwhile, here’s some info about available hotels and how to get to the banquet.

GREEN EYESHADE AWARDS BANQUET
HOTEL INFORMATION
Saturday, Sept. 11
Kennesaw State University
Kennesaw, GA

SpringHill Suites Marriott is located directly across the street from the campus at 3399 Town Point Drive, Kennesaw, GA 30144.
The university uses it routinely to house guests. (770-218-5550; $96 + tax rate if they mention KSU).

Several other hotels are located near KSU. Hotel options include:
• Best Western, 3375 Busbee Drive NW, Kennesaw (770-424-7666) $54.95 + tax
• Fairfield Inn, 3425 Busbee Drive, Kennesaw (770-427-9700) $86 + tax
• Holiday Inn Express, 2485 George Busbee Parkway, Kennesaw (770-427-5210) $94.99 + tax
• Embassy Suites, 620 Chastain Road, Kennesaw (770-420-2505) $109 + tax for a king

DIRECTONS TO CAMPUS AND THE BANQUET
Kennesaw State University is located in Cobb County, 20 minutes north of Atlanta on I-75, one exit north of Town Center Mall.
Traveling northbound on I-75: Take the Chastain Road exit (number 271), and turn left off the exit ramp onto Chastain Road. Go to the third light, and turn right onto Kennesaw State University Drive just beyond the soccer field. Continue straight approximately one tenth of a mile to the KSU Visitor Center. The gate will be up; please park in this lot.
Traveling southbound on I-75: Take the Chastain Road exit (number 271), and turn right off the exit ramp onto Chastain Road. Go to the second light, and turn right onto Kennesaw State University Drive just beyond the soccer field. Continue straight approximately one tenth of a mile to the KSU Visitor Center. The gate will be up; please park in this lot.
The Carmichael Student Center (building #5 on the map) is located directly behind the parking lot. The dinner is being held in the University Rooms located on the bottom floor in the center of the building.

If you don’t already know, the IRS has granted one-time amnesty to small nonprofits that haven’t filed required Form 990s in three years. Read up here “>http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=225702,00.html. Also good time to check on your state’s rules for keeping nonprofit status.

For those who haven’t heard, a Tenn. legislator is trying to get an AP photog’s press credentials revoked because the photog had the audacity to take pictures when the speaker of the house collapsed at the lectern. Legislators as a group shouted angrily at the photog to stop doing his job. While concern for their colleague is understandable, their actions are not, especially the attempt to revoke credentials. Check it out here: http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2010/lawmakers-move-to-strip-statehouse-reporter-of-press-pass-for-taking-pictures/

Thanks to Scott Rosenberg over at WordYard for a strong oration on protecting acts of journalism and foregoing trying to define “journalist.”

Check it out: www.wordyard.com

Louisiana State University student journalists dominated this year’s Region 12 Mark of Excellence Awards, with 11 first-place certificates and a total of 20.

The awards were presented Saturday, April 10, during the Region 12 Spring Conference in Knoxville, Tenn.

Students and schools from throughout the region — Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee — submitted 207 entries in this year’s competition, which recognized work produced in 2009.

You can find the complete list of winners at http://spj.org/news.asp?ref=964

Congratulations to all the winners.

Student journalists at colleges and universities in Region 12 will be recognized during the Spring Conference in Knoxville April 9-10 as winners of this year’s Mark of Excellence Awards.

The Mark of Excellence honors outstanding student journalism throughout each of SPJ’s 12 regions. First-place winners at the regional level go on to compete for national Mark of Excellence Awards.

Attached is a spreadsheet of the Region 12 MOE winners. Where they placed will be announced at the MOE luncheon in Knoxville next month.
REG 12 MOE WINNERS 09

Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page, winner of the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, is coming to the University of Memphis on March 25 as the featured speaker for the annual Freedom of Information Congress, which is sponsored by the U of M’s J-school and student SPJ chapter. Read the attached press release for more info.
News release on FOI

I pay a lot of attention in my day job to what’s happening in the changing news ecosystem, as some call it. Jan Schaffer, executive director of J-Lab, is one of the people I pay attention to. Her outfit funds new journalism startups, a lot of them so-called “citizen journalism” efforts. She’s dropped that term in favor of a new one — new media makers. Anyway, when she speaks, I try to listen. Here’s a link to a USC Annenberg story about a speech she gave there recently: http://www.annenberg.usc.edu/News%20and%20Events/News/100224Schaffer_Post.aspx

I encourage you to click on the link at the bottom of the story to her full prepared remarks. You’ll be enlightened and provoked.