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MEETINGS
Let Us Fit You for the Green Jacket
Area communicators will be honored Tuesday, June 23, when IABC Fort Worth
announces local finalists for its 2009 Bronze Quill awards. Professional
writer/storyteller Jeff Posey of Javelin Direct will emcee the golf-themed “Masters of Communicators” presentation at the Petroleum Club.
The finalists will have the opportunity to display their work and discuss
strategies used in creating the material. Two senior communicators from other
IABC chapters judged the entries and provided feedback. Does your caddy do all
of that for your game? Organizers say the competition was stronger than ever
this year and that attendees will “ooh and ahh at the shots of communication brilliance.”
Time & date: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday, June 23
Place: Petroleum Club, Jacobs/Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St., 39th floor
Cost: members $25, nonmembers $30, students $20 (online add $1)
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One Weekly at a Time: Niche Newspapers in the Age of Dwindling Dailies
Falling readership, plummeting ad sales, staff layoffs, closures — daily newspapers are hurting. But what about neighborhood weeklies, free
entertainment publications and papers that cater to special-interest groups?
Find out how some targeted print publications in the area are faring and what
the future might hold when local publishers and editors — Fort Worth Weekly publisher Lee Newquist; Wedgwood News editor Kay Pirtle; Lucie Allen, publisher/editor of Panorama de Nuevos Horizontes; and Blake Ovard, managing editor of the Star Group Newspapers — address the June PRSA meeting. David House, former Star-Telegram senior editor/ombudsman, will moderate the panel.
Visit fortworthprsa.org for more details. And get ready for Wednesday, July 8, when the meeting topic
will be “Super PR for the 2011 Super Bowl” with Tony Fay, communications director for the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee.
Time & date: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, June 10
Place: Petroleum Club, Jacobs/Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St., 39th floor
Cost: $25 members, $35 nonmembers, students $20
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Hear the New District Attorney (and Not Go to Jail when He’s Through)
District Attorney Joe Shannon Jr. will hold forth on life and the law as Fort Worth SPJ returns to familiar
territory — Joe T. Garcia’s Mexican Restaurant — for the June meeting. An expert on identity theft, Shannon has a wealth of
knowledge and an engaging way of sharing it. He is expected to touch on his
experiences with press coverage of high-profile cases, or on being the father
of journalist Kelley Shannon, or perhaps on the transition of the DA’s office to his leadership. By all accounts, that transition has gone smoothly.
Gov. Rick Perry appointed Shannon to serve the remainder of Tim Curry’s four-year term. Shannon joined Curry’s staff in 1999. Curry, who died in April of lung cancer, had held the office
for 36 years. His term expires in 2010; a primary will be held next spring.
Time & date: mingling 6 p.m., eats around 6:30, then the program Wednesday, June 17
Place: Joe T. Garcia’s Mexican Restaurant, 2201 N. Commerce St.
Cost: $15 members, $20 nonmembers, $5 students
Menu: Joe T.’s famous family-style enchilada dinner
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STRAIGHT STUFF
Organizers of an SPJ-sponsored freelancing seminar Saturday, June 6, at UTA
promise some fresh ideas on finding clients and negotiating with them, creating
a web site and handling taxes and 401(k)s. Experts will address self-marketing,
dealing with the business side, and visual and multimedia freelancing. The
seminar is open to media professionals and is free. More at spjfw.org/legacy/ec0809/frlncsmnrjun09.html. ...
Fifteen scholarships — five each from the Sid W. Richardson Foundation, The Dallas Morning News and
the sponsoring University of North Texas — are available to the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference, July 24-26 at the Hilton DFW Lakes Executive Conference Center in Grapevine.
The scholarships cover registration, meals and two nights lodging. The Sid W.
Richardson Foundation Scholarship is open to educators who work in the Fort
Worth Independent School District, while The Dallas Morning News Minority
Student Scholarship is for minority high school and college students;
applicants must be in high school, community college or a university and have
at least a 3.0 grade average, and they must attend the entire weekend of the
conference. The Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference Scholarship is open to
any student enrolled in a high school, community college or university who has
at least a 3.0 GPA. Applications deadline is July 1; winners will be notified
by July 3. More from
Sarah Whyman at sarah.whyman@unt.edu, or contact the Mayborn Graduate School of Journalism at 940-565-4564. ...
