As an ONPA member I always looked forward to the annual educational seminar and since becoming an officer always look forward to seeing it in my rearview mirror.
Even when you’re not doing all the work there is always a worry that something will go wrong. Convention chairman Craig Holman always makes sure that doesn’t happen and this year was no exception. Thanks also to Bill Gugliotta, Phil Long, Lisa Marie Miller, Chris Parker and Lori Cecil for their efforts with this year’s convention.
All seminars are judged by the quality of speakers and Bill Gugliotta didn’t disappoint us with this year’s lineup. It wasn’t intentional, because you never know what direction a speaker might take, but at the end of the day there was a common theme coming from the panel. A great portion of the work shown by the speakers were stories that no one else had an interest in. Photographers went out and let their pictures do the talking after their ideas were panned in planning meetings.
The weekend began on a down note, as Friday was the last day of work for those who were laid off from The Columbus Dispatch. Among those was photographer James DeCamp. We wish all these journalists nothing but the best, but will have to accept the fact that many of them will be changing careers as our industry continues to shrink.
This was the first year without a formal awards dinner and I for one didn’t miss it. My wife and I joined Fred Squillante and his wife Kris for a very fun evening at the Shadowbox theatre at Easton. It was a much-needed night of pure laughter, which we could all use a little more of these days.
The awards were presented at the end of the day’s program after a bit of a delay. This was the first year with this format and we weren’t as organized as I would have liked. In previous years we had time to prepare between the seminar and the dinner. We’ll get the bugs ironed out next year.
On the business side of things ONPA is surviving financially thanks to our annual disbursement from the estate of George S. Smallsreed Jr.. The financial markets have reduced that amount for 2009 with a 35-40% decline in the fund itself.
During the business meeting several items were brought to the table involving the year-end contests. It was suggested that it might be beneficial to move the deadline up a week for the television and multimedia contests to give contest chairs some additional time to prepare entries for judging.
There was also a suggestion from Marshall Gorby to look at splitting a few more categories based on circulation to get more participation from the smaller papers. The board will most likely take action on the contest issues and its next meeting.
Karl Kuntz from The Columbus Dispatch suggested that we might get better student participation in the organization if we took our program to them. All in attendance agreed that it would be worth the effort. Kuntz will meet with Ohio University’s Terry Eiler to see what the school’s interest in the idea might be and report back to the board.
The last item on the agenda was the nominating of officers for elections later this year. Karl Kuntz was nominated to fill the pending vacancy for chairman of the board. The remaining officers were all nominated by acclamation. Additional nominations may be made by submitting a petition signed by no less than six active members to ONPA secretary Chris Parker by August 1. Ballots will be mailed on Nov 1. Officer’s terms begin April 1, 2010.
Last week I received word from Craig Holman that next year’s convention will be April 9 and 10 once again at the Columbus Airport Marriott so while one convention may be in my rearview mirror there is another one on the horizon.
Hrm, instead of a hospitality room at the Marriott, we could all do the Court Street shuffle next year. Great idea! Go Bobcats!