NewsBreak November 2011 - Vol. 23, No. 2

In This Issue:

• Beth Miller Named NFPW’s 2011 National Communicator of Achievement –
  And P.S., DPA Rocks!

• DPA Delivers! Explore What’s in Store for November, December, January

• DPA President’s Corner – Reporting on Our August Apocalypse

• Taming the Chaos: Accessing Public Records in a Digital Age

• Fireworks of Freedom Sent Aloft in September – Did You Celebrate?

• Don't Miss a Minute! Membership Renewal Notices Coming Soon

• Report from the Blog Bureau: Rich Barnett – "Why I Blog" and
  “Thinking About Steve Jobs”

• DPA Media Mavens & Mavericks

• Calendar of Events
   

Beth Miller Named 2011 National Communicator of Achievement

And P.S., DPA Rocks!

by Katherine Ward

Five members of Delaware Press Association – Suki Eleuterio, Roxane Ferguson, Karen Galanaugh, Beth Miller and Katherine Ward – flew to Council Bluffs, Iowa, on the recently flooded banks of the Missouri River, to represent our affiliate at the 2011 NFPW “Plains Speaking” Communications Conference, hosted by Iowa Press Women and Nebraska Press Women, September 8–10 . . . and came home with awards galore!

In a conference packed with many outstanding elements – expert speakers and timely workshops on a variety of topics, lots of longtime press colleagues from across the US with whom to renew our bonds of friendship, exciting tours to historic sites and other places of local interest – there is no doubt that, for us in DPA, the crowning moment of this year’s conference came on Friday evening when Pat Ryder, of the Pennsylvania Press Club, announced: “The 2011 NFPW Communicator of Achievement is . . . Beth Miller of Delaware!” The COA award is the highest honor NFPW bestows on its members, and Beth, an award-winning reporter for The News Journal, was loudly acclaimed as the recipient of that honor.

In an acceptance speech that lasted a mere six or seven minutes, Beth wowed the audience with her easy humor and her down-to-earth manner, above which soared her eloquent words, imbued with the fierce passion she has for her job as a journalist and the gratitude she feels for the trust people place in her and her colleagues to tell their stories fairly and with accuracy. She expressed appreciation for her colleagues, including those who came before and blazed trails, and for readers who listen and who care about journalism, about their communities and about the larger world around them. For many, Beth’s stirring message was an emotional and memorable highlight.

Beth was interviewed by outgoing NFPW president Cynthia Price, of Virginia Press Women, while still at conference. Click here to see the video interview with Beth and to read the press release about her top COA award posted on the NFPW website.

Beth was interviewed by DPA member Allan Loudell, host of Delaware News at Noon, 1150-AM WDEL, when she returned home. And a few days later, DPA colleague Mellany Armstrong, also of WDEL, interviewed Beth.

• Listen to Allan’s interview with Beth on 9/15/11.

• Listen to Mellany’s interview with Beth on 9/22/11.

Other Conference Highlights

One evening we went to a reception and dinner – held in honor of all of the affiliate COAs attending the conference – at the beautiful Art Deco Union Pacific train station in Omaha, Nebraska. Although the trains – carrying 10,000 people a day – stopped running through the station in the early 1970s, the building, now known as the Durham Museum, has been carefully restored, and in addition to extensive displays about the history of Omaha, there are some magnificent railroad cars and engines on the tracks on the lower level of the station.

Each day we heard from top-flight speakers on interesting and important topics. To commemorate the 9/11 anniversary, Thomas Gouttierre, dean of International Studies and Programs and director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, spoke from personal experience about the current situation in Afghanistan and examined possible future prospects for the beleaguered country. Matt Waite, a Pulitzer Prize winner for his work to create the hugely popular politifact.com website – the Internet site to visit to find the truth in American politics – said that because of the thorough fact checking he and his colleagues at the St. Petersburg Times, an independent, nonpartisan news organization, do before posting anything on the much-visited site, people are being somewhat more careful about what they say in public.

We also heard from Alex Kava, New York Times bestselling-author of psychological thrillers, from the hilarious HBO Comedy regular Juli Burney who emphasizes using humor to get your point across, and from a number of news technologists who gave workshops on social media, convergence and the ins and outs of using mobile devices to provide news and information in a world becoming ever more dependent on mobile media.

Other areas of interest encompassed a look at technical writing, how to establish a niche publication, entrepreneurship, creating effective marketing plans, how to write children’s books that will make kids want to turn off the TV, and much more.

DPA Rocks!

As the conference drew to a close on Saturday evening, the DPA contingent was on a high from the stimulating presentations and panel discussions we’d heard, from hangin’ out with old friends we count on seeing at conference every year, and especially from Beth Miller’s having been named the national COA. But we weren’t done yet! When the contest awards were given out, Beth, Suki and Roxane each went to the podium to receive national first-place awards for their outstanding work: Beth for “Heartbreak in Haiti,” the special series she wrote for The News Journal; Suki for a feature story, “Lost Boy Finds Home,” published in WilmU Magazine; and Roxane for “2010 Sponsorship/Advertising Opportunities,“ a one- to three-color brochure she produced for the Southern Chester County Chamber of Commerce. And weren’t we proud when the individual sweepstakes were announced, and Andrea Boyle of UD’s Office of Communications & Marketing received the third-place award and $100! And prouder yet when the affiliate sweeps awards were announced, and – yes! – Delaware Press Association received the first prize and $100. I was happy to collect the certificates and prize money on behalf of Andrea and DPA.

If you’ve never attended an NFPW conference or haven’t been to one recently, please consider going next year, when we’ll meet in Scottsdale, Arizona, for professional development, great national networking, some intriguing tours around the 49th state (which will be celebrating 100 years of statehood in 2012) and a lot of fun.

Katherine Ward is DPA’s Executive Director. Contact Katherine at delawarepress@aol.com.
Contact Suki Eleuterio at suki.r.eleuterio@wilmu.edu.
Contact Roxane Ferguson at roxaneferguson@verizon.net.
Contact Karen Galanaugh at kareng@galanaugh.com.
Contact Beth Miller at bmiller@delawareonline.com.

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DPA Delivers!

Explore What’s in Store for November, December, January

Nov.	“Taming the Chaos – Freedom of Information in a Digital Age: The Current FOI Landscape” 6:30 p.m. social gathering and light refreshments. 7 p.m. program followed by Q&A. Monday, November 14. Hosted by DPA, DelCOG and League of Women Voters of Delaware. This program is partly funded by a grant from the Delaware Humanities Forum, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities. FREE and open to the public. Ken Bunting, executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition, will explore how the ability to share public information electronically in a modern digital age affects access to open government and open records. He also will focus on increasing costs to access public records in Delaware, general weaknesses in Delaware’s Freedom of Information Act, state lobbying law reforms and more. (Read “Taming the Chaos: Accessing Public Records in a Digital Age” for full details.) Directions to the UD Goodstay Center, 2600 Pennsylvania Ave., Wilmington. Head north on Route 52 (Pennsylvania Avenue) from Wilmington for approximately one and a half miles. Turn left onto UD’s Wilmington campus at the first light after the light at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue (Route 52) and Greenhill Avenue. Heading south on Route 52 from Pennsylvania, pass the Greenville Shopping Center on the left, cross Route 141 and continue for 1/4 mile. Look for the UD sign on the right by Tower Hill School pedestrian overpass. Turn right at the traffic light onto the Wilmington campus. The Goodstay Center is the first building on the left. Ample free parking on site. Register: To ensure adequate seating, please click here to register for the event.
Dec.	DPA Holiday Luncheon, presentation of 2012 DPA COA, DPA authors book sale and signing. 11:30 a.m. social hour, book sale, cash bar. 12:30 p.m. lunch, speaker, COA presentation. Saturday, December 10. Cost: $35. Charles Elson, director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, is a leading authority on corporate governance issues such as executive compensation, corporate compliance, securities regulation, corporate legal matters and Delaware issues. He will talk about taming the chaos when economics and politics mix. Beth Miller, the 2011 NFPW and DPA Communicator of Achievement, will present the DPA COA for 2012. Beth is a reporter for The News Journal, in Wilmington. Directions to Deerfield Golf & Tennis Club, 507 Thompson Station Road, Newark. Click here for a map and detailed directions Note: Once you’ve turned onto Possum Park Road, continue straight for approximately 2 miles (crossing Paper Mill Road). At the Bank of America Building, Possum Park becomes Thompson Station Road. Once you've crossed Paper Mill Road, the entrance to Deerfield Golf & Tennis Club will be about a half mile straight ahead down Thompson Station Road. You will see the entrance to White Clay Creek State Park on your right immediately before the entrance to Deerfield on the left. Large parking lot by clubhouse. Register:                        – Make a Reservation –
Jan.	2012 DPA Communications Contest The annual DPA Communications Contest, open to all professional communicators in Delaware, is judged by out-of-state communications professionals to ensure impartiality. The contest provides an opportunity to compete in various print or electronic broadcasting fields. All contest winners are honored at the DPA Contest Awards Banquet each spring. First-place winners who are members of the National Federation of Press Women (NFPW) may enter the national competition. Enter: Click this link for access to all contest information, including categories, fees, forms, eligibility and more: DPA Contest Rules. Postmark Deadlines: Tuesday, January 10 – Books/Fiction/Verse                                    Tuesday, January 17 – All other entries

For questions or for more information about the programs or the contest, call
302-655-2175 or email delawarepress@aol.com.

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DPA President’s Corner: Reporting on Our August Apocalypse

Responsible Coverage or Endless Hype and Fear Mongering?

by Mark Fowser

The usual slow news month of August certainly did not turn out that way here in 2011. Let’s recap, shall we?

August 9 – The skies darkened over Delaware during the midday hours followed by torrential downpours and strong, gusty thunderstorms. Straight-line winds or what appeared to many to be small tornados blew through New Castle County.

August 14 – The soggy Sunday. Flooding and day-long downpours dumped a half foot of rainfall on the region. The worst of it was felt across the Delaware River in southern New Jersey where lakes breached their dams, roads were washed out and homes in low-lying areas were flooded.

August 18 – Around the dinner hour, massive thunderstorms and some of the most vivid lightning I’ve ever seen swept through the area.

August 19 – A repeat of the previous day, with the addition of a toxic spill that closed I-95 near the Philadelphia International Airport.

August 23 – Settling in for an afternoon of news-and-traffic reporting on the 10th floor of a Philadelphia office building, I felt shaking and heard a metallic grinding sound. People burst out of their offices and studios. Our building never was evacuated, but many others were, and mass transit and operations at the airport ground to a halt. The Virginia earthquake turned yet another lazy summer day into commotion.

August 25 – Preparations for the arrival of Hurricane Irene. Jersey shore towns, even an entire county, were evacuated under orders from Governor Chris Christie. Here in Delaware, vacationers also began leaving the beaches, and people in low-lying areas got ready.

August 26 – Massive traffic jams on Route One northbound as cars, campers and SUVs made their way out of the resorts.

August 27–28 – Irene arrived, bringing even more rain, accompanied by gusting winds. Some people were without power for several days. Some of the worst flooding, however, was not caused by Irene but by the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee several days later.

Local and national coverage of these events again generated praise and criticism. The earthquake coverage was non-stop for many hours. From what I could observe while I was in the midst of traffic-and-news reporting, the uncertainty of the afternoon justified staying on the air with wall-to-wall coverage. Buildings and mass-transit systems were being inspected for possible damage, major employers were dismissing their workers for the day and rush-hour began hours earlier than usual.

But an interview with a psychologist on “how to explain the earthquake to your kids”? That was a little bit over the top.

Weekend coverage of the hurricane lasted more than 24 hours straight on some affiliates. On the Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey beaches and near the streams and rivers, reporters donned their hip boots . . . and told us to stay away from the water.

I began to notice parallel criticisms of the media coverage and the response of public officials to these incidents. News outlets were accused of overreacting. Government leaders were accused of ordering unnecessary evacuations and causing needless disruption.

Although the winds of Hurricane Irene were not as high or as damaging as had been predicted, here are some of the outcomes from the four horsemen of our August apocalypse – tornados, earthquake, hurricane and floods: 40,000 Delawareans without power, some for nearly a week; dozens of homes destroyed, some during a tornado in Sussex County; 100,000 or more vacationers and residents evacuated from the beaches and low-lying areas, some of whom spent a night or more in a Red Cross shelter; and damage to homes and businesses that’s still being counted (Governor Markell has requested federal disaster assistance). Thankfully, there was no quake damage in Delaware, but try to imagine being inside the Washington Monument as it shook, or under a Philadelphia office building as the glass shattered.

What do you think? Was the extensive coverage a legitimate and necessary public service, or was it endless hype and fear mongering?

And, what would you rather have watched?

Mark Fowser, President of Delaware Press Association, is affiliated with WHYY 90.9 FM, its website newsworks.org, Delaware First Media (www.delawarefirst.org), and 1150 AM WDEL and wdel.com. He is also heard doing radio traffic and news on stations in Philadelphia. Contact Mark at 302-322-7873 or mafowser@hotmail.com.

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Taming the Chaos: Accessing Public Records in a Digital Age

Veteran Journalist / NFOIC Executive Director to Focus on Open Government Issues

by Mary Allen

Have you ever wondered why, in this digital age, Delaware government agencies make you pay for printed copies of public records? Or why you have to visit an agency in person to look up information, when it easily could be searchable online – saving you the hassle of pumping expensive gas into your vehicle, driving to the agency and then paying to park and all of this during business hours, when you are supposed to be at work yourself? Did you ever think that in this digital age, searching for public information should just be . . . easier?

Have you ever wondered if Delaware is behind the times in comparison to other states when it comes to accessing public records online versus on paper?

Answers are coming! The Delaware Coalition for Open Government, in partnership with Delaware Press Association and the Delaware League of Women Voters, is presenting an evening with a national open-records proponent who will discuss how to share public information electronically in a modern digital age.

In this “We the People” program, Ken Bunting, the executive director of the Missouri-based National Freedom of Information Coalition, will explore how the unrestricted free flow of information serves as a cornerstone of democracy and how we’re measuring up regarding freedom of information and open government at the national level. He also will focus on open government issues in Delaware, including the increasing costs to access public records, general weaknesses in Delaware’s Freedom of Information Act, state lobbying law reforms and access issues involving state courts.

Join us Nov. 14 when Bunting speaks at the historic Goodstay Center on the Wilmington campus of the University of Delaware, 2600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Bunting’s program, “Freedom of Information in a Digital Age: The Current FOI Landscape,” which is FREE and open to the public, will run from 7 to 9 p.m. A reception with light refreshments will begin at 6:30 p.m. Ample free, on-site parking is available.

Bunting is a former Pulitzer Prize judge and former associate publisher and executive editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. He oversaw its responses and strategy on legal matters involving the newspaper and its staff, including copyrights, trademarks and litigation as well as First Amendment and access issues. During his tenure as ranking editor, the newspaper and staff won more regional and national awards – including two Pulitzer Prizes – than at any time in its history.

He joined the National Freedom of Information Coalition as its executive director in July 2010. The coalition is a nonpartisan national network of state freedom of information advocates, citizen-driven nonprofit freedom of information organizations, academic and First Amendment centers, journalistic societies, and attorneys. It works to foster government transparency at state and local levels. Bunting is based at the Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia, Mo. Visit the NFOIC website at nfoic.org.

DelCOG President John Flaherty says: “We live in a digital age that presents Delaware with myriad opportunities for sharing public information cheaply and remotely through simple computer keystrokes. Mr. Bunting offers a unique national perspective on how other states are taking advantage of these opportunities. I look forward to hearing how Delaware stacks up and his thoughts on how we might improve.”

Click here for more information about this event, for directions to the Goodstay Center and to register. Plan to be there, and bring a friend. Although the program is free, please let us know how many will be attending so that there will be enough seating. DelCOG will live tweet from the event. Follow the organization @delcog.

This program is part of an ongoing series of “We the People” events and is partly funded by a grant from the Delaware Humanities Forum, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit the DHF website at dhf.org.

See you at Goodstay on the 14th!

DPA member Mary Allen is the public relations officer for Widener University School of Law and the DelCOG public relations director. For more information about the program, contact Mary at ctownmary@yahoo.com.

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Fireworks of Freedom Sent Aloft in September 

Did You Celebrate?

by Tara Lynn Johnson, First Amendment Network (FAN) Liaison to NFPW  

September 17 was Constitution Day, commemorating the day in 1787 the delegates to the Constitutional Convention met to sign the document they had created.

Did you celebrate?

Did you go to the church of your choice, knowing the government couldn’t keep you from doing so?

Did you protest?

Did you publish your opinion on something?

These are just a few of the many “fireworks” of freedom that we enjoy.

My hope is that Constitution Day becomes a big, patriotic holiday like July 4. The Constitution provides the framework of our independence and defines what it means to be American. Unfortunately, some U.S. citizens wouldn’t notice a “holiday” that doesn’t provide a day off from work and a 50-percent-off sale at their favorite retailer.

In 2004, to ensure that students would be reminded yearly about our Constitution, Congress mandated the observance at all publicly funded educational institutions that year. The National Constitution Center held events in Philadelphia – the birthplace of liberty – and the First Amendment Center (FAC) in Washington offered lesson plans for teachers.

Watch the video “Constitution Hall Pass: Freedom of Expression” on the National Constitution Center’s website. Introduced by former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, and viewed by more that a million people, it gives a brief overview of the Constitution – the document that shapes how we live our lives and guarantees the many freedoms we enjoy – how it came to be written, passed, ratified and amended.

Though this year’s celebration may have been overshadowed by the appropriate and emotional commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Gene Policinski, senior vice-president/executive director of FAC – which has offices at Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, and at the Newseum, in Washington, D.C. – believes that Constitution Day is just as important.

While 9/11 terrorists “targeted buildings and people, it was the Constitution and Bill of Rights that they really aimed for,” he says with chilling clarity. In his commentary, “Constitution Day: Education for Life,” Policinski discusses this opportunity “to commemorate, celebrate and join with our fellow citizens in remembrance and understanding.”

He reviews the history, discusses how 9/11 has produced (in some minds) a “great and ironic assault on individual liberty,” and reminds us how the document lives and breathes, changes with time, culture and society.

Read Policinski’s column “Constitution Day: Education for Life”

I don’t know about you, but I’m marking my calendar for next year. I don’t want to miss an official opportunity to celebrate the freedoms that the Constitution provides (even if I have to work and pay full price for my sheets).

Tara Lynn Johnson is a freelance writer in Pennsylvania (who called Delaware home for more than five years). Tara holds a paralegal certificate from Villanova University and continues to be interested in legal issues, including the interpretation of the living, breathing First Amendment and Constitution. Contact Tara at info@taralynnjohnson.com.

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Don't Miss a Minute! Membership Renewal Notices Coming Soon

by Allison Taylor Levine, APR

For a professional organization to build and sustain a strong membership, it must offer excellent programming and opportunities for professional development and networking. I'm happy to say that DPA must be doing something right, because our 2011 membership is among the strongest it ever has been: more than 150 members!

Thank you all for being a part of DPA this year. While we are already looking ahead to a great 2012, we still have a thought-provoking November program to look forward to – “Freedom of Information in a Digital Age: The Current FOI Landscape" with Ken Bunting, the executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition – and our annual Holiday Luncheon and Communicator of Achievement award presentation, with Charles Elson, the corporate governance guru at UD, as keynote speaker: “Taming the Chaos: When Politics and Economics Mix in Delaware.” (See “DPA Delivers!" for a quick sketch of each event and links to make your reservations.)

Membership renewal notices will be issued in November and must be paid by March 31, 2012. Members who have not paid 2012 dues as of April 1, 2012, will be removed from the membership directory.

As in years past, DPA membership remains a steal at just $20 per year. For that $20, you have access to:

• A statewide network of professional journalists and communicators for the exchange of information, ideas and experience.

• Seminars, workshops and meetings featuring speakers on a variety of professional issues.

• Opportunity for evaluation and professional recognition through:

  • A prestigious annual communications contest. Winners are honored at an annual awards banquet. Those who receive first-place awards and also are members of NFPW are eligible for NFPW’s national competition.

  • The Communicator of Achievement award. The winner of the COA award, DPA’s highest honor, is presented at the annual Holiday Luncheon in December and competes for the national COA award.

• Student projects with high school journalists.

• The DPA quarterly newsletter, NewsBreak.

• The DPA Membership Directory.

For an additional $74, you can join our parent organization, the National Federation of Press Women, and enjoy the benefit of greater exposure to professional development as well as access to broader networking opportunities.

If you'd like to go ahead and renew your membership through 2012, please click one of the links below:

– Get DPA Membership Form to Join or Renew and Pay by CHECK –

– Make DPA Membership Payment Online with CREDIT CARD –

– NFPW / DPA Dual Membership Form –

Be sure to contact me if you’re not sure of your membership status, if you need username and password info to access the directory or if you need help with any other membership-related issue.

Allison Taylor Levine, Director of Communications at Delaware Community Foundation, is DPA’s Membership Director.  For membership information, contact Allison at aljay89@yahoo.com or 302-345-0589.

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Report from the Blog Bureau

“Report from the Blog Bureau” highlights the media-related blogs of DPA members. If you write a blog — or are aware of another DPA member's blog — on some aspect of the field of communications, let us know. We will continue adding members' blogs to the list, and some of them — with the author’s permission, of course — will be featured in this column in future issues of NewsBreak.

Rich Barnett — His Philosophy: “Why I Blog”

I began blogging eight years ago, not because I felt compelled to share brilliant thoughts with the world, but because I needed some strong motivation to force myself to write on a regular basis. Successful writers are successful because they write. They put in the time to perfect their craft. They don’t write just when the mood strikes, which has always been my lazy inclination.

Over the years, I’ve tried all the tricks. Sitting down and writing for exactly one hour each morning before work didn’t work. When I committed to writing one thousand words a day, I’d stop after a couple hundred. Writing workshops and leather notebooks from Bergdorf-Goodman in New York became expensive habits. Drinking Kentucky bourbon was fun and the words certainly flowed, but the hangovers were too debilitating. Nothing motivated me to write on a regular basis until I began blogging.

Flash back to 2003. While most Americans were consumed with the impending war with Iraq, I stumbled upon a new open source writing tool and publishing platform called Blogger. Write. Post. Publish. No HTML programming required. All of a sudden, I noticed that blogs and bloggers were popping up everywhere.

And once I began, rather than staring at a bunch of uninspiring Word files on my computer, I was looking at my words published elegantly on the Web. Instant gratification. As an incentive to write, it worked. Two years later, I began my column.

I blog in order to explore fresh ideas and to try out new techniques. Putting words out for the world to see not only builds my confidence as a writer, but pushes me out of my comfort zone. I blog because I still need motivation. Deep down I remain a lazy writer.

Rich Barnett — His Blog: The Go Cup

Monday, October 10, 2011

“Thinking About Steve Jobs”

Like millions of other Americans, I heard that Apple founder Steve Jobs had died, not from a TV or radio report but via an email received on my iPhone. In the days following his death, I learned a lot about this visionary and talented man, but the one thing that caught my attention was his study of calligraphy at Reed College in Oregon. A decade later when he was designing the first Macintosh computer, he made sure to incorporate good typography into the product. It’s been an Apple staple since.

I understand his fascination with calligraphy and the art of writing. I mastered block letters then Palmer Method cursive at an early age. While other elementary school kids gripped fat green and red pencils, yours truly was already using a slim yellow Ticonderoga. . . .

Read the rest of “Thinking About Steve Jobs” for more of Rich’s insightful but good-humored ruminations on the meanings of “writer” and “writing” in our increasingly high-tech world.

Rich Barnett — His Bio

Born in Miami and raised in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Rich shuttles between his work in Washington, DC, and his cottage in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

In Washington, Rich directs special fundraising events and communications projects for the World Resources Institute, an environmental think tank. In Rehoboth, he writes the popular “Camp Stories” column in Letters from Camp Rehoboth (a free, monthly magazine with a circulation of about 7,000) and is co-author of "Rehomo Beach,” a mobile travel guide to Gay Rehoboth, published especially for the Apple iPhone and iPad, and featured in the April 2011 DPA NewsBreak. His short story, “Crimes Against Nature,” was published in No Place Like Here: An Anthology of Southern Delaware Poetry & Prose. (For information on this book and how to get a copy, see blurb in the Media Mavens column under the name of the anthology’s editor, Billie Travalini.)

Rich won First Place in the “Photographer-Writer” category of the 2011 DPA Communications Contest for his September 17, 2010, column and photo, “A Storm Named Earl,” originally published in Letters from Camp Rehoboth and since re-posted on Rich’s blog, The Go Cup. His May 19, 2010, blog entry, “Desperately Seeking Sorrel,” also was recognized in the 2011 DPA contest. Rich’s blog is a collection of stories, photos, and observations focused mainly on Rehoboth. “Through it,” he says, “I explore food, drinking, gardening, travel, art, history, nature and whatever else crosses my mind. All with a shot of humor and a dash of irreverence.”
Contact Rich Barnett at richbarnett@mac.com.

DPA Bloggers (let us know if your blog is not listed here)

Rich Barnett: The Go-Cup: Stories, Photos and Observations
Jim Charles: Delaware Girls Basketball
Tara Lynn Johnson: Freelancing Blog
Allan Krakower: WILM Personality Page
Allan Loudell: Eclectic Hobbies - WDEL
Allan Loudell: WDEL Blog
Jenny Shields: Wilmington Arts & Entertainment News
Jenny Shields: Wilmington Cyber Diva
Crabmeat Thompson: Crabmeat is Brain Food
Lydia Timmins: From Newsroom to Classroom (must be RTDNA member to access other RTDNA posts)
Ann Marie van den Hurk: Ann-Sense

Send your blog link recommendations to: news@delawarepressassociation.org.

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DPA Media Mavens & Mavericks

. . . is a column about our members’ personal and professional achievements. Names of new DPA members featured in this column are starred.

Please send any information about your honors, achievements and awards to news@delawarepressassociation.org by the 1st of any month for publication in the next issue.

DPA members featured in this issue:

• Lee Anderson
• Mellany Armstrong / Chris Carl / Amy Cherry / Allan Loudell
• Howard Berlin
• Jim Charles *
• Mary Leah Christmas
• Karen Galanaugh / Katherine Ward
• Lynn Glaze
• Fay Jacobs
• Maria Keane / Sandra Michel
• Allison Taylor Levine
• Lynn Maniscalco
• Annie Nefosky
• Mary Pauer / Billie Travalini
• Lydia Reeves Timmins / John Mussoni
• Billie Travalini / Sue Towers * and a cast of thousands

• Licensed psychologist Lee Anderson and the Friends of Historic Riverview Cemetery have continued to keep a loyal corps of volunteers busy with various restoration and beautification projects at Riverview Cemetery on the second Saturday of each month. On Mother’s Day weekend 2010, Lee says, “a number of the volunteers helped find the missing marker of baby Tommy Lyness in the baby graves section of the old burial ground. The idea of creating a perennial garden there was born on that day. This past spring, led by Judy Kane, flowers from grave sites were recycled and planted there by volunteers who also brought jugs of water to keep the plants alive during the summer drought. Kate Wilhere assisted Judy with more plantings, a slate walkway through the garden, weeding and watering in between clean up days.”

When entered in the Green Space Challenge category in the July 2011 Wilmington City Garden Contest – sponsored by the Neighborhood Planning Council and the Delaware Center for Horticulture – the new perennial garden was awarded first place and $250 for transforming that long-neglected section of the cemetery.

Lee says in August and September, her volunteers pruned shrubs, cut low tree branches and removed vines from the fence along 31st Street. They also had Critter Control humanely trap groundhogs that were digging a maze of holes and tunnels that created a potential hazard to volunteers, visitors and gravesites.

And, Lee adds, “We continue our quest to identify and document each and every veteran interred in Riverview Cemetery. In addition to creating a memorial page on Find A Grave (www.findagrave.com) for each of these individuals, we have created a Veterans’ Database that can be viewed at our website – www.riverviewcem.com.”

Lee and FHRC put their faith in a volunteer and partnership model to engage in their heroic effort to operate, maintain, restore and preserve the beloved city cemetery and bring it back to life after many years of sore neglect. With the help of the local press to tell their dramatic story, they have been successful beyond all expectations.

Everyone is welcome to volunteer or to become a member of FHRC. Membership income is used solely for cemetery projects, and there are no paid employees.
For more information or to join, contact FHRC founder and president Lee Anderson at drleeanderson@aol.com.

• In early September, DPA members Mellany Armstrong, Chris Carl, Amy Cherry and Allan Loudell all played integral roles in 1150-AM WDEL’s two-day, 24-hour “Help Our Kids Radiothon.” Chris says, “WDEL and four of our Delmarva Broadcasting Company sister stations broadcast live from the A. I. duPont Hospital for Children, in Wilmington – raising more than $102,000 for the hospital.”

Chris says that when the Associated Press Managing Editors opened its membership to broadcast outlets, journalism educators and top students in August, he became one of the first broadcasters (and the first in Delaware) to be accepted. According to Jack Lail, APME works closely with the AP “to foster journalism excellence and to support a national network for the training and development of editors who run multimedia newsrooms.” APME president, Hollis R. Towns said, “The convergence of print, video and digital has increased rapidly in recent years, and so adding broadcasters was a natural fit.” Read more about the newly restructured APME association.
Contact Mellany Armstrong at marmstrong@wdel.com.
Contact Chris Carl at ccarl@wdel.com.
Contact Amy Cherry at acherry@wdel.com.
Contact Allan Loudell at aloukdell@wdel.com.

• In September, Howard Berlin returned from travels to Brussels, Amsterdam and Cologne where, he says, “I was gathering material for my forthcoming book, The Numismatourist™: The Only World-Wide Travel Guide to Museums, Mints, and Other Places of Interest for the Numismatist.” This will be Howard’s 32nd book and his first travel guide book to be published by Zyrus Press of Irvine, California. He adds: “I also recently was made a member of the Authors Guild. This trip adds to the 7 other countries (Italy, San Marino, Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, Austria and Israel) I visited this year.”
Contact Howard Berlin at w3hb@yahoo.com.

Dr. Howard M. Berlin, W3HB
5-string bluegrass banjo & guitar player
You can tune a banjo but you cannot tuna fish
unless you adjust the scales first
 

• In 2005, Jim Charles, a secretary in St. Anthony’s parish by day, started and is the primary writer for the website DelawareGirlsBasketball.com. In 1994, he began coaching local girls basketball and since then, he says, “I’ve had the good fortune to have had two championship teams, one in Catholic Youth Ministry and the other in Stormin' Norman's league. In 2005, I founded and was first president of the Wilmington Tigers AAU Girls Basketball Club. That organization is now the first- or second-largest such club in Delaware. All along,” he adds, “I have been motivated to try, as best I can, to present local girls hoops in a way that would make it more 'Hollywood' – that would make the girls feel that what they were doing was important and that their efforts were being recognized. In short, I encourage the girls to think of themselves and their accomplishments as being no less valuable than their male counterparts' achievements. This fall, I am going back to coaching – the first time since 2005. I'm excited and am looking forward to being involved in the fortunes of a team again instead of just writing about the subject.”

As for the website, Jim says, “From humble beginnings, the website rose to a level of popularity that I never thought possible. The site has been visited by people from 66 countries. Visitors from 44 of the 50 states of our union have dropped by, including 22,261 Delawareans - nearly 2.5% of the total state and more than 250 per day from the end of the high school basketball season through the playoffs. The website is referred to on other high-profile places on the Web, including official college and university sites.

Jim says more about DelawareGirlsBasketball.com can be found at this link:
http://www.delawaregirlsbasketball.com/2011/dgb-report.pdf
Contact Jim Charles at jcharles@stanthonynet.org.

• In August, former DPA NewsBreak editor Mary Leah Christmas had the honor of meeting Gladys Caines Coggswell, editor/compiler of Stories from the Heart: Missouri's African American Heritage (University of Missouri Press, 2009). “I learned about the book during a June 2011 visit to Hannibal, Mo.,” Mary Leah says, “just in time to be able to review it for the Mark Twain Forum prior to the inaugural Mark Twain’s Hannibal: The Clemens Conference in August. The international conference was hosted by the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum, and the program featured Coggswell's dramatic, solo performance of Mark Twain’s 'A True Story, Repeated Word for Word Exactly as I Heard It,' a harrowing, real-life account of slavery, hardship, loss . . . and hope.

“During the conference, a film crew was in attendance to shoot footage for a biographical documentary about Hal Holbrook entitled, 'Holbrook/Twain: An American Odyssey.' Holbrook himself had been tentatively scheduled as a keynote speaker, but the venerable, 86-year-old actor was ultimately unable to attend. However, the crew was present throughout the event and documented many of the conference activities.” Judging by the current production schedule, as described by the filmmakers, it will be another year or two before DPA members will have the fun of trying to spot Mary Leah and her husband, Don, in any of the Hannibal scenes.

In her further Midwestern adventures, yes, that’s Mary Leah at the helm of the Mark Twain Riverboat, heading up the Mississippi River just south of Jackson’s Island (of Tom Sawyer fame), on the evening of August 13, 2011. Mary Leah quips, “I passed my ‘cub pilot’ initiation with flying colors, having not run aground on any sandbars, hit any channel markers, or clipped any barges during my well-supervised, few moments at the wheel.”

Contact Mary Leah Christmas at lexetlibris@yahoo.com.

• Karen Galanaugh and Katherine Ward have just returned from a whirlwind trip to China, land of ancient dynasties, jade, silk, pearls . . . and modern technology. From the awe-inspiring, iconic Great Wall to the vast Tian'anmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, and from the canals, the street market and gardens of Suzhou to the tea plantations of Hangzhou and the rip-roarin' MagLev train (whipping along at 268 mph) and fantastic skyscrapers of Shanghai, it was a great adventure – made possible by the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce.

Karen and Katherine agree that you may be interested in this sidelight: On the morning of October 21, when the news of Moammar Gadhafi's death was announced, all of the hundreds of television sets in their hotel suddenly stopped working, and, for some hours, news from many online news sources was blocked. Their guide in Shanghai, who spoke of the hardships his family suffered during Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution, was not to be deterred. He pulled out his iPad and began searching until he came up with some information.

A few days earlier, the guide in Beijing had volunteered that, for nine days, people in China didn’t know about the government crackdown on the 1989 protests and demonstrations, largely led by students and intellectuals in Tian’anmen Square, and the death of hundreds of civilians protesting outside the city and across the country when tanks and troops using live fire put a stop to the agitation for economic reform and liberalization. When the news broke, the people were told that the rioters were simply some troublemakers that the government had taken care of on their behalf.

Today, communications devices of all sorts (and cameras, of course) were to be seen in the hands of citizens everywhere.
Contact Karen Galanaugh at kareng@galanaugh.com.
Contact Katherine Ward at KatWard1@aol.com.

• Lynn Glaze has mined her family history for interesting tales she has turned into adventure stories for young adolescents. Her first book was Seasons of the Trail, a middle grade historical novel based on the journey of her great-grandmother, Lucy Scott, age 14, from Missouri to California in a covered wagon in 1860.

Lynn writes, “My latest book, Samuel Sails ’Round the Horn, is another historical novel for the middle grades based on my great-great-grandfather’s voyage in a square-rigged barque from Newburyport, Mass., to San Francisco in 1850.

It is the story of a teenage boy, Samuel Nelson, who runs away from home in the middle of the night and sails to California to look for gold in 1850. The book is $15 on Amazon with the color pictures and $10 on Kindle with black and white pictures.
Contact Lynn Glaze at harrylynnglaze@comcast.net.

• The stars aligned as summer drew to a close, and the week of September 20 became a whirlwind for Fay Jacobs, writer/publisher, of A & M Books. The celebration of the military’s lifting of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy coincided with her release of Out of Step by Milton resident J. Lee Watton, a memoir about 5 Navy WAVES accused of being lesbians and kicked out of the military in 1965. With a foreword by Col. Grethe Cammermeyer, the book has been receiving lots of notice nationwide. Fay says, “It's a terrific book – fascinating, infuriating, emotional and even humorous.”

The book is now available at www.aandmbooks.com, at local booksellers and at Amazon.com, among other sites.
Contact Fay Jacobs at FayJacobsrb@aol.com.

• Award-winning artist Maria Keane, recently retired adjunct professor of fine arts at Wilmington University, exhibits her work – watercolors, oils, printmaking, silk screening - with the National League of American Pen Women, the Da Vinci Art Alliance, the National Association of Women Artists, N.Y. (of which she is a juried member), and closer to home, at the Howard Pyle Studio on Franklin Street, in Wilmington, and with the Chester County Art Association. Maria says her work will be on display at various locations from Dover to Newark and from Wilmington to West Chester throughout the fall and winter.

“Most of the exhibits are ones that I am in,” she says, “but the Pen Women ‘Vision and Verse’ show at the City/County Building, November 4–30, is a group exhibit. Sandra Michel [one of DPA’s founding and charter members] and I are collaborating in that one at the City Council Building. She is doing a poem, and I am doing the art piece.”

Sewell Biggs Museum of American Art, Dover: Delaware by Hand: Masterworks 2011, a juried exhibition of 15 members of Delaware by Hand, November 4, 2011- February 26, 2012.
Reception, Friday, November 4, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Louis L. Redding City/Council Building Gallery, Wilmington: Vision and Verse, National League of American Pen Women; Art on the Town, November 4-30, 2011.
Reception, Friday, November 4, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The Howard Pyle Studio, 1305 N. Franklin Street, Wilmington: Celebrating Christmas at the Studio.
• Wilmington Art Loop: Reception Friday, December 2, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• DAM Holiday House Tour at the Studio. Saturday, December 10, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Delaware Art Museum, 2301 Kentmere Parkway, Wilmington: Artists of the Studio Group. Inc., Outreach Gallery, December 2 (Art Loop night) - January 15, 2012.
Sunday Opening, December 4, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Westchester University, Mitchell Hall Gallery, Women Collared for Work (historic travelling exhibition) February 8 – March 9, 2012.
Reception, Wednesday, February 8, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Contact Maria Keane at mariakeane@comcast.net. View some of Maria’s work through The Picture Gallery website, but if you want to experience it in person, you know where it will be on display.
Contact Sandra Michel at sandramichel@verizon.net.

• Allison Taylor Levine, APR, recently became Director of Communications at the Delaware Community Foundation. The DCF is a nonprofit organization that creates and manages charitable funds for individuals, families, businesses and organizations, and distributes income from the funds as grants and scholarships, primarily within Delaware. In the 25 years, since its founding, DCF has distributed more than $128 million in grants and scholarships. Allison will oversee all aspects of DCF marketing and communications, including social media, the website, media relations, events, publications, advertising and more. DCF is online at www.delcf.org and www.facebook.com/DelawareCommunityFoundation, and DCF's new Twitter handle is @DelCommunity.
Contact Allison Taylor Levine at aljay89@yahoo.com.

• At the opening meeting of the 2011 Photographic Society of America conference, September 18–25 in Colorado Springs, Colo., Lynn Maniscalco, FPSA, EPSA, was among four PSA Journal contributors presented with inscribed PSA gold medals in recognition of their published work. Lynn also received an award in recognition of recruiting and mentoring new members, and a conference logo medallion for managing the photojournalism print exhibition for the conference.
Contact Lynn Maniscalco at LTMphoto@juno.com.

• Annie Nefosky, DPA’s veteran communications contest director and former radio news anchor, writes: "I have some news of my own! I'M GETTING MARRIED! I got engaged last week!

“Also, after three and a half years, I'm off the morning show at WBOC-TV and am now Senior Producer of a new lifestyle/entertainment show we're launching in January, to be called ‘Delmarva Life.’”
Contact Annie Nefosky at annienefosky@yahoo.com.

• On October 22nd, Mary Pauer, a Delaware Division of the Arts emerging fellow in literature for 2011, conducted a writing workshop, in "Bigg Aire," at the Biggs Museum of Art for ages 14 and above. Mary says, “Participants learned elements of fiction and left with ‘found dialogue’ and a 500-word short story.” The widely published guest reader, Russ Reese, handled the Q&A. Mary also has received notice that she will be writing an essay for the June 2012 issue of Delaware Today. Her current essay, "We Do Dirt," is in the September issue. “Can't miss it," Mary says. “Bright red cover, bold black print.”

The weekend of September 24, at the Delaware Regional Writers Conference, Mary conducted a workshop, “Suburban Noir,” and read from the new anthology, No Place Like Here, edited by Billie Travalini. The piece "Up in the Air, Junior Birdsman" won second place in the Delaware Beach Life contest in creative non-fiction in 2009, and now it is part of a compendium of prose and poetry by southern Delaware writers. The anthology was created to help support the Lewes Library.
Contact Mary Pauer at pauer@hughes.net.
Contact Billie Travalini at btravalini@aol.com.

• While attending a conference hosted by the Radio Television Digital News Association and the Society of Professional Journalists, September 25–27, Lydia Reeves Timmins, assistant professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Delaware, sent the following news: “I am attending the Excellence in Journalism conference in New Orleans as part of the digital media editorial team. I will be blogging about the sessions I attend and will be conducting on-camera reviews.”

In observance of the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, she remarked: “I wrote an op-ed for Delaware First Media about my professional experiences on 9/11, and how the attacks did and did not change the media.”

Lydia concluded with information about her students at UD: “In mid-September, WHYY-TV's ‘First’ program showed an interview with me and two of my students who produced a half-hour documentary, ‘The Quiet Riot: Apathy and Activism,’ last spring. The program is available on VOD and on the WHYY website. We plan to enter the documentary in the next DPA communications contest as well!”

Watch Mark Eichmann’s interview with Lydia and her students.

Student documentarian Kerry Camacho gives an overview of what they learned, borne out in clips from the project in which students who are actively working to help people in third-world countries talk about providing shoes for children who have none, rebuilding a hospital and helping prevent children in Uganda from being kidnapped and forced to fight in a rebel army.

The documentary decidedly upends the notion that today’s students are an apathetic lot. Lydia remarks during the interview, “People have more ways than ever to get involved, [and] . . . I don’t think we really ever actually found anyone who was apathetic. . . . It was interesting to see the depth of the research throughout the whole documentary and the comparisons between the activists of the 60s and the activists of today, and how they’re very similar.”
Contact Lydia Reeves Timmins at lydiat@udel.edu.
John Mussoni, ‘First’ Managing Editor, provided the link to the September 23 interview. John invites you to visit WHYY’s NewsWorks website at http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/delaware. Contact John at jmussoni@whyy.org.

• No Place Like Here: An Anthology of Southern Delaware Poetry & Prose, published mid-September by The Friends of the Lewes Public Library, was edited by award-winning author/poet/educator Billie Travalini. The 230-page book consists of 73 poems, stories and essays by area writers, ranging from internationally known storytellers and poets to emerging professionals. The copy is enhanced by numerous photographs taken by local artists. All text and visuals capture the essence and uniqueness of southern Delaware. Billie says “the richness, diversity and complexity of the essays, stories and poems” included in the book – dedicated to the people of southern Delaware – “celebrate what many Delawareans call ‘God’s county.’”

DPA members whose work appears in the anthology are JoAnn Balingit, Rich Barnett, Linda Blaskey, Irene Fick, Wendy Elizabeth Ingersoll, Maria Keane, Marjorie Miller, Mary Pauer, Terry Plowman, Sue Towers – and Billie herself.

Sue Towers received the Florence C. Coltman Award for the best piece of writing in the anthology for her essay, “At Rainbow’s End.” A busy public relations specialist at the Beebe Medical Center in Lewes, Sue writes and edits several publications and newsletters, distributes press releases, handles media calls and supports other public relations team efforts. She says, “I am working on a master’s degree in biomedical writing online through the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. This, of course, means that once I get home from work, I’m still working.”

The library’s effort to create the anthology was supported by the Delaware Division of the Arts, the Rehoboth Beach Writers Guild, the National League of American Pen Women (Diamond State Branch) and Delaware Press Association. All proceeds from the book’s sale will benefit the Lewes Public Library, located at 111 Adams Street, Lewes. Copies may be purchased at the library or click to purchase online. Cost: $19.95.
Contact Billie Travalini at btravalini@aol.com.
Contact Sue Towers at susanltowers@gmail.com or stowers@bbmc.org.

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Calendar of Events

Pick your own date: Free Writes! On any given Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Saturday, you can jump-start your creative process and experiment with your writing styles in the company of other writers at all skill levels. Just show up with pen and paper or laptop. No RSVP required. Free and facilitated by the Rehoboth Beach Writers Guild. For more info: 302-226-8210 or contactus@rehobothbeachwritersguild.com.

Free Write! with the Rehoboth Art League, last Thursday of the month from 6 - 7:30 pm in the Chambers Studio (big building center of campus).

NOVEMBER

01–30 Schedule of OMB Hearings. Governor Jack Markell's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the schedule of public hearings for November as they begin the process of promulgating the Governor's draft Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 budget. After OMB completes their hearings, the draft FY 2013 budget will be presented to the General Assembly in January 2012. The General Assembly's Joint Finance Committee (JFC) then will conduct public hearings in February and March on the draft 2013 budget, which must be adopted by the full General Assembly by June 30. Get the hearing schedule.

05 Creek Bank Stabilization Project, Hale Byrnes House, 606 Stanton-Christiana Road, Newark. Ten to twenty gardeners and volunteers are needed to help transform the riparian buffer of native trees and shrubs that will protect the tidal portion of the White Clay Creek behind the historic Hale Byrnes House. Bring a shovel and gloves, wear hard shoes or work boots and be prepared to get dirty! 10 a.m.–noon. Lunch served to volunteers. To join the crew, please call 302-737-6590 or email Jennifer Egan riveradministrator@whiteclay.org.

08 Ted Kaufman, former U.S. Senator from Delaware (Jan. 16, 2009 – Nov. 15, 2010), will be the featured speaker for the Delaware State University College of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Technology’s “Dean’s Distinguished Lecturer Series.” Sen. Kaufman will speak on the topic of S.T.E.M. (science, technology, engineering, math) education and will talk with the audience about the state of S.T.E.M. education today. In the Longwood Auditorium, Bank of America Building, DSU Campus, 1200 N. DuPont Highway, Dover. For more information, contact the office of Dr. Noureddine Melikechi, Dean of the College of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Technology: 302-857-6500. FREE and open to the public, however, please R.S.V.P. to dsuresearch@desu.edu if you plan to attend. Refreshments will be served.

09 “Citizens United & The Delaware Way.” Hosted by Common Cause Delaware. Is last year's U.S. Senate race in Delaware – which set a record for money coming from out of state and for total money spent – a harbinger of things to come? In a public forum on the future of Delaware politics in the age of secret, unlimited political spending, find out how Common Cause and other groups are working to make political spending in Delaware more transparent and make it easier to hold elected officials and political candidates accountable. Join an informal Dutch-treat dinner in the Banquet Hall (near the back of the restaurant) at Iron Hill Brewery, 147 E. Main Street, Newark. Panel discussion 6 p.m. Dutch-treat dinner 7 p.m. Make a reservation (scroll to the very end of the list of links to get the reservation form).

12 "My Career Transitions: How I Landed." Penn State Great Valley School of Graduate Professional Studies, 30 E. Swedesford Road, Malvern, Pa. 9:45 - 11:45 a.m. Panelists will share "their story" of how they landed. Learn the techniques and tools that were used to land their current jobs. Cost: FREE. Get more information or Register. Get map and directions.

12 “Spies of the American Revolution.” Sponsored by the American Revolution Round Table. Speaker: John Nagy. Nagy's series of three books on Revolutionary War spies will be available for sale and autographing. Well-behaved children always welcome. Historic Hale Byrnes House, 606 Stanton-Christiana Road, Newark. 7:30–9:30 p.m. $5 at the door includes coffee and dessert.

13 “CUBA.” Hosted by the Delaware Chapter of People to People International, Delaware. Guest presenters for this Circles of International Understanding discussion of Cuba are Dr. Pedro Ferreira and Yrene Waldron; slide presentation by Don Whiteley. Historic Hale Byrnes House, 606 Stanton-Christiana Road, Newark. 3–5 p.m. Space is limited to 20 people. Reservations Required. Register with People to People, DE.
 

14 "Freedom of Information in a Digital Age: The Current FOI Landscape."  Sponsored by Delaware Press Association, the Delaware Coalition for Open Government and the League of Women Voters of Delaware. Speaker: Ken Bunting, Executive Director, National Freedom of Information Coalition, will give an overview of the free flow of information nationwide and will explore how the ability to share public information electronically in a modern digital age affects access to open government and open records. He also will focus on increasing costs to access public records in Delaware, general weaknesses in Delaware’s Freedom of Information Act, state lobbying law reforms and more. University of Delaware’s Goodstay Center, 2600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Wilmington. Reception: 6:30 p.m. Program: 7 p.m. FREE and open to the public. To ensure we have enough seating, please register.

15 "Influencing Your Audience: Crafting Messages That Motivate People to Say Yes." Sponsored by IABC Philadelphia. La Salle University, Metroplex Campus, Plymouth Meeting, Pa. 9 a.m.–12 p.m. If you were asked to construct a persuasive message, would you know where to begin? PR and communications professionals are called on frequently to write messages that will influence an audience. Perhaps they need to convince senior management that their idea is better than someone else's, or maybe they want to persuade employees to change their opinions about a new policy change. This workshop will explore what behavioral scientists have found to be reasons why people change their opinions or agree to certain requests. Get more information or Register.

16 21st Annual Business Women's Expo. Sponsored by the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce. University of Delaware's Clayton Hall, Newark. 9 a.m.–6 p.m. Keynote speaker: Kay Frances, author, The Funny Thing About Stress. Educational workshops, networking with more than 600 professionals, more than 100 exhibitors, success hour with wine tasting and prizes! Cost: $55 Members; $75 Non-members. For more information, contact fisherh@ncccc.com.

16 Business Wire Webinar: “Getting Your Press Release to Rank: Optimizing Press Releases for Search Engines.” This practical webinar offers a broad overview of why SEO matters to your press release efforts and will detail what you need to know to get started, show the long-term benefits of optimized releases, walk you through an optimized press release and even show you a few tips and tools you can use along the way. Maximize your press releases' chances of being found, seen and shared online and get on the fast track to becoming a PRO (Press Release Optimizer)! 1 p.m. FREE. Register for Webinar.

17 2011 Gold Medal Award Luncheon. Sponsored by the Philadelphia Public Relations Association (PPRA). Ritz-Carlton, Philadelphia, Pa. 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. The Philadelphia Public Relations Association will honor Comcast Corporation's Executive Vice President, David L. Cohen, with the 2011 Gold Medal Award. Cost: $65 Members; $75 Non-members. Get more information or Register.

DECEMBER

10 DPA Holiday Luncheon: "Taming the Chaos: When Politics and Economics Mix.” Speaker: Charles Elson, economist and director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. Deerfield Golf & Tennis Club, 507 Thompson Station Road, Newark. 11:30 a.m. social gathering and book signing; 12:30 p.m. luncheon, speaker, presentation of 2012 Communicator of Achievement. Cost: $35. See "DPA Delivers!" in this issue of DPA NewsBreak for complete details and to register. For more info: call 302-655-2175 or email delawarepress@aol.com.

JANUARY

10 Closing date for submissions to the 79th Annual Wilmington International Exhibition of Photography (WIEP), an annual international photography exhibition presented by The Delaware Photographic Society. Photographers from around the globe submit images for consideration by a panel of judges, and the best are "accepted" and become part of the exhibition. The best of the best also earn medals and ribbons in recognition of their quality alongside their peers. Get WIEP exhibition rules.

10 Delaware Press Association Communications Contest postmark deadline: Books/Fiction/Verse.

17 Delaware Press Association Communications Contest postmark deadline for all other entries

APRIL

16 Application deadline for the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism. The Carter Center Mental Health Program in Atlanta provides six one-year fellowships for U.S. journalists to report on mental health or mental illness topics. The fellowships are designed to increase accurate reporting on mental-health issues and decrease incorrect, stereotypical information. A fellowship includes a $10,000 stipend. Journalists aren’t required to leave their current employment. Applicants must have at least three years of professional experience in print or electronic journalism. Applications are on the website and are due by April 16, 2012. Awards will be announced July 13, 2012, on The Carter Center homepage.

MAY

03 Delaware Press Association Communications Contest Awards Banquet & Annual Meeting. Speakers: Karen Jessee, writer, speaker, professional organizer, Simply Organized, and Jocelyn Coverdale, corporate organizer, Ballantrae Solutions. “Taming the Information Chaos: From the Floor to the Filing Cabinet; from the Computer to the Cloud.” University & Whist Club, 805 N. Broom Street, Wilmington. 5:30 p.m. social hour, cash bar; 6:30 p.m. dinner, program and awards presentation. Cost and other details TBA.

Send information for the Calendar of Events to news@delawarepressassociation.org.

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NewsBreak is the official newsletter of Delaware Press Association.

Janis Shields, Editor
Katherine Ward, Reporter/Copy Editor/Layout
Mary Leah Christmas, Copy Editor
Mary E. Loewenstein-Anderson, Photo Editor
Jim Smigie, Photo Editor
Submit editorial content to:
news@delawarepressassociation.org

Copy deadline for next newsletter: January 6, 2012

Contact Us:
Katherine Ward, Executive Director
Delaware Press Association

email: delawarepress@aol.com
phone: 302-655-2175
web: www.delawarepressassociation.org
 

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