Colorado Press Women: CPW News

CPW News: National Conference & Member Milestones

Highlights from the 2011 NFPW Conference

President Ann Lockhart shared these highlights from the NPFW Conference in Council Bluffs, Iowa, at Harrah's Casino Hotel next to the Missouri River, across from Omaha, Nebraska. The two state affiliates co-sponsored the conference.

From the conference
View from hotel of Omaha skyline and flooded Missouri River > >

Excellent speakers on social media, websites, shooting video, grammar, creating a compelling magazine and establishing a mobile presence.
Heard a professor who is an expert on Afghanistan and its history.
Heard from a Pulitzer Prize winner on founding the website Politifact.com with its six-point truth scale - from "absolutely true" to "pants on fire" - politicians.
Bid on items in the silent auction to raise money for the Education Fund.
Elected new NFPW officers with Lori Potter of Kearney, NE, as president.
Joan Burney and her daughter Juli Burney both spoke. They are nationally known motivational speakers and humorists. Juli told us to "stop crabbiness in its tracks," quit taking things personally and like our pudgy, sweaty selves.
Colorado Press Women won the "most new student members" contest.
I met one new NFPW member from Texas who said this was the nicest, friendliness group she had ever met.

Highlights of the pre-conference tour in Nebraska

Visited the Archway museum over I-80 about the westward trails that started in Nebraska in the 1800s.
Had coffee and fresh cinnamon rolls in the cornfield! A Nebraska Press Woman made them. Her husband told us a lot about farming and let us climb into his $400,000 new combine.
Walked around the wildlife refuge near Kearney where thousands of sand hill cranes stop during their migration north.
Visited a Nebraska art museum and Willa Cather's home.
Visited an ethanol plant.
Visited a Sandhills ranch with a cow-calf operation and had delicious grilled steaks.
Toured the Nebraska State Capitol building with its unicameral legislature (Senate only).

Tour of Omaha

Visited Boy's Town with its beautiful green campus, history center, gift shop and statue of a larger boy carrying a smaller boy who had polio ("He ain't heavy; he's my brother"), etc.
Drove around the city and had lunch at the Omaha Press Club.
Visited the Henry Doorly Zoo with its wonderful penguin display. The CEO spoke to us. The zoo has a high school and a kindergarten plus a Conservation Research Center with six Ph.D. scholars.
Visited the Durham Museum in the old train station with its great exhibit on George Washington Carver.
Ate in the old market area with restaurants, bars and shops.
Saw the covered wagon sculptures and geese sculptures downtown and the Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge across the Missouri River from Council Bluffs.

giant chair Post-conference tour in Iowa
< < Ann Lockhart sits in a giant walnut rocking chair in the Amana Colonies during the post-conference tour in Iowa.

Visited John Wayne's birthplace and the bridges of Madison County in Winterset, Iowa.
Visited Living History Farm in Des Moines and the Iowa State Capitol with its beautiful law library.
Toured the Amana Colonies, shopping at the woolen mills and other stores. One shop had the world's largest walnut rocking chair, so we had our pictures taken there.
Visited a winery and enjoyed some samples in Marengo.
Visited the Maytag Cheese Company and watched workers hand-wrap blue cheese packages. It's one of the top blue cheeses in the world, started by a relative of the Maytag appliance folks.
Saw lots of huge windmills (plus a very old Danish windmill in Elk Horn, IA).

2012 NFPW Conference in Arizona

The 2012 National Federation of Press Women Conference will be held Sept. 20-22 at the Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale, Arizona. Workshop tracks will be new media skills for 21st century reporters (ASU Cronkite School of Journalism); 24/7 journalism merging print, video and online media; historical journalism; future of public television/radio; cross-over journalism to fiction; and social media/technology, marketing and public relations.

A pre-conference tour will be in northern Arizona from Sept. 16-18 and include Zane Grey country, Harvey Girls, Navajos, Hopis, Route 66, Grand Canyon and Sedona.

The day tour Sept. 19 will include the Desert Botanical Garden, Native People archeology, Pueblo Grande Museum and Heard Museum.

The post-conference tour in southern Arizona Sept. 23-25 will cover Mission San Xavier, Historic Tubac and Tombstone.

Pam Knight Stevenson of Tempe is the conference chair. Contact her at pstevensonaz@cox.net.

2011 CPW Membership Milestones

40 years

Jane Valentine Barker is a fifth generation Coloradoan who began her career writing a weekly historical column and feature stories on historic Boulder homes, published in the Boulder Daily Camera. Later, the house features became two books with photos and stories. She is author of 13 historical fiction books for children and young adults and a biographical novel, Mari, the story of the turbulent relationship between western author Mari Sandoz and her father Old Jules. Mari was a Colorado Book Award winner. In 1980, Jane was CPW's Communicator of Achievement.

Marlys J. Duran capped a 40-year as a reporter and editor with a 21-year stint at the Rocky Mountain News, where she primarily covered Denver's suburbs. She began her career at the Albuquerque Tribune and later spent 11 years with the Denver Sentinel newspapers. She retired in 2002, and ended more than 20 years of service as treasurer of Colorado Press Women in 2007. She also edited CPW's newsletter for years. She now is a caregiver for her mother.

35 years

Ruth Anna, CEO of Anna Public Relations since 1977, was NFPW president in 1995-1997. A radio/TV journalism graduate of the University of Colorado, she was a three-term Colorado Press Women president and represents CPW on the Colorado Freedom of Information Council. Recently elected to the national executive board of the Urban Libraries Council, she is an appointed trustee for Jefferson County Public Library and also serves on the boards of a foundation and a nonprofit.

Sandy Graham began her newspaper career in the age of manual typewriters and libraries full of paper clippings. She has been on the staffs of the Albuquerque Tribune, the Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, USA WEEKEND and the Rocky Mountain News, primarily covering energy, the environment and health. Sandy started her own freelance writing business in 1992. Her client list has ranged from the National Safety Council to Coors Brewing Company to Colorado Biz magazine. For the past four years, she has been the managing editor of the Colorado Health Foundation's quarterly journal, Health Elevations.

Mary Alice Parmelee is editor of AWWA Streamlines, the biweekly electronic newsletter for the members of the American Water Works Association. Streamlines is the latest publication created by the 38-year veteran of journalism and public relations who began her journalism career in high school. A University of Colorado graduate, she has won writing and editing awards from CPW, NFPW and the Association Media and Publishing. She holds accreditation from the Public Relations Society of America.

30 years

Carmen Julseth confirms that writers never truly retire. Gone are the years of reporting local news and coordinating the family literacy program for Jefferson County School District in Colorado. Now she channels her writing skills into volunteer work with community organizations in her two home states: Colorado and Tennessee. Carmen has served as vice president and president of Colorado Press Women. Her membership spans CPW's hosting of two NFPW conferences. She cherishes Press Women friendships and networking.

Jeannine Malmsbury currently works part-time as a writer-editor for websites and newsletters in several volunteer positions, and does contract work following her retirement from the University of Colorado in 2008. As director of the CU Office of News Services, she disseminated campus news nationally and throughout the state, overseeing the campus news website, coordinating media relations through the campus administration and producing various publications. Prior to her 24-plus years in media relations, she worked for The Denver Post.