The Bandera Bulletin welcomed new office assistant Connie Bradley to the crew.

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Neice Bell is the new publisher of the Seguin Gazette-Enterprise. A 27-year veteran of the newspaper industry, Bell has been publisher of three Texas Heritage weeklies, the Kerrville Mountain Sun, Helotes Echo and Hill Country Recorder in Boerne before spending the past two years as the marketing director of the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung. She got her start at the Kerrville Daily Times.

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Bob Buckel, publisher of the Azle News and The Springtown Epigraph, was honored as one of 15 national winners of the Amy Writing Awards for use of the Bible in a mainstream publication.

The award-winning Buckshots column, which ran just before Thanksgiving last year, is titled “Thankful? Us? Now? You bet.”

The Amy Foundation was founded in 1976 by W. James Russell and his wife, Phyllis, and named after their daughter. The award is designed to encourage writers in mainstream publications to present biblical truths in a thought-provoking way, reinforced with direct quotations from the scripture.

Ten winners received awards of merit of $1,000 each, including Buckel’s column that placed in the top 15 out of nearly 700 entries. Winners are reprinted in a promotional booklet that goes out each year calling for entries for the next year’s contest.

Buckel was president of Texas Press Association in 2002-03.

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Don Cooper, managing editor of The Hereford Brand, recently took his cartoon about how 21st century cowboys deal with technology into national syndication. The MILD/WILD West comic is a look at hanging lifestyles through the eyes of Cooper, a longtime West Texas editor. The cartoon is  available from Mark Time Features.

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Laura Dennis has been named editor of the Odessa American. Dennis had been managing editor since 2000 and on staff since 1986.

She succeeds John Kerr, who retired May 12. Kerr led the newsroom the past six years and plans to devote more time to a book and film documentary project.

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The staff size at The Eagle Press in Fritch has increased from one to three.

Dustin Daniels-Hobbs, a newly returned Fritch resident, is a new part-time ad sales representative and photographer.

Woodrow Woody Morgan, a former graduate of Sanford-Fritch High School, has signed on as a feature writer and reporter. Morgan worked most recently for WVNS-TV in Ghent, W.Va., as a morning show producer. He has also worked as managing editor for the Lassen County Times in Susanville, Calif., and was news and sports director for five area radio stations in Beckley, W.Va.

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John Egan stepped down as editor of the Austin Business Journal for a career in public relations and communications. He had been editor for two years and was managing editor for five years.

Managing editor Lance Williams was named the new editor. He joined the paper as managing editor two years ago, moving from the Cincinnati Business Courier an affiliated publication of parent company, American City Business Journals, where he worked as a reporter and editor.

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Mike Eddleman is the new publisher, editor and ad director at The Sealy News. He came from sister newspaper the Taylor Daily Press where he had been managing editor since November. Prior to that he was editor of the Round Rock Leader.

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Bob and Janet Glass, longtime residents of McLean, took over the editor’s job of the McLean News June l.  Both are retired educators.

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Michael D. Hall, Laredo Morning Times business editor, has been chosen the 2006 Journalist of the Year by the San Antonio District of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Hall joined five district award winners and one Region VI winner May 17 in San Antonio for the awards ceremony.

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The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health announced winners in the second annual James S. Hogg Award for Mental Health Reporting.

Named for former Texas governor and newspaper editor, the award was created to recognize exemplary journalism that educates the public about mental health and counters negative beliefs about mental illness.

Jennifer Autrey of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram took first place for her October 2005 article “Questions Linger After Woman’s Death,” about the death of a young woman with mental illness who ended up in a Tarrant County jail after having been unable to find appropriate treatment.

Second place was awarded to Cindy V. Culp of the Waco Tribune-Herald for her April 2005 article “Downsized Mental Health System Leans on Police.”

Mary Meaux, reporter for the Port Arthur News, won third place for her account of her own depression, in which she challenges misconceptions about the disorder and informs readers that treatment does work.

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The Houston Chronicle’s marketing department recently awarded its 2006 Richard J.V. Johnson award to Lainie Gordon, marketing director, who has been on staff since 1985.

The award, now in its third year, is named for former Chronicle publisher Richard J.V. “Dick” Johnson, who died in January. The award goes to the individual who best exemplifies overall marketing excellence and is enthusiastically committed to promoting the Chronicle.

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Lucille Jemela, editor of the Wallis News-Review for 27 years and co-editor for two years, retired at the end of April, after 29 years of service. The newspaper changed owners as Joanie and Johnny Griffin purchased it from Maridel Dungen Anderson.

Jemela came to work for the Wallis News-Review on Dec. 4, 1976. Now she plans on spending more time with family.n

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Daniel Lai has joined the Taylor Daily Press as a reporter. Lai, a 2006 graduate of The University of Texas at Austin, worked as both a reporter and an associate entertainment editor for The Daily Texan before coming to Taylor.

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Anna Malone has been promoted to vice president for employee and community relations at the Tyler Courier Times Telegraph.

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Richard McCarty has joined the staff of The Pittsburg Gazette as a reporter/photographer. His previous career was with Texas Instruments as well as positions with companies supporting space-related services at NASA and the Kennedy Space Center.

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Daryl McSwain has been named sports writer for The Light and Champion in Center. McSwain also is the senior pastor of Victory Bible Church The Flock That Rocks, a position he has held since September 2002.

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Stuart Prestidge joined the Silsbee Bee as a reporter replacing Sue Woodard, who leaves to spend more time working to recover her home from the damage caused by Hurricane Rita. A native of Banbury, England, Prestidge went to North Oxfordshire Technical College, where he earned a degree in journalistic and radio competences in 1997.

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Judy Rich joined the Seminole Sentinel as a new staff writer. She will handle general news assignments with the publication.

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David Rupkalvis, former news editor of the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung, became editor of The Graham Leader. Rupkalvis succeeds Mark Engebretson, who will return to his former home in Mineral Wells. Engebretson edited the Leader for the past year and the Lake Country Sun at Possum Kingdom Lake for four years prior. Rupkalvis served as news editor of the Herald-Zeitung since 2004, and was previously sports editor for one year.

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Hadassah Schloss, cost rules administrator in the open records division of the Texas attorney general’s office, has been presented with the Open Doors Award from the Fort Worth Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

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Tamra Spence was named associate publisher of the Hill Country News in Cedar Park. Spence took over sales duties in addition to serving as managing editor after Deborah Mathison left the News after 10 years to become an investment representative for Edward Jones.