NETPA celebrates 97th convention in Granbury

GRANBURY — North and East Texas Press Association members recently gathered in Granbury to share successes and revenue building ideas, celebrate contest winners and learn strategies for meeting future challenges in the newspaper industry.

The 97th annual convention featured speakers Bill Ostendorf of Creative Circle Media, who gave tips on better layout and photography, and Austin Lewter, director of the Texas Center for Community Media, who discussed setting AI policies for community newspapers. Entertainment was provided by musician Joseph Neville and Lead Like a Magician founder Braden Daniels. Members also enjoyed bingo, networking and a trip to the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center. During the three days of activities, members also contributed funds for scholarships through the annual golf tournament and silent auction, raising more than $4,000.

Awards presentations included the Sam C. Holloway Award and the Tom Mooney Friend of the Newspaper Award.

NETPA Secretary-Treasurer Wyndi Veigel-Gaudette recognized Chad Engbrock and Sonia Duggan of C&S Media with the Holloway Award in recognition of their “outstanding contributions to their chosen profession and the welfare of The North & East Texas Press Association.” Unable to attend the convention this year, the honorees sent best wishes and expressed their appreciation.

Engbrock got his start in the newspaper business at the Dallas Times-Herald in May 1982, continuing through December 1992. He worked at Las Colinas People and began C&S Media with his wife Sonia Duggan in 1993, starting with the purchase of their first newspaper, The Wylie News, and adding The Farmersville Times and The Princeton Herald in 2000. In 2005, the duo started the  Murphy Monitor and The Sachse News.

Duggan serves as editor-in-chief of In & Around Magazine, which they started in 2005. Due to the popularity of the magazine, an expansion, the Northeast edition of In & Around Magazine, was started in 2021.

In addition to serving in board positions with the NETPA and Texas Press Association, they are also active in the local communities their publications serve.

Jim Bardwell presented the Tom Mooney Friend of the Newspaper Award to Lesa Major, noting her many years of support for NETPA and personal friendship to members like himself.

Lesa noted that when she first met her husband, Phil Major, “he told me then that the newspaper comes first.” She has partnered with him both in the newspaper business — currently the Wood County Monitor they own and operate in Mineola — and in NETPA and TPA. Phil has served as president of both groups.

Taking home sweepstakes awards in the annual NETPA Better Newspaper Contest were the Marshall News Messenger in division 1 dailies; Lufkin Daily News in division 2 for large circulation semiweeklies; Panola Watchman in division 3 for smaller circulation semiweeklies; Wise County Messenger in division 4 for large circulation weeklies; and The Dublin Citizen in division 5 for smaller circulation weeklies. Ashley Terry of Hood County News in Granbury was recognized as journalist of the year and photographer of the year honors went to Micah McCartney of the Wise County Messenger in Decatur.

Complete contest results are featured on the group’s website, https://netpa.org.

Taking over as president of NETPA is Kim Ware, publisher of the Tri-County Reporter in Azle and president of Hyde Media Group. She succeeds Lange Svehlak, Athens Daily Review publisher and advertising director at CNHI, who will serve as chairman of the board for 2024-25.

Other officers include First Vice President and Convention Chair Richard Nelson, Mexia News publisher; Second Vice President and Contest Chair Abigail Allen, editor and publisher of the Pilot Point Post-Signal; and Secretary-Treasurer Wyndi Veigel-Gaudette, content editor of the Dublin Citizen.

Jim Bardwell, publisher and owner of the Gladewater Mirror, chairs the scholarship and golf committee; Brad Blakemore, director of project management at The Dallas Morning News, is finance chairman; and Rick Craig, publisher of the Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel, is bingo chairman.

Directors include Greg Weatherbee, publisher of the Lufkin Daily News; Paul Gaudette, managing editor of The Dublin Citizen; Bob Janns, regional sales director of Texas Newspapers CherryRoad Media; and James Draper, reporter at the Gladewater Mirror.