Registration is open for the Texas Press Association Convention & Trade Show set June 1-3 at the unique Kalahari Resort in Round Rock. The African-themed resort features multiple restaurants and one of the largest indoor water parks and gaming areas in America.
The TPA event includes awards banquets, a trade show, silent auction, general session learning opportunities, hospitality receptions, and a live band.
Texas Press Association members have easy access to free educational resources via online and in-person training sessions.
Classes cover reporting and editorial topics, advice from experts, best practices for sales and tips for increasing readership and circulation. Many resources are available on demand.
Here’s an overview of the opportunities available to TPA members in 2023.
Earn Your Press Pass
New hires, promotions and other recent changes at Texas newspapers published in the February 2023 edition of the Texas Press Messenger.
CLAIRE WILLIAMS
SEAN McCRORY
Denton Record-Chronicle
DENTON – Claire Williams, formerly digital editor, has been promoted to director of content for the Denton Record-Chronicle, succeeding executive editor Sean McCrory, who has become editor in chief of the Orlando Business Journal in Florida.
Fifty years ago, responding to public demand in an era of reform, Texas enacted a sweeping law ensuring the people’s right to know about their government.
The Texas Public Information Act – originally known as the Open Records Act when it passed in 1973 – was one of the strongest transparency laws in the nation. It allowed Texans to hold their state and local governments accountable by obtaining all sorts of public records.
By Kelley Shannon, Executive Director, Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas
Our Founding Fathers understood that nothing was more important to successful self-government than a robust free press.
Analysis by Donnis Baggett, Texas Press Association
Transparency and accountability weren’t political buzzwords back then, but those who crafted the framework of our republic made it clear that an unfettered press was the best watchdog for holding government accountable to its citizens.
The Texas Better Newspaper Contest opening for entries Jan. 23 will be held on the ACES platform for the first time.
The contest entry period is Jan. 23 through Feb. 20. Material entered in the contest must have been published between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2022.
Contest information, including rules regarding eligibility and contest entry formats, is available for download on the TPA Contest page, www.texaspress.com/better-newspaper-contest-0.
First grader’s abduction, murder leaves Wise County residents reeling
By ROY EATON
Publisher, Wise County Messenger
DECATUR – A wave of sadness and anger swept over Wise County in early December after the abduction and murder of a seven-year-old girl.
Law enforcement officers said Athena Strand was abducted from her home in a sparsely populated area of the county just minutes after she got off the school bus from her first grade classes at Paradise Elementary School.
Publishers and printing company officials are reminded that the annual recycled newsprint survey form must be filed by Jan. 31.
Each year, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) collects data on recycled newsprint. Texas law requires that newspaper publishers submit their report for 2022 to the TCEQ by Jan. 31. The current survey form is available online for publishers to fill out and return to the TCEQ.
Promotions, new hires and other changes at Texas newspapers, published in the January 2023 edition of the Texas Press Messenger.
Obituaries published in the January 2023 edition of the Texas Press Messenger.
MICHAEL LINDENBERGER
KANSAS CITY – Michael Lindenberger, who worked in Texas metro markets during nearly 30 years of reporting and editing on floods, politics, poverty and social justice for newsrooms large and small — and helped the Houston Chronicle this year earn its second Pulitzer Prize — has died. He was 51.