President’s Page – May 2020
Arizona is opening after the shelter in place orders for several weeks due to the COVID-19 virus. How are you coping? Are you ready to join the crowds on the streets and in the stores? I’m not. I wear a mask when I’m out in public and keep social distancing within a group. Family and friends from the East Coast and California are being very cautious. Here in Payson, not so much.
My home town of Elmhurst, New York has been particularly devastated, with overcrowding in the hospitals and funeral homes. Family members who are doctors and nurses in New York have talked of the lack of PPE equipment, wearing the same mask several days in a row. Maybe that’s why I’m still cautious and not ready to join the throng.
Are any of our APW members writing stories that have to do with the corona virus? I would love to hear from you. What have you been doing at home? Writing more? I’m reading lots more. I put down one book and pick up another, or turn on my Kindle and think. “I should be writing more not just reading.” Alas, my energy level has been low, but hopefully, coming back soon.
Here in Rim Country we started our monthly meetings via ZOOM and had some good interactions with our members, catching up on what they are writing. I love the way Marsha Ward talks to her characters. This time she is asking them how to end the story. Each author has her tricks to keep the writing flowing.
Our virtual APW Board meeting will be May 30th. Contact me at mfasano.apw@gmail.com if you want to attend and I will send you the ZOOM information. We will have a virtual celebration of our Communicator of the Year and APW meeting this summer. We hope many of you will join us. We will email you with more information later.
Keep Writing,
Marie A. Fasano
President
Arizona Professional Writers
2020 NFPW Communications Contest open for entries
The 2020 Communications Contest is open for entries for work published/created in 2019. See this page in the NFPW website for all the information. Arizona members will participate in the “at-large” contest as we do not currently have our own contest. See the At-Large page for information and to enter.
We invite all to check out the Communications Contest page. There are over 120 categories for work published in 2019. Entrants who are not a current NFPW member and who win a first place award in the “at-large” contest will need to join NFPW in order to advance to the national level. See the contest webpage for complete rules.
Presidents’ Message – September/October
Gwen Larson & Marie Fasano at the Fall Conference
September was so busy; I didn’t get a message out. So, I’ll combine two months.
Fall Conference
The APW/ANA Fall Conference, “Freedom to Write,” was a success! The speakers were right on with their topics. I picked up insights with each one.
Mark Athitakis gave us ideas on the attributes of a successful freelancer with concrete information about publications and how to approach editors. Jodi Weisburg not only did a great standup comic routine but talked about different kinds of humor with examples of how to use them in your writing. Gregg Leslie and Gwen Larson inspired us with ideas about who will defend the First Amendment and how we can access information for our research.
General Meeting
At our General meeting at the conference we had reports from our Central and Rim Country Chapters. Central is starting monthly meetings again with the first on Oct 12, 2019 with guest speaker Connie Cockrell. (See the October 3 blog entry for more information.) Rim Country continues to conduct their monthly meetings with excellent speakers and some months with the group sharing their writing projects and getting help from each other. The 6th Payson Book Festival is getting started.
The Treasurer’s report showed we are solvent and well within our budget this year. Let me know if those members who were not present at the meeting want a copy of the report. I will send it to you.
Our membership has increased, and we now have 46 members! So, two goals of our current Board have been met – a Fall Conference and increase in membership. Great News!!
We have updated our Bylaws and they were sent out to all members with some comments in return. Since we did not have a quorum, even with proxies, we will vote on the Bylaws at the Spring Conference.
Yes, we will have a Spring Conference, the date to be set at our November 16 Board of Directors meeting in Tucson. That will be followed by a Southern Chapter meeting and get together.
Your President has been networking this year with several literary and journalism groups throughout Arizona getting the APW name out there. We partnered with the Arizona Newspaper Association for our Fall Conference and with the Virginia G. Piper Institute for Creative Writing sponsor our speaker, Mark Athitakis.
We plan to give scholarships to students in the field of communications and honor them at the Spring Conference.
NFPW President
We were honored to have Gwendolynne Larson, our NFPW President, attend our Fall Conference. Gwen interacted with our members and talked about NFPW as a Federation rather than an Association. It is an organization, comprised of a set of smaller affiliates which seeks to bring attention to issues that are of importance to its members. Each affiliate that comprises the federation maintains control over its own operations. She encouraged members to join the First Amendment Network to keep abreast of free speech issues. She also encouraged us to get involved in the NFPW Communications Contest.
NFPW Communications Contest
We encourage our members to participate in the “At Large” section of the 2020 annual National Federation of Press Women’s communications contest because APW currently does not have its own state contest. The contest is open to writers, authors, copy editors, public affairs professionals, photographers, publishers or others in the communications field. Entries must be published in 2019. If you win first place in the “at large” contest, you must join NFPW to advance to the national level. Check the NFPW website for more information.
There are over 120 categories and sub-categories! Some forget we are an affiliate of a national organization and that membership allows us to participate in this prestigious contest – a major benefit to our members. In 2019 four members won awards. Let’s increase that number in 2020.
We also plan to have an Arizona Communicator of Achievement Award, so be thinking of who you want to nominate.
As you can see, APW is the move. We have much to offer to members and to the community. If you have been inactive for awhile, won’t you come to one of our meetings and get involved?
Keep Writing,
Marie A. Fasano
President, Arizona Professional Writers
More At-Large Communication Contest winners!
APW had several winners in the National Federation of Press Women’s At-Large Communication Contest. Two members won honorable mention for their entries.
-
- Dianne Ebert Beeaff
-
- Jan Cleere
Dianne Ebert Beeaff won honorable mention in the category- “Short Stories- Single Story,” for A Packet of Arthritis Pills in the Potomac Review Issue 62, Spring 2018.
Jan Cleere won two honorable mentions in the category- “Columns/General.” Jan won for her articles in Western Women columns that she writes for the Tucson Arizona Daily Star.
Congratulations to both!
NFPW is a nationwide organization of women and men pursuing careers across the communications spectrum, including print and electronic journalism, freelancing, new media, books, public relations, marketing, graphic design, photography, advertising, radio and television.
Marie Fasano – 1st place in award in the NFPW At-Large Communications Contest
Firefighting helicopters gather at Payson Airport by Marie Fasano
Marie Fasano, Rim Country District member and President of APW, won a First Place Award in the National Federal of Press Women’s At Large Communications Contest. The First Place award is for Photographer-Writer, for her article and photo, “Firefighting helicopters gather at Payson Airport by Marie Fasano special to the Roundup May 11, 2018.”
From NFPW: In recognition of your outstanding communications efforts in 2018 you have won a First Place Award in the NFPW At-Large Communications Contest. Your entry was judged and ranked by professional communications experts from throughout the United States.
Winners of the national contest will be announced in Baton Rouge at the national conference in June.
Congratulations, Marie!
Marie Fasano – 2nd place in award in the NFPW At-Large Communications Contest
From the National Federation of Press Women, Inc. to Marie Fasano:
In recognition of your outstanding communications efforts in 2018, you have won a Second Place award in the National Federation of Press Women’s At-Large Communications contest in Non-Fiction Books for Adults, Biography . Your entry was judged and ranked by professional communications experts from throughout the United States.
This is what the judges had to say about your book: Tessie’s Tales: This was obviously a labor of love. Tessie’s stories helped me visualize a time and place I’ve never been. She describes easily what could have been a very discouraging world, with no anger. You can tell that trials only strengthened her love for her family. The author gave important context to these stories making the book an interesting read.”
Congratulations, Marie!
Marie is a member of the Rim Country District and is President of Arizona Press Women.
Brenda Warneka – A First-Place Winner in 2019 NFPW At-Large Communication Contest
Congratulations to Brenda Warneka – a First-Place Winner in 2019 National Federation of Press Women At-Large Communication Contest!
Brenda Warneka with her award-winning book, “Around Laughlin.”
Brenda Warneka, a member of Arizona Professional Writers, is the First-Place winner in the category of “non-fiction books for adult readers, history” in the 2019 National Federation of Press Women’s at-large communications contest. Entries were judged and ranked by professional communications experts from throughout the United States.
Warneka’s first-place winning entry was her Arcadia Publishing Company’s Images of America book “Around Laughlin.” At-large winners compete with first place state winners from throughout the United States in the national competition of the NFPW communications contest.
This is what the judge had to say about Warneka’s First Place entry: “This book used every means necessary to engage me as a reader. This author took an area of our country that held little to no interest to me and I was captivated. The pictures, illustrations, and excellent research of the very people who lived in the inhospitable land held my interest as I flew through the pages. I enjoyed this one immensely.”
NFPW is a nationwide organization of women and men pursuing careers across the communications spectrum, including print and electronic journalism, freelancing, new media, books, public relations, marketing, graphic design, photography, advertising, radio and television. Winners of the national contest will be notified in late March or early April. The winners will be honored at an awards dinner on Saturday, June 29, 2019 at the NFPW conference in Baton Rouge, LA
