NYNPA now accepting entries for Excellence Awards Competition
Publishers Association adds new categories; collecting entries online for first time ever

NYNPA is now accepting entries for the 2008-2009 Awards for Excellence Competition. This year's competition features four brand new online categories, and for the first time ever NYNPA will collect entries exclusively online, saving our member newspapers time and money during the submission process.

Each year, the New York News Publishers Association recognizes newspapers and their staff members for their hard work in service to the fine art of newspapering. The annual Awards for Excellence competition serves as a testament to the dedication of newspaper professionals to the highest ideals of the industry.

For official rules, new category descriptions, and instructions on how to enter please visit the Awards for Excellence page.

Write Local: How Small Newspapers Are Surviving
From The Wall Street Journal

If you think your local newspaper is bad, I'm here to tell you that life without one is worse.

Back in February, the chain of local weeklies that "covered" our section of New York's Dutchess County folded as its parent, Journal Register Co., tumbled into Chapter 11. Since then, we get local news the medieval way: by word of mouth.

But just up the road in Columbia County, things are different. In the newly chic little city of Hudson, the Register-Star tenaciously clings to life by delivering a rich diet of local politics, education news, crime, school sports and people stories. The 224-year-old paper's recent history is a testament to the newspapers' ability to hang on-and even thrive-despite hard times. With vague talk of a newspaper bailout in the air, it's noteworthy that the Hudson-Catskill Newspaper Group, which includes some nearby siblings, finished last year in the black, according to its publisher.

They've done it with coverage and cost control. Small-town papers often pay lip service to local news while filling their pages with generic wire stories. In his book "The Vanishing Newspaper: Saving Journalism in the Information Age," Prof. Philip Meyer offers the surprising observation that big-market papers typically have a lot more local coverage than small-market papers. One study found that over a four-day period the Detroit Free Press had roughly twice the proportion of local news as the Macon Telegraph. More

Gannett expects 3Q earnings to top estimates
Gannett expects 3rd-quarter earnings to top Wall Street estimates; sales miss

Gannett Co., the largest newspaper publisher in the U.S., said third-quarter earnings should far outpace expectations despite a narrow shortfall in revenue, as layoffs and falling newsprint costs help offset weak advertising sales.

Tuesday's announcement gave a sharp boost to Gannett's and other newspaper stocks.

Gannett, which publishes 84 daily U.S. newspapers including USA Today and operates 23 television stations, anticipates earnings of 25 cents to 31 cents per share when it reports results Oct. 19. That would mark a sharp drop from 69 cents in the year-ago period, but expectations for newspaper publishers have declined drastically.

Adjusting to exclude $26 million to $32 million for severance expenses and other special charges, the company says earnings per share should fall between 39 cents and 42 cents. On that basis, analysts project 28 cents per share, according to a Thomson Reuters poll. More

National Newspaper Week set for October 4-10
Full editorial and promotional package available online

National Newspaper Week is set for October 4 through 10, 2009. This year's slogan, "Newspapers: Carrying the Torch of Freedom," tells readers that we'll continue to work outside government to represent their interests. We're free as privately owned businesses outside government to have that precious power as guaranteed by the First Amendment. That power, that freedom will continue to serve the public in the future. Newspapers continue to carry a torch of freedom.

The Kentucky Press Association's website is hosting a complete press kit for download. Materials include:

• Guest cartoons
• A Guest editorial
• National Newspaper Week logo
• National Newspaper Week House ads
• NIE materials

The site also offers some suggestions on how to localize the content for maximum impact. For the full editorial and promotional package visit www.kypress.com.

The New York Times Plans Local Editions in Chicago and Other Markets
From The New York Times

The New York Times is making plans for editions of the paper tailored to the Chicago area and other metropolitan markets, in addition to the San Francisco edition it plans to unveil this fall.

"We're in conversations with potential news providers in Chicago about adding local content to The Times," said Diane C. McNulty, a company spokeswoman. "Our intent is to roll out these expanded reports in several key markets around the country, with Chicago following San Francisco. The details are still being discussed. The idea is to provide additional quality local content for our readers."

Plans for the San Francisco edition call for adding to the paper, twice a week, two additional pages of news about Northern California. At first, the added content will be produced by The Times' own writers and editors. But eventually, the plan, as in Chicago, is to turn the production over to a local partner. More

Prolonged Recession Boosts Coupon Clipping, Newspaper Inserts
From Poynter Online

Evidence continues to build that the drawn-out recession has been good for something in the newspaper industry: It has more frugal customers clipping coupons, which in turn leads them to that thick sheaf of Sunday inserts.

The New York Times was the latest to note the trend in a feature Monday. I especially liked the photo of "coupon queen" Susan Samtur sorting her clippings into an accordion file case. The picture suggests that there is a tactile appeal to clip-and-save, plus a sense of planning and control, quite different from being the passive recipient of a random barrage of online ad messages.

Indeed, the Times article, like one in the Wall Street Journal and a Biz Blog post of mine in February, suggests that online start-ups are trying to grab a piece of the action but make up only a tiny half a percent share of redemptions, so far. More

NYNPA Re-Launches Website
NYNPA.com gets new look; content

The New York News Publishers Association is proud to announce the re-launching of its website, nynpa.com.

The new site contains all the same helpful information as its predecessor, but now also features expanded news articles, in-depth allied member listings, and a complete advertising services section, all laid out in a new, easy-to-navigate format.

The new nynpa.com will also serve as the primary website for NYNAS, NYNPA's advertising placement service.

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