Past presidents of the Oklahoma Press Association met for dinner in Oklahoma City on November 12 at the Waterford Marriott. Front row: Barb Walter, Jim Bellatti, Gracie Montgomery, Don Ferrell, Sean Dyer and Wayne Trotter. Back row: John D. Montgomery, Steve Booher, Ken Reid, Jim Mayo, David Stringer, Joe Hancock, Richard Hefton, Joe Worley, Ben Blackstock, Larry Wade and Jerry Quinn.

The results of the OPA Better Newspaper Contest are in and letters telling you if you received a first or placed in any of the events are in the mail. That's all the information we can divulge at this time. For complete results, make plans to attend the awards banquet at the OPA Mid-Winter Convention on Feb. 5, 2010, at the Sheraton & Reed Center in Midwest City.

BEACHY MUSSELMAN
The deadline to nominate an outstanding journalist for the Oklahoma Newspaper Foundation’s annual Beachy Musselman Award is Dec. 31. The award recognizes a journalist for his or her contribution to the field of printed journalism or its related field. The recipient of the award receives a plaque and $1,000 at the OPA Mid-Winter Convention. View complete nomination criteria, information about Beachy Musselman and a list of past recipients at www.okpress.com/beachy-musselman-award.

OPA HALF & QUARTER CENTURY CLUBS
Nominations for induction into the OPA’s Half and Quarter Century Clubs will be accepted through Dec. 31. The Half and Quarter Century Clubs honor those who have served in the newspaper industry. To be eligible for membership into the Half Century Club, nominees must have completed 50 years in the newspaper business, including at least 20 years at an Oklahoma Press Association member newspaper. Eligibility requirements for the Quarter Century Club require nominees to have completed at least 25 years in the newspaper industry, with at least 10 years at an OPA member newspaper. Complete criteria and nomination forms are available at www.OkPress.com/century-clubs.

The Midwest City Sun will close this month after serving the communities of eastern Oklahoma County for nearly three decades.
The twice-weekly Sun will publish its last edition Wednesday, Oct. 28, Publisher Lance Moler told his staff this morning. The Sun will refund subscribers their account balances after that issue. Its staff will contact advertisers with outstanding contracts.
The Sun has offered readers in-depth local news since it was first published in March 1980. The newspaper, published Wednesdays and Sundays, represents an amalgam of smaller papers that once covered individual communities in eastern Oklahoma County.
The Sun and its Web site, www.mwcsun.com, serve the communities of Midwest City, Del City, Choctaw, Harrah, Nicoma Park, Spencer, Jones and Luther.
The Sun is the last remaining title in the Oklahoma County Newspapers group. It is owned by Community Newspaper Holdings Inc., of Birmingham, Ala.
The closing of the Sun and its offices at North Air Depot affects 10 employees.

The circulation divisions of the 2009 Better Newspaper Contest have been assigned. Find out which newspapers you're competing against!
» Click here to view the divisions.

October 1 is the deadline to file USPS Form 3526 (Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation) with the post office. Newspapers must publish the completed form in their newspapers – dailies by October 10 and non-dailies by October 31 – and send a copy of the newspaper that it appears in to the post office for proof of publication. Please also mail a copy to the OPA at 3601 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105. A copy of the form that you can fill out using Acrobat is available at www.okpress.com/postal-form-3526.

Upcoming webinars:

The Consultative Sale: Increase Online Revenue - Sept. 30
Unleash Your Selling Power: Selling the New Super Media - Sept. 30
Advanced InDesign Tips & Tricks - Oct. 1
Finding Problems in PDF Files - Oct. 2
Capturing New Dollars and New Customers - Turn the Table on Google,Yahoo & Yellow Pages - Oct. 7
Fixing Problems in PDF Files - Oct. 8
POWER UP: An Audience-Based Sales Initiative - Oct. 8

Visit okpress.com/webinars for the calendar of upcoming webinars and to register online. The registration fee for OPA members is only $35 after receiving a rebate check from ONF.

APME NewsTrain will bring two days of newspaper training and discussion to Oklahoma on Sept. 25-26. One seminar track features hands-on training sessions to create videos for newspaper websites and make better use of social media. A second track discusses solutions for the new challenges that editors and staffs are facing in this changing industry. APME's NewsTrain offers practical advice and proven techniques designed to help frontline editors polish their editing and management skills, and to become more effective editors for print and online news coverage. The event will be held at OU's Gaylord College of Journalism & Mass Communication in Norman.
» Click here for more info

The 2009 contest season is upon us, so it's time to start thinking about your entries in OPA's Better Newspaper Contest, Web Site Contest, Print Quality Contest and the contest for ONF's Outdoor Writer of the Year. Entries must be postmarked by Monday, SEPT. 28, 2009. Contest rules and entry forms were mailed to member publishers on July 31.
» Click here to download the contest materials

Gloria Trotter, co-publisher of The Countywide & Sun in Tecumseh, will take office as president of the Oklahoma Press Association on July 1, 2009. 
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