The Truman Index student newspaper won the Best In State Award in this year's contest of the Missouri College Media Association. Awards were presented April 13 at the annual convention of the MCMA, held this year at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph.

Twenty-eight Missouri college and university newspapers competed in four divisions in the contest. Two-year colleges competed in one division and four-year schools in three divisions, according to circulation.

A complete list of the winners can be found on the Missouri Press Association website at mopress.com/contests.php. Missouri Press Association administers the contest for MCMA. 

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For only $25, you can still attend ad sales training with newspaper sales expert Bryna Krauth this Friday, April 20th from 8:45AM-Noon at the Courtyard by Marriott in Columbia. Presented by MAMA.

Bryna will cover:

How to become a brand expert: This session will help advertising sales professional construct brand building plans and campaigns to better serve their clients.

Strategic Marketing Plans: How to help advertisers build multi-media marketing strategies for revenue growth by using everything from traditional media to new media and everything in between!

 

Read about Bryna here.

The full Missouri Ad Managers Association meeting agenda is here.

To register, simply email Kristie Williams at kwilliams@socket.net or call Missouri Press Association at 573-449-4167. You pay now by credit card or you can bring a check or cash with you to the training next week!

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The Missouri Council of the Blind and the National Federation of the Blind of Missouri oppose balancing the budget by cutting health care for blind Missourians.Columbia, Missouri, and St. Louis, Missouri, March 13, 2012: The President of the Missouri Council of the Blind, Denny Huff, and the President of the National Federation of the Blind of Missouri, Gary Wunder, stand with Governor Nixon in saying: "Cutting healthcare for the blind, prenatal care for women, services for people with developmental disabilities, and child care for low-income families is not the way to balance Missouri's budget."It is just plain wrong," says Denny Huff, President of the Missouri Council, who is himself blind."  Huff says, "This would really be devastating to many of the recipients of the Medicaid provided for the blind."The House Appropriations-Health, Mental Health and Social Services Committee propose to restore funding for higher education in part by cutting health care for 2,858 blind people receiving the Missouri Blind Pension. Gary Wunder, President of the National Federation of the Blind of Missouri, notes, "Most people receiving medical assistance as a result of the Missouri Blind Pension have a very limited income—most are not employed. Paying medical costs out of pocket wouldn't be an option. Many will not qualify for private insurance because of pre-existing medical conditions, and those who do will find the monthly premium so high that to purchase private insurance will be impossible.This proposal has come from somewhere out in right field—no discussion, no impact statement, no consideration to how people will do without the medical care they have been provided since... continued...

Brushing up on growing the audience

Newspaper people from Missouri and Illinois gathered at the Westport Chalet in St. Louis on Feb. 24 in St. Louis for a workshop on growing the audience. Steve Wagenlander, director of audience development for The Evening Post Publishing Co. in Charleston, S.C., presented at the session, which was sponsored by the Missouri Press Foundation and Illinois Press Foundation. Wagenlander talked about ways to increase audience -- for the newspaper and for online content, the cost of gaining a reader, the value of retaining a reader, circulation incentives, ways to cut expenses and other aspects of circulation and audience growth and retention. You need to know how much it costs to get a new reader, because if you don't know that, you can't know how much time, effort and money to spend to keep a customer. He hinted that newspapers usually spend far too much money trying to get new readers and far too little on keeping the readers they already have.

 

 

MPA / MPS boards met Feb. 8

The boards of directors of the Missouri Press Association and Missouri Press Service held their first meeting of 2012 on Feb. 8 at the offices of The Missouri Bar in Jefferson City. The Day at the Capitol reception for legislators was held that evening, and the annual Day at the Capitol activities were held the next day. During the board meeting, 2011 MPA President Joe May, at left in front, presented 2012 President Phil Conger with a briefcase filled with material Conger need this year. Others attending the board meeting were, from left, Jack Whitaker, Hannibal; Bill Miller Jr., Washington; Kevin Jones, St. Louis; Vicki Russell, Columbia; Jeff Schrag, Springfield; Jim Robertson, Columbia; Richard Gard, St. Louis; Mark Maassen, Kansas City; Trevor Vernon, Eldon; and Dennis Warden, Owensville. The board's next meeting will be in mid-June in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Show-Me Press Association.