December 2002 -no meeting

November 16,  2002 at Rigo’s Mexican Cafe, Tucson

October 19, 2002, at NAU, Flagstaff

September 2002 -no meeting

August 3, 2002 at Nello's, Warner Road, Ahwatukee

minutes prior to August 2002 not available online at this time

ARIZONA PRESS CLUB BOARD MINUTES--November 16, 2002

Rigo’s Mexican Cafe, Tucson

Attendance: Le Templar, East Valley Tribune; Enric Volante, Arizona Daily Star; Max Becherer, Arizona Daily Star; Tom Gibbons, East Valley Tribune; Colleen Sparks, Arizona Daily Star; Dina Doolen, Tucson Citizen; Dennis Joyce, Arizona Daily; Juan Villa, La Voz; Amy Silverman, Phoenix New Times; Patti Epler, Phoenix New Times.

President Dennis Joyce opened the meeting at 1:21 p.m.

Treasurer Tom Gibbons said he hadn't written any checks since the October meeting in Flagstaff. The press club needs to provide a $500 deposit to the Heard Museum for the banquet, Gibbons said. Joyce added there were about $500 in expenses for the Flagstaff workshop. Gibbons said that after subtracting $1,000, the press club would have about $4,500 remaining in its checking account.

Secretary Le Templar moved to add Dina Doolen of the Tucson Citizen to the board. Gibbons seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Templar said he would be resigning as board secretary at the end of the meeting. Templar said it has been difficult to keep up with the duties because of commitments to other groups and to work. He said concerns about former board members still included on the official board email list was one example of where he had gotten behind. But he added that board policy is a vote must taken to remove a board member, and that includes the email list. Since he would become more involving in planning a February conference, Templar said now was the appropriate time to step aside. Vice President Amy Silverman said the issue of the email list did need to be addressed. The credibility and prominence of the press club awards depend on limiting who has access to board information, she said. The rest of the board agreed. Silverman moved to remove the following people from the board and the board email list: Megan Rutherford, Blake Morlock, Benjamin Hegre, Stephanie Innes, Liz Massey, Hernan Rozenberg, Robert Stieve and Rick Wiley. Joyce said Margaret Regan might need to removed as well, but he wanted to check with her first. Gibbons seconded Silverman's motion. It passed unanimously.

Silverman moved to name Colleen Sparks as secretary to replace Templar. Villa seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

The board discussed a draft of the rules for the 2002 awards contest. Max Becherer said he will be coordinating the judging of the photo entries, and will be looking for a single newspaper to handle all photo categories as has been done in the past. Becherer suggested changing the rule for single photo entries to say the photo must taken or published in the year of the contest. Templar said he didn't understand why there has been resistance to saying the photo must be published in the year of the contest, leaving out taken. Several board members pointed out that Photographer of Year portfolios can include some unpublished work. After additional discussion, Patti Epler moved to change the rules to say that photos must be published in the contest year, but there will be no change to the description for the Photographer of the Year category. Becherer seconded. The motion passed unanimously. Joyce said he would like to set the deadline to purchase tickets for the April 12 banquet to make it easier to plan. The board informally agreed, and Joyce said the tentative deadline would be Friday, March 28. Templar said the board needed to consider who would the master of ceremonies. A variety of possibilities were discussed including David Fitzsimmons, J.D. Hayworth, Charles Goyette, Tom Liddy, G. Gordon Liddy, Janet Napolitano, John McCain, Michael Crow and Kris Mayes. Silverman said she would approach Tom Liddy, and also ask if G. Gordon Liddy could join him.

Silverman said she had some ethical concerns about having a silent auction at the banquet, since board members would have to approach people for items that they cover as journalists. She said it would appear to be a conflict of interest. Templar explained how the Society of Professional Journalists handle such auctions, saying chapters prefer to get all donations from media outlets but does approach other groups at times. Templar said possible conflicts do need to be considered. Epler moved that the press club ask the state's editorial cartoonists to donate some of their work for a raffle fundraiser instead. Doolen seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Templar discussed a packet of information passed out earlier about the SPJ regional conference in Tempe Feb. 21-23. Templar said the conference will hosted with Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) as a training weekend, one of the few that take place in Arizona. Templar said SPJ is seeking donors to help underwrite the conference, and the press club could donate $1,000 if it is interested in being a sponsor. Silverman asked how such a contribution would benefit Arizona journalists, since the conference is open to anyone and SPJ would be recruiting participants from other states as well. Silverman said the press club should focus on benefiting Arizona journalists, and asked about the possibility of scholarships to help journalists who can't afford to attend the conference on their own. Templar said the press club could provide 10 scholarships for $750. Silverman and Epler asked if the press club could afford that amount. Joyce asked if SPJ could wait until the press club board's January meeting for an answer. Templar said a meeting in mid January probably would be soon enough, but he needed to check with others who planning the conference. Joyce said he would put the issue on the January agenda or conduct a board vote by email. There was some discussion about selecting honorees for outstanding journalist and the Brick Wall award. Joyce asked the board members to solicit nominations from within their offices and other journalists they know.

Enric Volante asked if it was possible to add a log-on counter to the press club home page to see how many people are looking at the Web site for contest and other information. Joyce said he would pass the request on to Beque Allen, who is managing the Web site. Joyce said the next board meeting will be at noon, Saturday, Jan. 18, at Mi Amigo Ricardo Restaurant in Casa Grande. Joyce adjourned the meeting at 3 p.m.

Addendum: On Dec. 9,2002, Joyce sent an email to board members asking them to vote on whether to provide $750 for 10 scholarships to the SPJ conference, and whether to pay $1,000 to the First Amendment Coalition of Arizona for the press club's annual dues. Joyce reported Dec. 10, 2002, by email the board voted unanimously in favor of both payments.

Respectfully submitted by,

Le Templar

ARIZONA PRESS CLUB BOARD MINUTES--October 19, 2002

Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff

Attendance: Le Templar, East Valley Tribune; Jill Jorden Spitz, Arizona

Daily Star; Dennis Joyce, Arizona Daily Star; Colleen Sparks, Arizona Daily

Star; Maureen West, The Arizona Republic; Rebecca Allen, Glendale Star; Tom

Zoellner, Arizona Republic; Rob Schumacher Arizona Republic; Judd Slivka,

Arizona Republic; Juan Villa, La Voz; Laura Clymer, Arizona Daily Sun.

President Dennis Joyce opened the meeting at 12:15 p.m.

Jill Jorden Spitz moved to add Tom Zoellner of the Arizona Republic, Laura

Clymer of the Arizona Daily Sun, and Blake Morlock of the Tucson Citizen to

the board. Rob Schumacher seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Le Templar moved to remove Stephanie Innes, Scott Thomsen and Terri Likens

from the board. Resignations were received from all three. Schumacher

seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Rebecca Allen moved to approve the minutes from the Aug. 3, 2002, board

meeting. Clymer seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Templar provided a brief financial report, saying the press club had

$6,028.46 in its checking account. Joyce said the club would pay $400 to

$500 for costs associated with the Saturday training workshop in Flagstaff.

Those costs included donuts and coffee for the open records morning session,

pizza for lunch, appetizers at the evening reception, and hotel rooms for

the speakers.

Joyce introduced the proposed rule changes for the annual awards contest, as

recommended by a contest committee. A lengthy discussion followed as Joyce

reviewed each suggested change. Several amendments were offered. The

following changes were adopted as a single motion offered by Templar and

seconded by Judd Slivka. The motion passed unanimously.

These changes includes:

• Byline white out: The requirement to blank out bylines or names was

removed.

• Wording of criteria: general explanation of how entries will be judged for

clarity, balance, etc., was removed from individual categories and placed in

a general note as part of the introduction to the rules.

• Community news reporters: A “C” class category called “Sustained

Neighborhood Reporting” was added to recognize the work of journalists who

write primarily for suburban, neighborhood and community sections. Entries

can include a portfolio of up to five stories that demonstrate informed

coverage of a particular geographic community or neighborhood.

• Rules for the “C” classes related to specialty beats were changed to say

an entry will consist of up to three parts of a single story presented

within a seven-day period. Sidebars may be included. This change was to

acknowledge similar reporting efforts might have different presentation

decisions, because some in-depth stories are broken into parts and displayed

over several days. The change didn’t affect the categories of deadline,

non-deadline, sustained, project or explanatory reporting, or the spotlight

category.

• The spotlight category for 2003 will be “Wildfires.” Publications in the

“A” and “B” classes will have their own spotlight categories for this

contest.

• Business news categories: Business deadline reporting will be any single

business news or feature story, along with any sidebars, reported and

written in a single shift. Business enterprise reporting will be up to three

parts of a single in-depth business story, along with their sidebars,

presented within a seven-day period.

Those proposed changes which received additional discussion and separate

motions included:

• Online submissions: The contest committee had suggested moving online

submissions from the design category to a new online category with three

elements: online design, online feature story and online breaking news

story. Joyce offered some comments from absent board member Enric Volante

that publications were focusing on breaking news and design of Web sites,

and providing little or no additional content beyond what goes into their

print publications. Joyce said that online design and online feature story

should be combined into one category, and online breaking news story should

be a separate category. Templar made the motion, Clymer seconded. The motion

passed unanimously.

• Publication competition: The contest committee had suggested redefining

the three classes as A, Small: Daily and non-daily newspapers with

circulation less than 35,000; B, Medium: Any publication with circulation

from 35,001 to 75,000; C: Any publication.

The change to “A” would eliminate a situation of magazines competing against

the smallest newspapers, which some judges considered unfair. It was pointed

out the wording of “B” would excluder smaller magazines, forcing them to

compete in “C” against the largest dailies.

Jill Jorden Spitz moved to adopt the committee recommendation with the

following amendment, B, Medium: Any publication up to 75,000. Clymer

seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

• Photos: The contest committee had recommended changing a general rule for

photos to say all photos must have been published or taken during the

contest year. Also, a new and separate entry form should be created.

Joyce and other committee members present said the rule change had been

proposed by Rick Wiley, photo editor at the East Valley Tribune, but their

memories were vague on why he suggested it. Rob Schumacher said the present

rules appears to prevent a photojournalist from entering a photo that was

published in the present year but taken in November or December of the prior

year.

Templar said he was concerned the phrase “published or taken” would

encourage submissions of photos that never have been published. This already

is allowed for in the Photographer of the Year category, but specifically is

forbidden for the individual photo categories. He suggested the rule should

say “published during the contest year. “

But Schumacher said that could lead to submission of photos that were taken

years earlier and finally appeared in the contest year. Several other board

members said this a common practice for stories, but Schumacher there would

be resentment of such an approach in the photojournalism community.

Joyce said he wanted to speak to Wiley again about why a change was first

suggested. Slivka moved that a committee of Joyce, Schumacher, Wiley and

contest chairwoman Patti Epler make a final decision on the proposed rule

change, so it could be included in the published rules before the next board

meeting. Schumacher seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

• Editorial cartooning: The committee recommended changing the rule to a

single portfolio entry of up to five cartoons.

Spitz said the change was a response to a bad impression many people have

received in past years. While the category is viewed to honor the best

editorial cartoonist of the year, the current rule allows multiple portfolio

entries of up to three cartoons by the same artist. This has lead to the

same cartoonist winning more than one place in the same year. Spitz said the

change was intended to limit each cartoonist to a single entry.

There was some discussion of elevating the category with the proposed rule

change to the level of Journalist of the Year or Photographer of the Year.

Jorden said that would require raising the prize money, which the press club

probably can’t afford at this point.

Templar said the proposed rule change would lead to a significant drop in

the number of entries in this category. Cartoonists at smaller publications

would have little or no chance of competing against the largest metro

newspapers, he added. Templar moved the new rule would say an entry shall

consist of a single cartoon, and there are no limits on the number of

entries. Schumacher seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Joyce said Epler was working on sending judge recruitment assignments out to

the board by e-mail. Spitz, last year’s contest chairwoman, said board

members should expect a deadline of around Dec. 15, and should strive to

reach award winners in the most prestigious national contests, as well as

top journalists at the nation’s largest publications.

Allen reviewed five possible choices for location and date of the 2003

awards banquet. A copy of Allen’s handout is included with the official

minutes. She recommended returning to the Heard Museum in Phoenix on April

12. The museum was popular last year, seems to be the most flexible to work

with, and several changes are possible to reduce the overall cost of the

banquet. The estimated total cost of the banquet would be $12,650.

There was some discussion about if the press club should again pay for bar

drinks for board members. Allen said the bar tab at the 2002 banquet was

$675.10, and that was far too high. Slivka said the purpose of the banquet

was honor the award winners, and board members should be willing to pay for

their own drinks. Templar said the free drinks are a small reward for the

volunteer work of the board, but he could see limiting it to a couple of

drinks. Joyce said providing free meals and drinks for board members is a

long-standing tradition and he wanted further discussion before any decision

was made. He said the issue would be included on the agenda of the next

meeting.

Spitz moved to hold the 2003 banquet on April 12 at the Heard Museum. Slivka

seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Joyce said he would check with Laura Laughlin to see if she was working on

scholarship applications for next year.

Allen said the press club needed to pay its domain fees for the Web site.

Templar moved to pay for two years. Allen seconded. The motion passed

unanimously.

Templar informed the board the Valley of the Sun chapter of the Society of

Professional Journalists and the Investigative Reporters and Editors

association will be hosting a training conference Feb. 21-23 in Tempe. SPJ

is looking for media and corporate sponsors to help defray costs, but he

realized the press club wasn’t in position in contribute. Still, the press

club has been working to be more active in journalism training, and Tempe

wondered if there wasn’t some way the board could participate in the

conference.

Joyce asked if SPJ would want a financial contribution from the press club.

Templar said SPJ would accept one and $1,000 would allow the press club to

be a major sponsor. Joyce said Templar should bring more information to the

next meeting, and the board would consider the request further.

Joyce said board members should be looking for nominations for the “Brick

Wall” awards and the distinguished journalist award. The board agreed Susy

Buchanan should be placed in charge of a silent auction for the banquet to

help raise money for the press club.

Templar moved to adjourn the meeting at 1:58 p.m. Allen seconded. The motion

passed unanimously.

The next meeting will be held at 1 p.m. Nov. 16 at Rigo’s Mexican Restaurant

in Tucson.

Respectfully submitted by, Le Templar

ARIZONA PRESS CLUB BOARD MINUTES--August 3, 2002
Nello’s, Phoenix

Attendance: Le Templar, East Valley Tribune; Patti Epler, Phoenix New Times; Scott Thomsen, The Associated Press; Jill Jorden Spitz, Arizona Daily Star; Dennis Joyce, Arizona Daily Star; Colleen Sparks, Arizona Daily Star; Amy Silverman, Phoenix New Times; Maureen West, The Arizona Republic; Tom Gibbons, East Valley Tribune; Rebecca Allen, Glendale Star; Laura Laughlin, free-lance; Alia Rau, East Valley Tribune; Terri Likens, Camp Verde Journal; Max Becherer, Arizona Daily Star.

President Alia Rau opened the first meeting for the 2002-2003 board at 12:32 p.m.

Jill Jorden Spitz moved approval of the board minutes from May 11. Patti Epler seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Rau reviewed the year-end fiscal report from treasurer Kristi Dempsey (see attached written report). The press club spent about $2,000 on the banquet than was raised on ticket sales and contest fees. Rau said banquet tickets and fees have remained the same for several years, while banquet costs have risen with time.

Several ideas where discussed to eliminate this gap such as reducing the amount of money offered with the annual awards, adjusting contest categories or raising contest fees, reducing the size of the award pots, and limiting the number of free drinks that board members receive at the banquet. The board agree to return to these issues at a later time.

Board officer elections:

• Le Templar was unanimously affirmed to remain secretary for a second year.

• Jorden Spitz nominated Patti Epler for contest chairwoman. Dennis Joyce second. The nomination passed unanimously.

• Templar nominated Rebecca Allen and Suzy Buchanan for banquet co-chairwomen. Scott Thomsen seconded. The nomination passed unanimously.

• Epler nominated Tom Gibbons for treasurer. Laura Laughlin seconded. The nomination passed unanimously.

• Templar nominated Amy Silverman for vice president. Epler seconded. The nomination passed unanimously. • Epler nominated Dennis Joyce for president. Silverman seconded. The nomination passed unanimously. Joyce will take over from Rau after the meeting ends.

The board voted unanimously to remove Dempsey and John Allman as board members.

Jorden Spitz moved and Joyce seconded the following list of new board members: Rebecca Allen, Blake Morlock, Suzy Buchanan, Maureen West, Tom Gibbons, Judd Slivka and Rob Schumacher. The motion passed unanimously.

Epler moved to break with tradition and hold the 2003 banquet in the Salt River Valley (the Phoenix area) for a second straight year. This change would help the press club recoup its expenses because attendance is usually twice as high than when the banquet is held in Tucson. Likens seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Templar moved to hold a silent auction during the banquet to raise money for the club’s annual college scholarships. Allen seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

The board confirmed the following people as appointees to the Arizona First Amendment Coalition: Jill Jorden Spitz with alternate Colleen Sparks, Alia Rau, Le Templar, Patti Epler with alternate Laura Laughlin, Enric Volante, and Amy Silverman with alternate Laura Laughlin.

The board reaffirmed that a contest review committee will hold an all-day retreat on Sept. 14, starting at 9:30 a.m. in the New Times conference room in Phoenix. Rau appointed the following people to the committee: Amy Silverman, Jill Jorden Spitz, Dennis Joyce, Patti Epler, Maureen West, Terri Likens, Scott Thomsen and Alia Rau.

Joyce said the next board meeting will be scheduled later. Likely, it will held on the same day in October as a training workshop in Flagstaff, Joyce said. Board members will be notified by e-mail.

Rau adjourned the meeting at 1:45 p.m.