MPPA News

Hello MPPA members—

Happy New Year to everyone. The MPPA board has much news to share with you as you work to prepare your contest entries and gear up for the annual contest judging and seminar.

1) Contest: The rules are posted on the website at www.mppa.org. You will notice some category deletions this year and an additional multimedia category. Deadline for entries is Friday, January 29 at 5 p.m.

2) Contest reminder: Please follow the rules closely when naming your files. Contest chairs Erik Holladay and Cory Olsen sort the entries and you make their job much easier when you slug your files correctly.

3) Mark your calendars: The annual MPPA seminar will be held in East Lansing on Friday, Feb 26 and Saturday, Feb 27. There will be no Sunday program this year as the board has decided to condense the schedule.

4) New Seminar location: The judging will take place in the Communication Arts and Sciences building on the MSU campus on both Friday and Saturday. The new home hotel for the MPPA will be the Quality Inn University at 3121 E. Grand River Ave. near Frandor in Lansing. The MPPA has reserved a block of rooms at the hotel for Friday night and Saturday night at a rate of $80.71. Please call 517-351-1440 before January 27 to book your room at the MPPA rate.

5) Judges: The judging panel is complete for the seminar. Matt Detrich from the Indianapolis Star, Regina McCombs, multimedia specialist at Poynter and Steve Jessmore, photo editor at the Sun News in Myrtle Beach will be joining us in Lansing this year. Bios and photos will be posted on the website soon.

6) Dues: To be eligible for the contest, your annual MPPA dues must be paid by January 29 at 5 pm. You can pay these by using the Paypal link on the MPPA website.

7) Seminar registration: With the many changes in the seminar weekend this year, the board will be asking your cooperation in registering early for the event. A seminar schedule and registration form will be available soon on the website.

Thanks much.

J. Scott Park
MPPA President