Entries Increase by 35% in 2006 Communications Contest
by Cecilia Green, Contest Committee Member

The Mate E. Palmer Communications Contest Committee spent a full afternoon sorting and checking entries this year. Chair Pat Szpekowski, Cecilia Green, Linda Heacox, Val Ensalaco and Terry Haycock readied 137 entries from 39 members for state judging. This was a 35 percent increase in entries over 2005. Web writing, books, and personal columns were mostly responsible for that increase, all doubling in number of entries over last year. The categories for special articles (9) and features (7) were highly competitive this year with several entries in each subcategory.

The member accumulating the most points in the contest will receive the coveted Silver Feather Award, announced at the May 20 Awards Luncheon.

Forty first-place entries have gone on for judging in the National Federation of Press Women Contest.
The outstanding slate of judges this year was:

• Books: Amanda Freymann began her publishing career in 1978 at Houghton-Mifflin Company, followed by Little Brown and Co. the Museum of Modern Art, New York and Stewart, Tabori & Chang. At the Art Institute of Chicago where she was Associate Director of Publications-Production, she produced many exhibition catalogues and a number of popular books, including revised editions of the Essential Guide and Miniature Rooms: The Thorne Rooms, and oversaw the first four children's books to be produced by the Art Institute.
• Print Media: John Schneller is Assistant Professor of Newspaper Journalism at the Missouri School of Journalism and Metro Editor of the Columbia Missourian. He was the recipient of a Scripps-Howard Foundation Distinguished Journalism Citation for outstanding reporting in the field of conservation while at the Columbia Daily Tribute, where he was city editor from 1987-1999. In 2005, he received the William T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence.
• Web: Clyde Bentley is Associate Professor of Convergence Journalism at the Missouri School of Journalism. He worked in the newspaper industry for 25 years and received his Ph.D. in 1997. He joined the Missouri School of Journalism in 2001, where his research focuses on the habits, preferences and comfort levels of media consumers, especially users of digital media. He currently serves as a member of the Center for the Digital Global, a campus-wide effort to study the future of the Internet.
• Photography: David Rees is head of the photojournalism sequence at the Missouri School of Journalism where he has taught since 1986. He is also co-director of the Missouri Photo Workshop. He maintains interest in grassroots photojournalism and in online publishing.
• Public Relations, Advertising, Research: Mickey Brazeal, Assistant Professor of Integrated Marketing Communications, School of Communications, Roosevelt University. Former creative director at advertising agencies in Chicago, his national campaigns won creative awards in the Addies, Tellies, Eagles, Towers, Windy's Louies, Mobius awards, NAMA Gold, an Effie, and a Clio.

All award winners should have been notified by now so they can make plans to attend the May 20 Awards Luncheon. If you had an entry and have not heard from us, please call 312-458-9151 and leave a message.

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