Time-Out: It's Time-Out for Diversity Week and it's not too late to join in. Click here for more details.

Conference details: The San Jose program promises timely help on the challenges we all face, from pressure to grow online to developing new publications. Click here for a more info and a link to register.

Discount program: Marion Press is offering APME members 10 to 15 percent discounts on journalism books. Click here for details and a link to their APME bookstore.

McGruder Awards: The Freedom Forum has opened nominations for the fourth annual McGruder Awards for Diversity Leadership. Click here for details and a link.

APME Awards: Speaking of awards, click here for a link to entry details for other APME contests.

Watchdog journalism: Answer survey on tools newsrooms need. Click here.

Cooperation kudos: Members cited for assistance. Click here.

— This week: Time-Out for Diversity and Accuracy
— May 30: Last day to take watchdog journalism survey
— June 15: Time-Out responses due
— July 1: Conference registration deadline for chance to win free stay in San Jose
— July 2: Mailing deadline for APME contest entries
— July 8: Contest entries must be received
— Sept. 9: Nominations due for Robert G. McGruder Awards for Diversity Leadership
— Sept. 25: Cut-off for $150 conference room rate at The Fairmont, San Jose
— Oct. 26-29: APME Conference, The Fairmont, San Jose

IT'S TIME-OUT FOR DIVERSITY WEEK
It's not too late to join in for Time-Out for Diversity and Accuracy. This week, newspapers across the nation are discussing the impact of the Echo Generation — the children of Baby Boomers who are growing up in a world more diverse than their elders. This year's theme is a focus on issues about and of importance to teens and their parents.

Some key facts:

— In 2007 and 2008, the U.S., and many of your communities, will face the largest high school graduating classes in 30 years, part of the Echo Generation born between 1980 and 1995. This incredibly diverse generation will quickly become our future readers and future workers.

— 26 percent of the U.S. population is 18 and younger. (Baby Boomers are 28 percent.)

— 40 percent of those young people are minority, making them the most diverse U.S. generation ever.

— 31.4 percent of all African Americans and 34.9 percent of all Latinos are 18 or younger. Only 22.6 percent of whites are kids.

The official dates are May 16-22, but you can select another week if that doesn't work. The point is to spend time considering your coverage of this topic and the growing diversity of your community and how your community fits into the growing diversity of our nation.

If you haven't already, send an e-mail to Calvin Stovall, executive editor of the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin and Bobbi Bowman, diversity director for the American Society of Newspaper Editors, to let them know you are participating and provide the name of a coordinator for your newspaper. After you're done, send them an e-mail answering these questions:

— What did you do for Time-Out for Diversity and Accuracy Week?
— What did you learn?
— What will you do as a result of your Time-Out efforts?
— And what would you like to see for next year's Time-Out?

Responses are due by June 15.

PROBLEMS? SOLVE THEM IN SAN JOSE
Relentless cost-cutting, new competitors, shrinking circulation, online revenue that isn't growing fast enough ... Top minds in the newspaper industry and some of the most innovative thinkers in the Silicon Valley will examine the challenges confronting our newsrooms during APME's annual conference at The Fairmont in San Jose Oct. 26-29.

A key question of the conference: How do we maximize the value of our newsrooms to our companies while maintaining our journalistic principles?

The conference will focus on solutions to the problems we face, including best practices and great ideas that will make your paper and web site more interesting and relevant for readers.

For the first time, we also will offer world-class training through the APME NewsTrain. A program for line editors who want to become senior newsroom managers will start Friday afternoon with courses designed specifically for managing editors on Saturday.

Online editors and photo directors will be able to attend at a discount and will add to the diversity of conference workshop topics.

The Fairmont is one of the finest facilities to ever host an APME convention. The Silicon Valley is not just a great place to learn about innovation, but it is close to the San Francisco Bay area, California wine country, the Monterrey Peninsula, Pebble Beach and other famous golf courses, making this a great conference around which to plan a vacation.

Conference registration forms are available at www.apme.com and in the most recent edition of APME News. Early registrants will be put into a drawing for free nights at the Fairmont.

GET GREAT DISCOUNTS ON JOURNALISM BOOKS
APME has partnered with Marion Street Press for the benefit of members and the organization.

This independent publishing company that specializes in books for journalists has opened an "APME bookstore" on its Web site that offers member discounts of 10 to 15 percent. And for every book purchased by a member, Marion Street will make a contribution to APME.

Here's how it works:

Say an APME member buys "The Dictionary of Concise Writing," published by Marion Street Press. The retail price is $19.95. With the 15 percent member discount, the member pays $17 for the book. Then APME gets 20 percent of $17, or $3.40.

Discounts are 10 percent on books not published by Marion Street Press.

Other titles currently available from the company include "Championship Writing: 50 Ways to Improve Your Writing" by Paula LaRocque and "Bad News and Good Judgment: A Guide to Reporting on Sensitive Issues in a Small-Town Newspaper" By Jim Pumarlo.

To get your discount, go to www.marionstreetpress.com and look for the APME bookstore. Or look for the coupon in the upcoming issue of APME News, our quarterly magazine.

NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR MCGRUDER AWARDS FOR DIVERSITY LEADERSHIP
The Freedom Forum, in partnership with the Associated Press Managing Editors and the American Society of Newspaper Editors, is opening nominations for the fourth Robert G. McGruder Awards for Diversity Leadership. Nominations are due by Sept. 9.

The awards go to individuals, newsrooms or teams of journalists who embody the spirit of McGruder, a former executive editor of the Detroit Free Press and diversity champion. McGruder died of cancer in April 2002. Two awards are given annually: one for newspapers with a circulation of up to 75,000; one for newspapers with more than 75,000 circulation.

The awards consider achievement in these areas: Recruitment of diverse journalists; development efforts to help journalists of color advance in their careers; retention efforts that help keep people of color in newsrooms; and content that reflects the diverse communities a newspaper serves.

For complete entry guidelines, go to:
http://www.apme.com/awards/2005/051405mcgruder.shtml.

CALL FOR ENTRIES: PUBLIC SERVICE, FIRST AMENDMENT, INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE, ONLINE CONVERGENCE
The Associated Press Managing Editors has opened nominations for the 2005 edition of its journalism excellence competitions. Categories are Public Service, First Amendment, International Perspective and APMEOnline Convergence. Entries must be postmarked by July 2. For more details on the categories and entry requirements, go to http://www.apme.com/awards/

TAKE SURVEY: WHAT'S NEEDED TO DO WATCHDOG JOURNALISM?
You are encouraged to take a survey by APME's Reporting Committee to determine what resources newsrooms need to improve reporters' skills when it comes to being good watchdog journalists. We'd like to find out how strong the commitment is in U.S. newsrooms to produce watchdog journalism, whether you define that as big investigative projects or day-to-day hard-nosed reporting that scrutinizes conflicts of interest, budgets of public agencies, etc.

SHOWCASE PHOTO This is the April 2005 Member Showcase photo of the month, as judged by APME, showing Sister Lois, center, reacting to the news that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany had been named the new Pope as Sister Chinyere, right, touches the television while the new pope is presented in St. Peter's Square. Sisters of Devine Love watch the events at the small hostel they run in Enugu, Nigeria, Tuesday, April 19, 2005. Barbara Davidson of The Dallas Morning News was the photographer. Click here to view a larger version of the photo.

The committee will use the results to develop a toolkit or curriculum based on these responses and identify local, regional or national resources that could be tapped to help teach skills needed to fulfill our industry's watchdog role.

Please fill out the following survey by May 31.
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/survey/apme/investigative_journalism.asp

COOPERATION KUDOS: MEMBERS CITED FOR ASSISTANCE
APME awards Instant Citations to AP member newspapers, broadcast stations and online operations for their assistance with AP's news and photo reports. These members are being cited for their recent help:

— The Duluth (Minn.) News Tribune for providing quick background when the Navy Reserve Center in Duluth was included on the recent list of proposed military base closings and realignment. The cooperation helped AP provide a more complete picture of the base.

— The Hastings (Neb.) Tribune for quickly sharing stories and photographs when heavy rain, large hail and strong winds pummeled downtown Hastings, causing significant damage. The storm hit after the newspaper's afternoon deadlines; the Tribune made its material available for use by other newspapers before it could publish the next day.

— The Frederick (Md.) News-Post for sharing exclusive photos on-cycle of the Cessna plant that flew into restricted airspace over the Capitol and the White House and later landed at the Frederick Municipal Airport.

— Steamboat Pilot & Today in Steamboat Springs, Colo., for providing the AP a story, photo and contact information for follow-up on a compelling story of the backcountry rescue of a stranded cross-country skier.

— WSAZ-TV of Huntington, W.Va., is being cited for help on two recent stories. One was for a tip to the Charleston AP bureau that rock-a-billy artist Hasil Adkins had been found dead at his Boone County home. The tip enabled the AP to confirm the death and provide its members with the news in time for noon newscasts and afternoon papers. On April 20, WSAT-TV Assistant News Director Scott Saxton called with a tip that former House Education Committee Chairman Jerry Mezzatesta had been indicted on a charge of false swearing under oath.

Also, congratulations to Barbara Davidson of The Dallas Morning News for contributing the April Member Showcase Photo of the Month. Her photo, shared with all members, showed nuns at a small hostel in Enugu, Nigeria, reacting to the televised announcement that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany had been named the new Pope.