DARDARIAN: WHY JOURNALISTS SHOULD GATHER IN NEW ORLEANS
New Orleans is a city of contrasts. Houses battered into kindling just miles from a thriving neighborhood. Boarded-up storefronts not far from the bustling French Quarter. Despair and grief one moment; joyful celebration the next. This is what recovery looks like for the city where APME is scheduled to hold its 2006 conference this fall.

Newspapers' pages recently told the six-month anniversary story of what has changed – and what has not – since Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. And it has prompted some of you to ask: Will New Orleans really be able to host us? And do we really want to go there? APME President Suki Dardarian has an emphatic answer to those questions: YES.

Read her column at:
www.apme.com/conferences/2006/033106dardarian.shtml

MAKE NOTE OF YOUR BEST WORK FOR APME CONTESTS
The Associated Press Managing Editors will soon be calling for entries in the 2006 edition of its journalistic excellence competitions:

• First Amendment, for work advancing understanding and use of freedom of information principles.

• International Perspective, which recognizes journalism that makes international news relevant to local audiences.

• APMEOnline Convergence, for the effective interplay between the print and online platforms on a story or package of stories.

• Public Service, for efforts or coverage serving the public's interests.

Brochures will be mailed to newsrooms in early May and posted on the APME Web site. E-mail notices will be sent.

The contest covers work public between July 1, 2005, and June 30, 2006, for newspapers in each of three daily circulation categories. Entries must be received at APME offices in New York by July 8. Awards will be presented during the annual conference Oct. 25-28 in New Orleans. A full description of each award and its rules will be available on the Web site.

Download the 2005 APME Awards Edition at:
www.apme.com/awards/2005/2005apmeawards.pdf

NEED TRAINING? WE'VE GOT YOU COVERED
Do you want to become a better manager in your newsroom? Does your staff need training on First Amendment issues? Is there someone on the other side of the newsroom who wants to become a farm writer? APME is among more than 100 journalism organizations that have listed their training opportunities on a central site: www.journalismtraining.org.

JournalismTraining.org is devoted to helping journalists everywhere find the training they need.

Find the training you desire simply by entering your ZIP code, topic, month and type of training you'd like to receive.

Also, coming to your town soon, APME's NewsTrain: April 5-7 in Portland, Ore.; April 7-8 in Anchorage; and May 15-16 Cambridge, Mass. Check out future dates and sites at www.newstrain.org.

COOPERATION KUDOS: MEMBERS CITED FOR AP ASSISTANCE
Better AP stories are often the result of quick tips, information and photographs supplied by member newspapers, broadcast stations and online operations. But some of the most complete accounts come when several members contribute details about the same breaking story.

Such was the case when heavy rain and melting snow caused flooding in the Red River Valley, between North Dakota and Minnesota.

In Wahpeton, KBMW news director Gary Rogers kept AP posted as the river rose near that city in eastern North Dakota. Rogers also put AP in touch with the county highway engineer who said more than 25 bridges were closed.

In Fargo, meanwhile, WDAY reporter Jim Monk kept AP covered when city officials held a news conference March 30 talking about plans to deal with the rising river. Monk called from his car before writing the story himself, with quotes from the news conference, and later followed up with details. As water spilled into the city, The Forum photo editor Mike Vosberg and his staff quickly provided dramatic photos of flooded streets and road closings.

For their assistance KBMW, WDAY and The Forum will receive APME Instant Citations thanking them for their help.

Other AP members will be cited for recent outstanding cooperation:

• KBMW, Wahpeton, N.D., for information obtained from relatives of a North Dakota couple who survived a cruise ship fire in the Caribbean.

• KFGO, for alerting AP that North Dakota State University President Joseph Chapman had decided not to pursue the president's job at the University of Wyoming.

• The Williston (N.D.) Herald, which called with a tip about a murder in the city March 16. KEYZ of Williston had details on the arrest of a woman accused of killing her mother.

• KCCR Radio, Pierre, S.D., where news director Tony Mangan, stranded in Rapid City by a snowstorm following the state basketball tournament, called with information and details used in a national AP weather story.

• The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, which quickly contributed six photographs from the case of a 24-year-old woman who walked into a McKeesport, Pa., convenience store March 22 and announced she had been held against her will for 10 years. Her alleged captor had worked as a security guard in her middle school.

• The News-Review of Roseburg, Ore., for providing stories and photographs Feb. 23 when a young man shot a fellow high school student.

To receive e-mail notification of new APME Updates, write to APME@ap.org

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