Thursday’s VNA sessions are cancelled

Because of the low number of registrations, the two Virginia Newspaper Academy training sessions set for Thursday have been cancelled.

“How to Manage Your Manager” and “Leading in Times of Change” will be rescheduled at a later date.

In the interim, please check out the VNA calendar online for sessions scheduled for the remainder of the 2008-09 semester.

The next session is scheduled for March 5 and will focus on selling strategies.

“Selling Against The Competition” is a three-part session that will cover the essentials in communicating the strength and value of newspaper advertising, understanding the competition and basic media terminology, and choosing the most effective strategy for selling against the competition. It will be led by Adam Cook, a senior marketing analyst for The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk.

The session will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at VPA Headquarters in Glen Allen. The cost to attend is $70 for VPA members; $100 for nonmembers. That cost includes lunch.

To register by e-mail, contact Kim Woodward. Visitors also may download a registration form from the VPA Web site. The form is a universal registration for all VNA sessions, so circle ‘Selling Against the Competition’ when filling it out.

Questions? Call Kim Woodward at (804) 521-7574.

A few more contest deadlines are on the horizon

All the entry deadlines for the 2008 VPA News, Editorial & Photo Contest have passed, but the deadlines for VPA’s other major contests are still out there.

• Thursday, Jan. 15 is the deadline for entries in the 2008 VPA Advertising Contest. Click here for more information on submissions. January 15 also is the deadline for one of VPA’s newest contests, the Outstanding Sales Professional of the Year Award, an individual honor presented to the top sales rep as nominated by his or her peers. Click here to download a nomination form.

The Advertising Contest and Sales Professional awards will be presented during the closing banquet of the Old Dominion Advertising Conference April 24-25 at the Doubletree Charlottesville.

• Friday, Jan. 23 is the deadline for submissions in the 2008 Virginia Newspaper Advertising Agency (VANAA) competition. This contest is open only to advertising agencies that placed ads in Virginia newspapers. Click here for more information about the competition.

The VANAA awards will be presented during the Advertising Conference’s April 25 luncheon.

• Friday, Feb. 6 is the entry deadline for the VPA College Journalism Contest, open to college journalists across Virginia. Click here for links to contest rules and entry forms. The college awards will be presented this spring.

For more information about any of the contests, contact Stephanie McCraw at (804) 521-7578.

Don’t forget to sign up for VPA’s conferences

The deadlines to register for VPA’s two main conferences will be here before you know it, so early signups are strongly encouraged.

The VPA/Associated Press News Conference & Annual Meeting will be held March 20-21 at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott. The deadline to register for the conference and to make hotel reservations is Feb. 25. Click here for links to an agenda and registration form.

VPA’s Old Dominion Advertising Conference will be held April 24-25 at the Doubletree Charlottesville. The deadline for conference registration and hotel reservations is April 2. Click here for links to an agenda and registration form.

Conference attendees are encouraged to bring promotional items (mugs, clothing, caps, etc.) from their publications to both the News and Advertising conferences. These items are given away as door prizes during the conferences’ sessions.

Remember deaths, retirees during Annual Meeting

VPA’s Annual Meeting is a time to remember retirements and losses at member publications.

A list of deaths from the previous year traditionally is read aloud during the meeting and a moment of silence observed. Retirees’ names are printed in the meeting’s program but traditionally are not read aloud.

If your publication has a loss or retirement that you would like remembered during the upcoming Annual Meeting March 21, please e-mail that information to Bill Atkinson before Feb. 13. The information should include the person’s name, newspaper affiliation and date of retirement or death.

‘Get Green,’ earn rewards from Virginia Press Services

Virginia Press Services, the business subsidiary of VPA, is launching a program to reward newspaper sales representatives who sell into the Statewide Classified Ad Network or the 2x2 Regional Display Ad Network.

Under the “Get Green” program, sales reps can earn monetary rewards for reaching goals for new ads sold into either network. The rewards are $25 for five new ads, $50 for 10 new ads and $100 for 15 new ads. The rewards will apply only to new ads sold between Feb. 1, 2009 and June 28, 2009, inclusive.

“New” ads are described as accounts that have not placed ads into either network since Feb 1, 2008.

The rewards will be paid as each goal is attained. At the end of the program period, sales reps who sold 10 or more new ads will be entered into a drawing for $500 in cash.

For more information about the Get Green program, contact Janet Madison at (804) 521-7571.

First Amendment champion dies at 78

Alexander “Sandy” Wellford, a Richmond-based attorney whose arguments in favor of letting media into a court trial led to a major Supreme Court decision, died Dec. 31 at his home in the Richmond area following a period of declining health. He was 78.

In 1978, Wellford argued on behalf of Richmond-based journalists when a judge presiding over a murder trial in Hanover County allowed the case to be tried in private. That judicial ruling was upheld by the state Supreme Court. But in 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed that decision when the justices mandated that the public and press have a constitutional right to access at trials.

Wellford counseled journalists all across Virginia on Freedom of Information and First Amendment issues for many years until his health began to decline.

He is survived by his wife; three sons; one daughter and 10 grandchildren.

Send your rate cards for both print, online ads

Virginia Press Services Inc. requests that VPA members who updated their rate cards for both print and online advertising should send those updates to VPS.

VPS uses this information to customize ad-placement orders for newspapers and newspaper Web sites throughout Virginia.

Rate cards may be e-mailed to Diana Shaban, VPS advertising director. Hard copies of the cards should be mailed to her attention at Virginia Press Services Inc., 11529 Nuckols Road, Glen Allen, VA 23059.