Frequent readers of The Virginian-Pilot will soon pay for the digital edition, the newspaper announced Wednesday

Sam Bartley, a 38-year Virginia Mountaineer employee, has been named editor and publisher of the newspaper following the company's reorganization this week. Bartley becomes the sixth editor in the newspaper's 91-year history, succeeding former editor and publisher Lodge Compton, who served in the role for over 40 years. Bartley, part-owner of the Mountaineer for a number of years, is now joined by Scotty Wampler and Joe St. Clair as sole owners of the paper.

The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk, The Free Lance-Star of Fredericksburg, the Northern Virginia Daily of Strasburg, the Loudoun Times-Mirror of Leesburg and Style Weekly were repeat winners of the Virginia Press Association's sweepstakes awards for the 2012 contest year. The awards were among eight sweepstakes prizes presented at the association's annual meeting Saturday in Norfolk.

The deadline to register for Richmond Media Group's Digital Advertising Seminar is end of the day Wednesday, April 24.

Philip Kennicott, the chief art critic of The Washington Post, won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism. According to The Pulitzer's website, Kennicott was noted for "his eloquent and passionate essays on art and the social forces that underlie it, a critic who always strives to make his topics and targets relevant to readers."

The National Newspaper Association today welcomed a decision by the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors to continue Saturday mail delivery while it awaits postal reform legislation from Congress. NNA president Merle Baranczyk, publisher of the Mountain Mail in Salida, CO, also warned NNA will oppose increases in postage rates at a time when closing mail processing facilities are degrading newspaper delivery service nationwide. "The mission of the Postal Service is in its name: it is service. Without reliable service, no price is fair. NNA is working with the Postal Service to do all we can to help newspapers avoid the impacts of the system changes, but we need universal service for our communities and our newspapers. We also believe the ultimate responsibility rests with Congress and we will continue our vigorous advocacy on behalf of community newspapers to pass important postal reform legislation."

COMMUNITY JOURNALISM WORKSHOP 2013 - It's been described as a "boot camp" for new reporters. It's launched numerous newsroom careers. It's an effective skills refresher for mid-career reporters. It's been the foundation for many VPA news contest award winners. To help new reporters who'd like to participate, and cash-strapped newsrooms who'd like to send them, Virginia Press Association is offering six paid scholarships for this year's Community Journalism Workshop, to be held June 20-21 at VPA headquarters in Glen Allen. The application deadline is Tuesday, April 30

AP Wins Copyright Case Against News Aggregator From: NAA Copyright Update On March 20, a federal trial court in New York ruled that aggregator Meltwater News violated Associated Press copyrights in its online news stories. Meltwater News included excerpts of AP articles in its news digests to client-subscribers and refused to pay AP licensing fees.

Tomorrow - Thursday, March 28 is the hotel and registration deadline for this year's VPA/The Associated Press News & Advertising Conference. The program is available online, as is the conference registration form.

Henry Cabot Lodge Compton, 80, of Vansant, editor and publisher of The Virginia Mountaineer for more than 40 years, died Friday, March 22, 2013 following a short illness. The son of Hannibal Albert and Celia Cox Compton, he was born at Compton Mountain, December 6, 1932. He was preceded in death by his brothers, Victor, Ray and Ralph Compton. He began school at the old Loggy Bottom School at Whitewood. In the early 1940s, the family moved to Grundy and he attended Grundy High School where he graduated in 1951. He began working at the Mountaineer in 1944 at the age of 11 as an apprentice helper, or “printer’s devil” – the official newspaper jargon for the title. He continued to work for the newspaper throughout his growing up years, also working at the former Lynwood Theatre.

From Poynter.org Potomac Local Publisher Uriah Kiser broke the story of the shootings at Marine Corps Base Quantico Thursday night. AP reporter Matthew Barakat — whose reporting on the shootings was cited by a Washington Post breaking news alert as well as local TV station WJLA and local radio station WTOP — credited Potomac Local’s coverage in an email to Poynter.

VPA Conference hotel and registration deadline is March 28 - VPA is offering a "bonus day" of professional development sessions on Friday at the 2013 conference, in partnership with the Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) of the Missouri School of Journalism. Featured speakers and topics will be Brian Steffens of RJI on best practices for paid content; Jenn Burleson Mackay of Virginia Tech on apps for journalists, Elizabeth Conner of the Columbia Missourian on social media; and Stephanie Padgett of the Missouri School of Journalism on "translating offline dollars into digital dimes." Costs for these sessions are included in the conference registration fee, so plan to come early and take advantage of these bonus sessions!

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington Examiner will stop publishing a six-day-a-week print newspaper and become a weekly magazine and online publication. Denver-based Clarity Media Group, the paper's parent company, announced the change Tuesday. A company spokeswoman says the newspaper is laying off 87 employees as it eliminates coverage of local news, sports and entertainment. Thirty-eight staffers are being retained and the new publication will make at least 20 new hires.

"The case was before the U.S. Supreme Court and, at one point during the ubiquitous sparring with the justices, Getchell remarked that Freedom of Information laws were 'very much the fad'...Another state official—this one a member of the board of visitors at the University of Virginia—goes even further. He apparently thinks that government transparency is a deterrent to his vision of good government."