By Cecilia Akuffo
Bulletin Staff

There were always new elements when journalists throughout New England gathered for an annual convention each winter in Boston for almost 60 years. And there were always familiar elements too.

This winter will offer the same mix of the new and the familiar, but with the added twist of a first-time sea change that ends, in one way, the almost 60-year string and begins a new one.

When the annual convention takes place this winter, Feb. 5 and 6 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel, it will be under the auspices of the New England Newspaper and Press Association.

NENPA’s first convention ends a run of 59 under the New England Press Association, held in Boston each winter, because NEPA merged July 1 with the New England Newspaper Association to form the consolidated organization that will host the 2010 convention.

NENA had been used to holding two get-togethers each year, in March and in the fall. NENPA, as the successor organization, will host a conference next fall for publishers, as NENA had.

Robert Laska, president of NENPA’s board of directors, said: "I am very excited about the February convention in Boston. NENPA was born on July 1, 2009, and this will be the first time the merged organization will have a setting where all members — old and new — can come together for training, networking and camaraderie.”

Brenda Reed, NENPA’s executive director, said: “We are all excited about planning the first convention with the merged organizations. I am looking forward to first-time visitors and to those members who are returning. We certainly want to make the convention worthwhile for all papers. We want to have something for everyone.”

On Thursday, Feb. 4, the day before the NENPA convention officially kicks off, an all-day new-media workshop will be held in the host hotel, the Boston Park Plaza. The New England New Media Association is working with NENPA to organize the day-long event.

The NENPA convention officially gets under way with a continental breakfast at 9 a.m. Friday, Feb. 5.

After the breakfast, at 9:30 a.m., Anthony Casale, chief executive officer of American Opinion Research, based in Princeton, N.J., will give the keynote speech on “The Media in 2015.” Casale was on the original team that established USA Today and was its first national editor. He later launched USA Today’s first polling operation.

During the rest of Friday and through the day Saturday, Feb. 6, the convention will feature about 50 workshops, as traditionally had been the case at recent winter conventions.

There are five categories of workshops: newsroom, management, advertising, multimedia and design. Most sessions will last 75 to 90 minutes each. There are some three-hour workshops, including “Finding Fresh Angles on the Economy in Your Own Backyard” and “News Design and Newsstand Sales.”

Mary Pat Rowland, vice president of NENPA’s board of directors and its incoming president for 2010, said the convention has been “historically a terrific opportunity for journalists to meet and gain excellent career instruction. There will be lots of variety offering something for everyone — advertising, circulation, news. This convention has been especially good for the rank and file.”

There is a focus on new-media offerings, in keeping with the news industry’s direction, Rowland said.

Rowland said that, even considering the shaky economy, she is expecting a good turnout because the convention enables people in the industry to stay “keyed in” to what is happening in the news industry and gives them a chance to meet.

Historically, 800 to 1,000 people have attended the recent two-day winter conventions. NENPA has about 500 newspaper members and about 540 members total.

On Saturday morning, Feb. 6, NENPA will hold its annual meeting, as required by the organization’s bylaws. Financial and other updates will discussed and officers will be elected.

An awards banquet will be held Saturday evening, Feb. 6.

There are about 3,000 entries for the 63 categories in the awards contest. Each category will have at least four winners; in most cases, contestants are divided first by their status as a daily or weekly publication and then into classes based on their circulation.

The banquet will culminate in awards for newspapers of general excellence. Eight newspapers will win those awards because four circulation classes are each broken into two subclasses.

The Saturday evening awards ceremony follows a tradition of past winter conventions, but the newspaper of the year awards that were their capstone will be presented instead at the fall conference for publishers. The Hall of Fame induction ceremony that had been a staple at recent winter conventions will also now be part of the fall conference for publishers, as will the Horace Greeley award, which also had been a feature of the winter convention.

When a reception for college scholarship recipients will be held has yet to be determined. That reception, too, had been part of past winter conventions.

Another familiar element of the winter convention will continue in February at the convention’s also-traditional site, the Boston Park Plaza Hotel: a trade show featuring vendors throughout the country who offer their goods and services to the newspaper industry.

Registration for the convention will begin in mid-November. E-mails will be sent out with information about how to register, including a link to the NENPA Web site, where members can register online or print out a registration form to be sent in. Those desiring more details can call the NENPA office at (781) 320-8050.

Details about the convention and its trade show will be updated on the NENPA Web site, www.nenpa.com.

Mary Catherine Adams, a graduate student at the Northeastern University School of Journalism and news staff coordinator for the Bulletin, contributed to this report.

POSTED 10/8/09

'There will be lots of variety offering something for everyone — advertising, circulation, news. This convention has been especially good for the rank and file.'

-- Mary Pat Rowland,
Vice president,
NENPA board