Register by July 6 for 114th PPA Convention
Join us in Canyon July 14-15, for the 114th annual PPA Convention!
Register Online now by clicking here.
REGISTRATION DEADLINE: July 6. Read the line-up below!
FRIDAY, July 14
Golden Spread Rural Electric Cooperatives hosts our Hall of Fame luncheon as we renew friendships and make new connections while honoring some of our area’s top journalists! Lunch is followed by an Ad Revenue Roundtable and the PPA Ethics Panel, all at Texas Rose. The Hospitality opens at 4:30 and then we travel to the Pioneer Amphitheatre for BBQ, backstage tours, and a performance of TEXAS! Don’t forget to bring your Silent Auction items to benefit the PPA Scholarship Fund! The 12th annual PPA Silent Auction will run from lunch through the Hospitality Hour.
SATURDAY, July 15
Looking for a new way to connect with your audience? Consider Podcasting! Austin Lewter from the Texas Center for Community Journalism will take us through the basics of starting and distributing a Podcast centered on your newspaper as a way to reach new news consumers. After two morning sessions at WTAMU, we’ll go to Mickey’s Italian Restaurant for our annual Xcel Energy business luncheon and Better Newspaper Contest Awards luncheon.
PPA visitors to Canyon are encouraged to stay at the new Hampton Inn at 3101 4th Ave., right next to the Texas Rose Steakhouse. There is no room block, but you can make reservations by calling (806) 452-0044.
Please share this invitation with other Panhandle / South Plains and Eastern New Mexico newspapers! We look forward to seeing you all next month!
FRIDAY, JULY 14
• Noon – Golden Spread Rural Electric HALL OF FAME LUNCHEON – Texas Rose
• 2:00 p.m. – AD REVENUE ROUNDTABLE – Texas Rose
• 3:00 p.m. – PPA ETHICS PANEL – Texas Rose
• 4:00 p.m. – PPA Board Meeting – Texas Rose
• 4:30 p.m. – Hospitality – Texas Rose
• 6:30 p.m. – TEXAS Backstage Tour followed by BBQ Dinner
• 8:15 p.m. – TEXAS performance
SATURDAY, JULY 15
• 8:30 a.m. – Registration Opens, WTAMU
• 9:00 a.m. – Podcasting 1 with Austin Lewter, WTAMU
• 10:45 a.m. – Podcasting 2 with Austin Lewter, WTAMU
• Noon – BNC Awards & Business Luncheon, sponsored by Xcel Energy – Mickey’s Italian Restaurant
• AFTERNOON – Explore Downtown Canyon
2023 Scholarship Deadline June 7
High School seniors and College students in areas served by Panhandle Press member newspapers are invited to apply for this year’s PPA Scholarships. Deadline to apply is June 7, 2023. Applications must be received by the secretary on that date.
Deadlines set for Contest Entries & Hall of Fame nominations
DEADLINE EXTENDED: 2022 Convention Registration & Hall of Fame Ballot
Registration is now open for the 2022 PPA Convention in Hereford March 25-26.
Important Deadlines:
Hall of Fame Ballots Due: March 11, 2022
Hotel Reservations Due: EXTENDED DEADLINE: MARCH 18, 2022
Convention Registration Deadline: EXTENDED DEADLINE: MARCH 18, 2022
2021 Better Newspaper Contest Rules & Hall of Fame Nominations
Entries for the 2021 Better Newspaper Contest are due February 4, 2022.
Click here for complete contest rules and Hall of Fame nomination instructions.
PPA holds 111th meeting in Amarillo
The 111th annual meeting of the Panhandle Press Association was held July 23-24, 2021, in Amarillo.
The convention opened with a Past Presidents Reunion Luncheon on Friday attended by 17 past presidents and two former PPA secretaries. An afternoon roundtable focused on the use of podcasts and Facebook Live to connect with a wider audience and as a possible revenue source. Friday evening, the PPA was welcomed with a reception at the Amarillo center of West Texas A&M University, and members then enjoyed an Amarillo Sod Poodles baseball game with an after-game fireworks show.
Saturday’s activities featured the return (virtually) of PPA-favorite Russell Viers as he remotely wowed those in attendance with tips and tricks for getting the most out of Adobe Creative Suite. Russell, speaking from an undisclosed location, “appeared” to be in several locations in the Panhandle. The training sessions were also held at the WTAMU center as was the PPA ethics panel discussion that afternoon, which featured current issues presented by Don Richards.
During a Friday luncheon, the late Grady and Jo Ann Harrison of Spur were inducted into the PPA Hall of Fame. Grady Joe Harrison (1929-2020) and his wife and partner, Jo Ann, represent the dedication and deep community knowledge of the mom-and-pop weekly newspaper operation, as publishers of the Texas Spur for nearly four decades. A sports fanatic and an Army veteran who once worked for The Stars & Stripes, Joe Harrison came to Spur after graduating from Texas Tech University in 1957 and bought the newspaper the following year. He and Jo Ann ran the business until 1996, receiving the General Excellence Award from the West Texas Press Association, among several awards in news writing, sports writing, column writing, and advertising initiative. They shepherded the transition from Linotype to phototypesetting to the digital era. Spur benefited from the couple’s chronicling of its life, as well as their service in school, sports, church, and civic activity. Jo Ann Pirtle Harrison (1931-2020) worked alongside her husband, Joe, at The Texas Spur for most of the nearly 40 years they owned the newspaper. Jo Ann, who married high school sweetheart Joe in 1949 and came to Spur with him and their first son in 1957, parlayed her college coursework and experience as a secretary in the banking industry into 35 years as the newspaper’s advertising director. She was also active in school, sports, church, and civic life, and received the highest citizen award in the state of Texas for women, “The Yellow Rose of Texas,” by then Gov. Mark White. She was voted Spur’s Citizen of the Year in 1984.
Creed Huff of Fritch was recognized as the PPA scholarship recipient for the coming year.
In the PPA Better Newspaper Contest, The Canadian Record won General Excellence honors in Division One, and The Canyon News topped Division Two. The Clarendon Enterprise and the Moore County News*Press were named as the
recipients of the Ken Towery Community Service Award for Divisions I and II respectively.
Tara Huff of the Eagle-Press in Fritch was recognized for her service as PPA president this past year. The membership elected Jeff Blackmon of Hereford to lead the PPA for 2021-2022 along with Vice President Tim Ritter of Canyon and Secretary/Treasurer Roger Estlack of Clarendon. The membership also elected Shane Lance of Quanah and Mary Dudley of Perryton as board members. They will join the following current directors for the coming year: Mary Smithee of Canadian, John Lee of Pampa, and Michael Wright of Dumas. Huff continues on the board as the PPA’s Immediate Past President.
Next year’s Panhandle Press Convention will be held in Hereford on March 25-26, 2022.
2021 Convention Registration & Hall of Fame Ballot
Registration is now open for the 2021 PPA Convention in Amarillo July 23-24.
Important Deadlines:
Hall of Fame Ballots Due: June 30, 2021
Hotel Reservations Due: July 2, 2021
Convention Registration Deadline: July 9, 2021
2020 Better Newspaper Contest Rules & Hall of Fame Nominations
Entries for the 2020 Better Newspaper Contest are due February 19, 2020.
Click here for complete contest rules and Hall of Fame nomination instructions.
PPA holds 2020 awards dinner in Amarillo
The 110th annual meeting of the Panhandle Press Association was held July 24 in Amarillo at the Hoffbrau Steakhouse.
The association’s annual convention was scheduled for March 20-21 in Perryton, but the COVID-19 pandemic call off that plan, leading to the PPA’s main events being distilled into one banquet.
PPA Scholarship winner Faith Douglas of Canyon (center) stands with PPA Secretary Roger Estlack, Canyon News editor Tim Ritter, PPA President Tara Huff, and PPA Vice President Jeff Blackmon. Not present: PPA Scholarship winner Kade Miller of Panhandle.
Faith Douglas of Canyon and Kade Miller of Panhandle were recognized as scholarship recipients for the coming year.
Dr. Robert Riza of Riza Executive Leadership was the keynote speaker for the evening. Dr. Riza focused his remarks on staying relevant in a changing world and encouraged papers to seek out new partnerships and offer new services to continue to serve their communities.
The late Harry Koch of the Quanah Tribune and the late Nancy Young of the Borger News-Herald and the Pampa News were inducted into the PPA Hall of Fame.
Koch, at the age of 24, purchased the Quanah Chief in 1891. Three years later, he acquired the Quanah Tribune. He combined them into the Quanah Tribune-Chief. He was the editor/owner for 50 years until his death. Through the newspaper, Koch was an advocate for Quanah and its growth. He was involved with the Panhandle Press Association from its inception. He was actively involved in other press associations as well and was the Texas Press Association president in 1918-19, the West Texas Press Association in 1918, and the North West Texas Press Association in 1903-04. He also served as vice president of those associations as well as vice president of the PPA in 1935-36.
Nancy June Christian Young was a lifetime Stinnett resident and worked in the newspaper industry for more than 40 years at both the Borger News-Herald and the Pampa News. She was the editor of the Stinnett Herald during the 1970s and 1980s before working as a reporter at the Borger News-Herald. In the early 1990s, Nancy went to Pampa. In 2003, she came back to Borger, and was named editor in 2004. She remained there until her retirement in 2006. After her retirement, Nancy began an online newspaper named Hutchinson County. Highlights, as she called it, provided former and current residents information about Borger, Fritch, and Stinnett. One of her key concerns was sharing the background and history of Hutchinson County with its residents. As Facebook became popular, Nancy saw another avenue in which to ensure information was passed on and created the Stinnett Rattler Page. Nancy died Aug. 30, 2019, at the age of 76.
Winners of the 2019 PPA Better Newspaper Contest.
In the PPA Better Newspaper Contest, The Clarendon Enterprise won General Excellence honors in Division One, and The Canyon News topped Division Two. Clarendon and the Moore County News*Press were named as the recipients of the Ken Towery Community Service Award for Divisions I and II respectively. Complete contest results can be found here: Division One and Division Two.
Tara Huff of the Eagle-Press in Fritch was recognized for her service as PPA president this past year. The membership re-elected Huff to lead the PPA for 2020-2021 along with re-electing Vice President Jeff Blackmon of Hereford and Secretary/Treasurer Roger Estlack of Clarendon. The membership also elected John Lee of Pampa and Mary Smithee of The Canadian Record as new board members. They will join the following current directors for the coming year: Mary Dudley of Perryton, Tim Ritter of Canyon, and Michael Wright of Dumas. Joni Yara of Booker continues on the board as the PPA’s Immediate Past President.
Next year’s Panhandle Press Convention will be held in Amarillo at a date to be determined later.