Ma Murray Award Registration is underway!

By now you have probably read the list of finalists for the 2010 Ma Murray Community Newspaper Awards (if not, then check out the list at http://www.bccommunitynews.com/files/awards.html).

Please note that Gala registration and hotel booking information is now live on our website at the above URL and we encourage all BCYCNA members to attend! The deadline to register and book your hotel room is Friday, March 19. (Last year we did run out of rooms, so please do not leave it till the last minute!)

Also, to all finalists: last week we sent out a fax to each finalist newspaper with a request to submit electronic copies of your entries, as well as sign-off sheets to confirm the spelling of your name, etc. The deadline for both of these requests is just two days away, on Wednesday, March 10. We will be doing a callout tomorrow to remind those of you who have not yet submitted…. So if you haven’t already, please email a jpg or pdf of your entry to kirstin@bccommunitynews.com (see below if you need a reminder of what type of file to send), and please fax back your sign-off sheet to 604-684-4713, even if there are no changes. Again, we need both of these done by Wed, March 10.

See you at the Ma Murray Awards!

SENDING ELECTRONIC COPIES OF YOUR ENTRY:

We are asking that electronic versions of all finalists’ entries be sent in via email to kirstin@bccommunitynews.com by Wednesday, March 10, 2010. Please note that these will be printed in our awards booklet as well as enlarged on the big screen, so high resolution is definitely a good idea. Kindly write the award category in the subject line of the email, and make sure that it is clear whose entry it is (newspaper name and finalist’s name).

• For Special Section, Special Publication, Community Service, Classifieds or Newspaper Promotion, please email a PDF of a feature page or cover, as it was printed.
• For Photo Essay, please email a PDF of the page(s) as laid out in the paper.
• For Newspaper Excellence, please email a PDF of the entire front page of one of the editions from the weeks judged (January 2009 or August 2009).
• For Ad Design or Cartoon, please email a PDF of the entry on its own (not the whole page).
• For Ad Campaign, please email a PDF of one ad from the campaign on its own (not the whole page from the paper; not the whole campaign).
• For Environmental Initiative and Feature Series, please email a PDF of the entire (first) page of the article or series, plus a text version of the article (or of one highlight article).
• For any other writing category, please email a PDF of the entire (first) page as it was printed, plus a text version of the entire article or column.
• For any photo category, please email a jpg image of the photo.
• For the Integrity Award, please email jpg photos of the winner.
• For Online Innovation, we will print off your homepage.

Kindly send the above to Kirstin Hepburn in the BCYCNA office at
kirstin@bccommunitynews.com by Wednesday, March 10, 2010.

Increasing Subscription Sales in 2010

In the Internet age it takes more than wishful thinking to grow your home delivery numbers. To sell newspaper subscriptions you need to get creative and use all available tools and resources. In this webinar, provided through the Ontario Community Newspapers Association, participants will learn how to create circulation sales plans and incorporate proven strategies to help move sales in the right direction.

Title: Subscription Sales Strategies
Date: Thursday, March 11, 2010
Time: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EST

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements

PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

Space is limited.

Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/675244833

MA MURRAY AWARDS – FINALISTS ANNOUNCED!

Now that the world is heading home, and our city is starting to readjust to normal day-to-day life, those of us in the downtown BCYCNA office are able to begin refocusing on the all-important upcoming Ma Murray Awards!

Thank you to all our members for your incredible patience as we have worked to process all the judges’ decisions.

At long last, we are delighted to announce the finalists for the 2010 Ma Murray Awards. Click Finalists for the list.

Winners will be announced at the spectacular Ma Murray Awards Gala on Saturday, April 10, 2010 at the River Rock Casino Resort. Get all the details on our website: http://www.bccommunitynews.com.

Gold Medal for our monthly winners!

The BCYCNA monthly member draw has not been announced for a while but the sales teams are booking ads faster than Alexandre Bilodeau is on skis. We have December, January and February winners to hand out. The following eager individuals have been selected to win the $500 monthly draw.

December - Kelly Pownall, Canwest Community Classifieds
January - Cameron Northcott, Burnaby Now
February - Kristy O’Connor, BC Classifieds (Black Press)

Once again, the BCYCNA hopes you and your team will continue to encourage one another with this campaign. ln order to qualify for the cash prize, all you have to do is sell the BCYCNA’s Community Classifieds! Every time you or a member of your team sells an ad, his/her name automatically goes in the hat for the monthly draw.

BCYCNA members win SNA contest

After much anticipation, Suburban Newspapers of America announced the winners of the 2009 Editorial Contest. Newspapers all over North America submitted their best and brightest work – this included several of BCYCNA member papers. Judged by the Journalism Department faculty of Loyola University Chicago, School of Communication, this year’s contest heralded magnificent results.

Black Press received an outstanding 55 winning entries. Some of the big winners among individual weekly publications include the Peace Arch News with 8 awards, North Shore Outlook with 7, and Abbotsford News also with 7 awards. In the category of Weekly Newspaper Groups the top award went to Black Press with 39 awards! For the complete winners’ list, please click to view by category HERE.

The winners will be recognized at the 2010 Fall Publishers’ & Advertising Directors’ Conference.

Torch relay brightens Canada’s Olympic spirit

The Olympic Torch has made its way back to British Columbia on the final leg of its 106-day journey across our beautiful nation. Along the way many proud Canadians had the opportunity to carry the flame or witness it pass through their communities, as documented by many community newspapers highlighting the Olympic spirit and positive experiences associated with this once-in-a-lifetime event.

On Thursday, February 11 the Torch will arrive in Vancouver for bell lap of the relay with many notable Canadians such as astronaut Julie Payette, singer/songwriter Jann Arden, singer/songwriter Michael Bublé, hockey-dad Walter Gretzky and former BC Lions kicker Luis Passaglia, carrying this Olympic symbol through the host city.

Although Vancouver, West Vancouver, Richmond and Whistler host venues for the winter sports, this will truly be Canada’s Games. We wanted to highlight a few of the memorable torch relay stories featured in the BCYCNA member newspapers. As these stories show, the Olympic spirit across BC and Yukon was certainly on display – it all leading up to February 12 where the world will witness the Torch Lighting Ceremony opening the 2010 Winter Olympics.

For an interactive map of the Torch relay click HERE.

Canwest’s would-be suitors

Since October 2009, one of Canada’s largest international media companies Canwest, owner of several BCYCNA member newspapers, has been operating under creditor protection as part of the process to recapitalize the company.

Some analysts expect that the media conglomerate will sell assets or be broken up entirely as the restructuring process continues, in part because the publishing division has a separate set of lenders. The Financial Post, a Canwest subsidiary, came out with an article with possible suitors for the struggling company – it was posted on thevancouversun.com this week. Some of these potential buyers include Quebecor Inc., Transcontinental Inc., Alberta Investment Management Corp. (AIMCo.) and Glacier Media Inc.

For a full list of the would-be buyers pros and cons – click HERE.

74 per cent of adults read their community newspaper

On January 11, 2010 the Canadian Community Newspaper Database Corporation (ComBase) announced the results of its 2008-2009 study, with readership data for 218 markets across Canada.

Overall, community newspaper readership remains strong, with 74 per cent of Canadians reading their community newspaper. Readership is particularly strong among desirable target groups:

• 76 per cent of women
• 78 per cent of baby boomers
• 77 per cent of adults with children
• 74 per cent of university-educated adults
• 76 per cent of homeowners
• 78 per cent of affluent Canadians (i.e., household income >$75K)

According to the 2008-2009 study, adults 18 and over in Canada have read any of the last four issues in their communities.

Two hundred thirty-five newspapers participated in ComBase 2008-2009, which includes media consumption data for community newspapers, daily newspapers, ethnocultural and other newspapers, radio, television and Internet.

Results for individual markets have been distributed to participating newspapers. ComBase is in the process of releasing the complete database to media planners who use information systems software. National and regional highlights, as well as a list of markets and media, are available on the ComBase website at www.combase.ca. Data requests may also be submitted via email to research@combase.ca.

Your Guide for Getting around in February 2010

Speculation over what Vancouver is going to look like during the imminent 2010 Olympics Games has become a regional past time over the last few years.  From real estate to restaurants, rentals to road closure: no one seems to know exactly what to expect.

With the BCYCNA offices in downtown Vancouver these things weigh pretty heavily on our minds. We therefore thought we would share some of the information that is helping us formulate our commuting plans during “the big show.”

The first is from the City of Vancouver and details the locations and timing of Olympic-related road closures:

Vancouver 2010 Road Closures

The second comes is a Vancouver Sun editorial discussing what commuters can expect from Translink during the run of the Games:

Vancouver Sun: Expect waits up to two hours for transit

Entries for the 2010 Ma Murray Community Newspaper Awards

The deadline for entries for the 2010 Ma Murray Community Newspaper Awards has already come and gone. We thank you all for your diligence in sending us your submissions, and are happy to report that we received entries from 87 of our members, which gives us a steady 74 per cent participation rate. Now that you have done your work in submitting your entries, we have the job of preparing them all for the judges.

Finalists will be announced at the end of February or early March, and the awards themselves will be handed out at a spectacular Gala at the River Rock Casino Resort on Saturday, April 10, 2010. We hope to see you all there.

Good luck and stay tuned for the 2010 Ma Murray updates.