Dec. 24-25: NCPA offices closed for Christmas

Jan. 1, 2010: NCPA offices closed fo New Year's Day

March 14-20, 2010: Sunshine Week

March 18, 2010: NCPA Winter Institute at the Dean Dome, Chapel Hill

April 29, 2010: Newspaper Academy at UNC-Chapel Hill

Christmas is almost upon us
Just think, one week from today is Christmas Eve. Our best holiday wishes go to all of our members! Next week, we will not have an NCPA e-press due to the holiday. We will be back the following week, just in time for New Year’s Eve. And, shortly after that, you’ll receive the printed The North Carolina Press newsletter for January. We are making some pretty big changes in the newsletter, so be watching for it.

Santa has his list and we have ours
Yes, we’re still making a pitch to gather electronic copies of all our member newspapers’ front pages. The list is slowly shrinking. Please check to see if we still need a PDF or JPG image of your paper by clicking here. We will be using these fronts in the 2010 NCPA Newspaper Directory, so we’d like to make sure we’ve got every paper represented. Send your front to john@ncpress.com.

OK, we know you’ve been waiting for this
Yes, Virginia, there are editorial contest results. By the time you read this e-press the results should be in the hands of the U.S. Postal Service. Of course those of you who had asked for results by e-mail will receive them that way. A reminder that the results are not to be announced to the public until after Winter Institute. Congratulations to all the winners!

• Sherry Matthews, editor and general manager of The Sampson Independent at Clinton, received an award from the North Carolina Parks and Recreation Association for support of recreational initiatives in the community.

• Times-News of Hendersonville moving offices to new space in the spring
• Fayetteville Observer journalists with Bragg troops in Afghanistan
• Fired aide claims sheriff told him to delete e-mails requested by newspaper
• Star-News of Wilmington featured in American Journalism Review story on using social media in reporting
• Brunswick County news media go bowling to help out food bank
• Deborah Potter, founder of NewsLab, to give fall commencement speech at UNC-CH School of Journalism and Mass Communication on Sunday

• Kubas Consulting's latest report foresees an improving ad picture for newspapers, but "improving" may just mean "not as bad" (PDF report)
• Shield Law passes Judiciary Committee in a 14-5 vote
  • Media groups applaud the vote
• Billionaire Warren Buffett gives his take on what went wrong for newspapers in the Internet age
• Supreme Court to hear case on whether text messages on employee devices are private

• STEVE BUTTRY: How news organizations can create a mobile-first strategy
• C.W. ANDERSON: What journalists will be fighting about in 2010
• JILL GEISLER: What great managers know about helping staff manage time