Newspaper publishers, editors and staffs from across the state are gathering at Snowshoe Mountain Resort for educational opportunities and awards Thursday through Saturday. The West Virginia Press Association Annual Trade Show and Convention is bringing the group together to recognize achievements in advertising and editorial content and a hall of fame induction for former editor emerita of The Inter-Mountain.
The first female editor of a daily West Virginia newspaper, Eldora Nuzum is set to be posthumously inducted into the West Virginia Press Association Hall of Fame during a breakfast ceremony Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Nuzum began her more than 50-year career at The Grafton Sentinel in the late 1940s and then arrived at The Inter-Mountain where she worked for 36 years, of which more than 32 were in the capacity of editor.
Nuzum was chosen from a list of approximately 30 eligible former newspaper editors or publishers who made a significant contribution to West Virginia's news industry, explained WVPA Executive Director Gloria Flowers. The long list was then narrowed down by the WVPA board to four individuals whose names were sent to WVPA members, who selected Nuzum and Cecil B. Highland, former publisher of The Clarksburg Exponent, as this year's inductees.
In addition to Nuzum's induction Friday morning, newspapers will find out who takes top honors in their respective divisions during the Advertising Awards Luncheon on Friday and the Better Newspaper Contest Awards Banquet Saturday evening. WVPA sponsors the annual Better Newspaper Contest. Member newspapers compete for awards in news, advertising, photography and circulation promotion categories. The contest is judged by out-of-state newspaper professionals and awards are presented at the annual meeting in August.
Flowers has been with the WVPA for 31 years and this is the first year advertising and editorial awards will be recognized during the same weekend. In the past, advertising departments have been honored during a spring awards banquet.
Each year, different areas of West Virginia are chosen to host the only meeting where publishers and editors of both small and large newspapers come together, Flowers said. Snowshoe is a popular meeting location and many small, family run newspapers view the weekend as a vacation and bring their families, she added.
While on the mountaintop, the group will learn about multimedia journalism from West Virginia University P.I. Reed School of Journalism Visiting Shott Chair of Journalism Bill Kuykendall.
A total of five journalism students from West Virginia University and Marshall University will be recognized as WVPA foundation scholarship recipients during the weekend of events. The foundation was established more than 25 years ago with responsibilities of funding scholarships to West Virginia journalism majors and fostering professional education for WVPA newspaper staff members.
The scholarships named for former publishers Cecil Highland, Phil Fourney, Roy Owens and Adam Kelly and Dean Emeritus of the WVU P.I. Reed School of Journalism Guy H. Stewart. The Highland scholarship will be presented to MU student Morgan Unger of Berkeley Springs and MU student Mary Elizabeth Wilson of Gassaway will receive the Fourney scholarship. WVU students awarded scholarships are: Candace Nelson of Wellsburg, Owens scholarship; Brittany Bolyard of Tunnelton, Kelly scholarship; and Leann Arthur of Elkview, Stewart scholarship.
Several West Virginia vendors will be on hand at the convention to show media members what they have to offer. Vendors will include the Elkins Merchants Association, public relations firms, printing services, Snowshoe Mountain Resort, Pocahontas County Convention and Visitors Bureau, The Inter-Mountain Newspapers in Education program and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.
Also at Snowshoe Friday through Sunday is the Taste of the Mountains Food, Wine and Jazz Festival. For more information about the event, visit www.snowshoemtn.com. or call 1-877-441-4386.
