ATTENTION NEWSLETTER EDITORS!

AACA Editors!

It has come to my attention that a few regions and chapters may be bending the rules a little. I recently read a newsletter while scoring for the NAAP and saw that the editor was being chastised for having her club’s newsletter cost so much. They assumed it was because the hard copies mailed to their members were in color. The editor had actually only been sending out 3 or 4 copies in color. These colored copies all went to the AACA Publications Committee. The club’s members that received hard copies got them in black and white.

Golly folks, you sent in color copies to the publications committee while slighting your own club’s members? The color value in the NAAP system is only 5 points! Our committee loves seeing color, but please consider your members. Your club’s members are the most important part of your group. Do not slight them while trying to impress us.

I would consider this an inaccurate representation of your region or chapter newsletter.

Wayne

Wayne -

Our newsletter is almost exclusively distributed by e-mail in full color. We make one high quality archive color copy, a few color copies for distribution to new members, etc., and those that go to the committee in color. For those few members who don't get their copy by e-mail , we print and mail them in black and white (in fact I always do a proof copy in black and white to see how it looks) - but it is printed in black and white mostly to encourage those few reluctant and still snail mail members to receive it electronically. As with most other clubs, our members weren't raised on computers, so most print it out to read it, and will often have their copies along with them at meets etc. - almost always printed out in color. So, is our newsletter color or black and white? You solved my issue - yours will be in black and white from now on and save us a few bucks in color print cartridges over the course of a year. I don't write the newsletter for the judges anyway, but I do find the discipline of knowing the newsletter is being judged has helped me make it better. Thank you for clarifying the issue from the Judge's viewpoint, but I still put the newsletter together trying to use color effectively in banners, backgrounds, and photographs - knowing that nearly all our readership sees and appreciates the newsletter in color, even if less than 10% of our membership will receive it by snail mail in black and white.

Rick, You bring up a good point of saving cartridge costs. Maybe the Publications Committee should have not even set up those 5 points for color? It would save a lot of regions and chapters the grief of all of this. I will discuss this with our team for future reference.

Thanks for responding.

Wayne

The point was that color is very much a part of our newsletter and it's primary e-mail audience. How that color is used effectively or how color may conversely appear trashy or inappropriate should be an issue for evaluation. If the judging is only on the few newsletters that are mailed via the post office in black and white, then points for color probably should be dropped as I suspect most regions distribute their newsletters primarily by e-mail and use color for highlights and photographs.

Now that we have this conversation started - as only having done the newsletter for a little over a year, I have been disappointed in this Achievement Award program in two ways. First, I expected that like judging of cars, I would get at least a point score feedback on newsletters so that I could see what was needed to improve. If I have a car judged, I get a score sheet that shows me what areas the judges deducted points and therefore how I can improve the car to show and score better. I don't get this for the newsletter and therefore the award really provides little specific help toward improvement. Second, I hoped that I would have some kind of network to share or see what are the Master Editor award winning newsletters - again like cars we can look at the winners and see what and how to improve. Why is the scoring not shared as feedback? Why aren't examples of each award winning newsletter made available to other editors?

Bob

When I started doing mine, I looked for the list of award winners on line and reviewed their letters. Its certainly a good idea to look at the winners to see what the judges like. I also judged my newsletter myself. I think the score sheet is pretty straight forward and has much less subjectivity than the car judging. My April letter is here and all the old ones are in the Newsletter Archive on the link.

Bill

Iroquois Region, AACA Inc - Home

Thanks Bill. Rick, I am on the road today. When I get back in I will highlight last year's winners for you, then you can check out their newsletters on their region/chapter web sites.

Thanks everyone for helping out and using the editor's forum for what it was designed for.

Wayne

Editors! Here is the 2013 NAAP Score Sheet in a PDF format. I tried getting the web site to upload an Excel file, but it was not allowed.

You will still be able to manually score your own newsletters and compare it to other region and chapter publications.

Give it a whirl. If you get good at it (scoring), give me a holler. We are always looking for help with the Publications Committee.

Wayne

2013 NAAP Score Sheet PDF.pdf

Here is Wayne's list but with hyperlinks to the Region's web site. I did not check to see if all the Region's posted the newsletter on-line.

(consider contacting their region to see about sharing their newsletters by e-mail each month. Wayne)

Gladys K. Guyer – Vapor Locks - Allegheny Mountain Region

Judy L. Edwards – On the Road, Again! - Brass-Nickel Touring Region

Frances D. Shore & Judy Edwards – Buzzard Droppings - Buzzard's Breath Touring Region -No web site

James & Sharon Claire – Crossroads - Chemung Valley Region

William E. DeVore – The Brass Lamp - Genesee Valley Antique Car Society Region

John E. Sayler, Jr. – The Gas Buggy Gazette - Gettysburg Region

Dawn Dreibus – The High Beam - Great Smoky Mountains Region

Keith W. Gramlich – Greater New York Region Newsletter - Greater New York Region

Julia Sharon – The Antique Expression - Gulf Coast Region

Timothy M. Emerich – Chuck Wagon News - Hershey Region

Brooke Davis – Members' Parade - Hornets Nest Region

William D. Clark – Antique Auto News - Iroquois Region

John B. Brown – The Sidelight - Kyana Region

Muriel Slade – The Backfire - Laurel Highlands Region

Donna Dirnberger – Northern Lights - Minnesota Region

Kim M. Gardner – The Chatter - Capitol City Chapter, Minnesota Region

Kay & James S. Scott – The Autograf - Mississippi Valley Region

Marcia Snellen – Spoke Folks - North Alabama Region

Fred H. Lewis – Vintage Voice - Oakland-Pontiac Worldwide Region

Kathleen Haynes – Blue Smoke - Peconic Bay Region

Carol E. Heide & Van Webster – Upton Motor News - Pennsylvania Dutch Region

Virginia Myers – Piston Popper - Sugarloaf Mountain Region

James Rentz – Voyager - The Villages Region

Martha & Neil S. Sugermeyer – The Mud Flap - Tidewater Region

Paul J. Noller – Owner’s Manual - Venice Region

Sandra L. Flynn – Wayne-Pike Update - Wayne-Pike Region

If you would like to use the electronic version of the NAAP score sheet, I have uploaded it to the Brass-Nickel web site.

Excel spread sheet of the NAAP

Judy

Judy had me looking all over her web site for this excel file above.

Check her home page out too, while you're there.

Brass-Nickel

....... The printing, sorting, stapling, and mailing is tedious at best,and the part I hate about my CCCA newsletter.

I hear this a lot Dave, but our own little region here in Virginia only has about 1/2 of its members with e-mail capability. That's why we have a phone tree to alert the members of last minute changes to venues or an important last minute meeting.

Wayne

Don't look for an active link to the NAAP score sheet in the Brass-Nickel web site because there isn't one. Although it does appear in the search engine at the bottom of the page, you can only access it directly by clicking on the link in post #10.

Thanks for the excel score sheet, Judy. That will be a good audit as to what should be in the "ideal" newsletter.

I also appreciate all the lively discussion today from all the contributors. As the editor job turns over to new folks in various Regions, there needs to be some way to more effectively draw them (us - me included) into this community. The award is not the important part - it is improving the format and quality of every region newsletter so that every one is interesting to read and focused on club events for members.

Thank you.

I took over the Tidewater Region AACA's MUDFLAP newsletter as of January this year from Marty and Neil Sugermeyer. Talk about some big shoes to fill! They just received the Old Car Weekly 'Golden Quill' award for the 2012 publication year, but Old Car Weekly accidentally identified me as the editor for that period.

Bob,

How do you enter the "Golden Quill"?

Judy

Hi, Judy. Hope all is well with you and Barker.

If I recall correctly Old Cars magazine advertises a notice for interested parties to submit their publications similar to how they do it for photo submissions for their calendar. I do not keep my copies of Old Cars so no big help. Possibly you could go on-line to Old Cars or ask Chris at the AACA Library & Research Center for his input.

Regards,

Peter.

I just found out that one of the newsletter judges only received one issue of our newsletter (The Tidewater Region Mudflap). Is there a way to contact the rest of the judges to make sure they have the issues they need to evaluate our publication? We are primarily an electronic publication, and have been mailing out issues only to a few members that do not have Internet and to the AACA National judges. This is the first feedback I have reveived that judges have not gotten the needed copies.