2015 Newsletter Achievement Awards Program Info

[Guest Mark McAlpine]

When are the 2015 Newsletter Achievement Awards Program (NAAP) packets going to be mailed out to the regions? It appears that some of the national committee members have changed, and some regions/newsletter editors may need to change some of the names & addresses where they're mailing their newsletters.

Also, last month at the Newsletter Seminar at the Annual Meeting in Philadelphia a question was raised about why we're still mailing hardcopies of the newsletters to the committee members instead of e-mailing them softcopies. If I recall correctly, we didn't answer the question, just said it was under consideration. Has a decision been made yet? E-mailing softcopies would save the regions some money (and save a few trees).

Thank you very much!

[John_S_in_Penna]

Mark, it's been my understanding that the newsletter judges

often have dozens of newsletters to look at each month.

They are individuals--and volunteers--and for them to print out

hundreds of color pages would be time-consuming and difficult.

And copy-paper printouts might not show your newsletter to full advantage!

And wouldn't anyone get tired staring at a screen!

I don't see the printed requirement changing any time soon.

From an editor's perspective, I think selecting good-quality paper and

having things attractively printed have a lot of merit. Your work is

worth keeping! And those members of your region too busy to

get out much to events will thereby have tangible evidence of their

membership coming to them regularly. An excellent newsletter

may be the glue that holds some of those car fans in your ranks.

[Guest Mark McAlpine]

Thank you for your well-thought out points, John. I know the newsletter judges are volunteers and appreciate very much (as I know we all do) what they do for the club. I especially appreciate the suggestions they and others like you have shared to help us improve our newsletters and make them more informative and entertaining for our members.

I wasn't expecting the judges to print the newsletters. (You're right, that would be expensive for them.) I thought they could just review them on their computers. Probably because I spend most of the day on a computer at work, I didn't consider that many (most?) people don't want to sit for hours in front of a computer.

I agree with you about the pleasure and attractiveness of hardcopy. (Personally, I prefer to read hardcopy newsletters, magazines and books. Maybe it's a generational thing.) However, there is a cost associated with printing and mailing our newsletters. Electronic distribution saves a lot. In our region about 3/4 of the members opted to receive their newsletters electronically via e-mail and save the club some money--this saves our region several thousand dollars a year. About 1/4 prefer to receive their newsletters hardcopy, which is fine. The main thing is that every member is kept informed. As you point out, some members are too busy and other are unable to get out to participate in many club events. A club's newsletters help them stay connected, informed, enjoy the activities vicariously, and maybe motivate them to come to the next activity.

The one minor consideration for our newsletter is that we post and e-mail it in full color. For hardcopy, to hold down expenses, we only print the front and back covers in color. (Our newsletter is 24 pgs.) So, not that it's a big deal, when we submit hardcopies of our region's newsletter to be judged they do not receive a full color copy (which is our choice).

Thanks again for your comments! You're much more experienced at this than me and I really value and appreciate your suggestions.

[R W Burgess]

.......However, there is a cost associated with printing and mailing our newsletters. Electronic distribution saves a lot. In our region about 3/4 of the members opted to receive their newsletters electronically via e-mail and save the club some money--this saves our region several thousand dollars a year. .

You only have to mail 4 newsletters a month, which should not be overly expensive, since the awards program has not started yet.

.....The one minor consideration for our newsletter is that we post and e-mail it in full color. For hardcopy, to hold down expenses, we only print the front and back covers in color. (Our newsletter is 24 pgs.) So, not that it's a big deal, when we submit hardcopies of our region's newsletter to be judged they do not receive a full color copy (which is our choice)......

There is no "point value" for color anymore. While VP of Publications, I had that value deleted to level the playing field against larger, more profitable regions. Here is a link to the outdated score value list... http://www.aaca.org/images/efitor_manual/Chapter_7.pdf

I believe VP of Publications, Fred Young, is in the process of updating the Editors Manual.

Wayne

Edited March 13, 2015 by R W Burgess (see edit history)