If you’ve been putting off getting your entries ready for the Top of the Rockies competition, there’s more time. Here’s a notice from the Colorado Chapter which sponsors the Region 9 competition.

The Colorado Pro Chapter board voted this week to change the deadline for contest entries from Dec. 4 to Dec. 18. Contact Region 9 Director John Ensslin at damon_runyon@hotmail.com for more information. Additional information is also available www.coloradospjpro.com/contest.html. The board also held a meeting Nov. 14. and voted to hand out the Top of the Rockies Awards at a ceremony April 10 during the annual Region 9 Conference to be held in Denver April 9-10. Contest Chair and Region 9 Director John Ensslin said the timing would be tight to get all entries judged by February when the awards ceremony was held last year to coincide with the Colorado Press Association’s conference and awards ceremony. The Top of the Rockies awards ceremony will be moved back to February in 2011.

Ensslin said he expected entry numbers to decrease with the end of the Rocky Mountain News. The Denver Post, for example, will this year spend about half what it did last year on this competition. More than 7,000 emails were sent out, and Ensslin said he had plans to follow up.

For complete information and entry forms, go here. You can read an earlier report on this site here.

As we announced earlier, the deadline has been extended for a chance to apply for fellowships at the Medill National Security Journalism Initiative at Northwestern University. Now we have word that the deadline has been set for December 1. See the posting below or go here for the official word.

The fellowships include a $45,000 stipend plus benefits for six months for advanced study in the areas of national security, defense and civil liberties. This is a great opportunity, so if it fits your profile, why not go for it?

By John Ensslin, SPJ Region 9 Director

Dear New Mexico SPJ members,

Nominations are now open for the board of directors of the New Mexico Pro SPJ chapter.

The following officer positions are open. These are two-year terms:

President
Vice President (Communications)
Vice President (Development)
Secretary
Treasurer

There also are six board seats open. These are one-year terms.

You must be an active member on the New Mexico Pro SPJ membership roster to be eligible to run.

Candidates should be prepared to attend one board meeting every other month and carry out committee assignments in between meetings.

Board membership offers an opportunity to work with other journalists on programs, membership and issues involving ethics, diversity, journalism education and freedom of information.

To submit your nomination, please e-mail election chair Deb Hurley at dchurley@aol.com. Include a brief biographical statement. Please specify which position you seek.

Deadline for nominations is Dec. 1.

Betsy Model has bagged another job opening, this time in Los Angeles, California. To see this and other job listings, go here.

By Betsy Model, interim membership chair

There are few associations that inspire loyal members quite like SPJ and Jim Otto, a retired journalist and member since 1968, is a great example of that.  Jim graduated from the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication and began his career in journalism at the same community weekly paper he’d interned at while in school.  Jim’s career ultimately spanned into publications, advertising, marketing/sales, printing and culminated in his founding a New Mexico computer forms and supplies business.  Now retired, Albuquerque-based and traveling extensively, Jim is still a believer in journalism and in SPJ and continues to renew his SPJ membership year after year.  We’re looking forward to hearing some of Jim’s stories at the next social mixer.

By Betsy Model

The Medill National Security Journalism Initiative at Northwestern University is inviting New Mexico SPJ members to apply for three research fellowships. The goal of the six-month fellowships is to produce actionable research on topics of national security, defense and civil liberties that will inform journalistic practice and help increase public engagement in these important topics.  The fellowships and the Initiative are aimed at raising the level of knowledge and expanding resources available to journalists, policy makers and the public concerning issues of national security.

A brief interview with Timothy McNulty, the co-director of the program at the Medhill School of Journalism at Northwestern University can be found in our Features section here.

Further information about the fellowships and how to apply for them can be found here.

Christina Durano, the interim secretary, has posted the minutes from the last meeting of the interim board, held on September 26. You can read the minutes here. Thanks for a great job Christina!

The “Jobs & Gigs” page is overflowing with employment opportunities, thanks to the efforts of Betsy Model our interim membership chair. The latest jobs are at the Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review, and you can read details here.

Here’s another  job opening, this for a sports editor/reporter on the Carlsbad Current-Argus. See details on the Jobs & Gigs page here.

Jobs may be thin on the ground these days, but Betsy Model our interim membership chair keeps on finding new opportunities for journalists. This is the second job posting today, and it’s for a staff writer at the Phoenix New Times in Phoenix, AZ. Details are in our “Jobs & Gigs” page, here. If you’re in the market for a new job, check back with us regularly. If you’re looking to hire, we’ll give your opening a FREE listing on this site.