Society of Professional Journalists | Arkansas Pro Chapter

Bob McCord of North Little Rock, one of the deans of Arkansas newspapering and the man behind the landmark test case of the state’s Freedom of Information Act, Laman v. McCord, passed away in the early hours of this morning. Information about his memorial service will be posted when it is known.

The Arkansas Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists would like to extend its profound condolences to his wife Muriel, son Jeff, daughters Kim and Stacey, and the rest of the McCord family. Bob wasn’t just a great newspaperman, he was a great man.

The entries to the Arkansas Pro Chapter’s 2013 journalism contest have been sent to the Connecticut and Oklahoma groups for judging!  We should have the results back in three weeks.

Please start thinking about attending the awards banquet on May 13 at Whole Hog Cafe in the Riverdale shopping center in Little Rock so you can see how you did and applaud your peers for their accomplishments. More details on the banquet will be posted here soon.

Members of the Arkansas Pro chapter of SPJ are invited to its annual membership meeting this week.  It’s a time for you to gather with SPJ leaders, eat and drink, and weigh in on activities supportive of journalism in the Natural State.

This year’s event is at Creegan’s Irish Pub in downtown North Little Rock, on Friday, June 29th at 5:30 p.m.  You’ll get the chance to talk with Sonny Albarado, the incoming national president. He’ll be able to tell you about SPJ’s new one member-one vote system that will result in the direct election of officers and members of the national board.

Among the items of discussion at the meeting: whether to collect and judge entries for Ark SPJ’s annual journalism contest through an online service, rather than via email or snail mail.

The Arkansas SPJ annual banquet is on!

This is the time when, each year, we recognize the best in Arkansas journalism. The banquet will take place on Thurs., May 10th at 6:30 p.m., at the Whole Hog Café on Cantrell Rd.

Our speaker this year is the experienced and entertaining journalist Mel White. White worked at the Arkansas Democrat and Arkansas Times before becoming a freelancer in 1990. Since then he has written more than 50 stories for National Geographic and National Geographic Traveler and has written or contributed to more than 20 books. Assignments have taken him to places like Borneo, New Guinea and Madagascar.

Currently, some of our contest results are slightly delayed from our out-of-state judges, but we hope to have them for you very soon. Meanwhile, you’ll find partial results under the “Contest” tab.

The cost of tickets is $20, with a $5 discount for contest winners. If you’d like to attend the festivities – and we hope you do – please RSVP to kellycmacneil@yahoo.com by May 4th.