Minutes of spring NCMA meeting

Contest Coordinator David Swartzlander, acting in place of absent executive director Chad Power, called the meeting to order.

In the absence of a treasurer, Swartzlander reported that the association had $1,963 in its account.

Attendees discussed how students were able to network with professionals at the Nebraska Press Association. The advisers and students present agreed that the executive director should send a list of the winners of the Golden Leaf awards to the Nebraska Press Association and the Nebraska Broadcasters Association in an effort to help students become noticed and secure jobs in the media. The executive director has followed the wishes of the association.

All present agreed to use nebraskacollegemedia.blogspot.com as a Web site to help communicate to advisers and students the activities of the association. Attendees decided, though, that a listserv also would be ideal for advisers and students to communicate with one another. Brett Erickson of Hastings College agreed to explore the options to develop a listserv.

Attendees then turned their attention to the purpose and structure of NCMA, and whether the spring Golden Leaf award ceremony should continue to be associated with the Nebraska Press Association. The pros include students being able to network with local editors and being part of the culture of news. Some said they felt, though, that broadcasting needed to be a larger part of the spring meeting.

Doane's Lee Thomas urged the association to return to meeting twice a year, one large meeting in the fall and one in the spring. He suggested the fall meeting be hosted by different colleges in the association during a Saturday and that a two-hour meeting be conducted in the fall to take care of association business.

Brett Erickson moved that all items on the agenda, except for election of officers, be tabled until the association meets late in the summer or early fall. Mike Marek seconded the motion. The motion then was amended to say that the NCMA would meet Aug. 18 in Lincoln at Nebraska Wesleyan University, at Doane College in Crete or at Hastings College. Motion carried.

Students suggested that more Golden Leaf entries be allowed for best newscast, that a category on broadcast specials and a category on film production be included in the awards. Attendees generally decided to review all categories and strive for equality among different media formats. Brett Erickson sugested that students should submit their ideas for new categories to advisers for discussion purposes at future meetings.

In addition, it was suggested during the meeting that the award for the best medium be a sweepstakes award, based on the performance of each medium in all other categories.

New officers were elected. The new executive director is David Swartzlander of Doane College. The new secretary/treasurer is Chad Power of Hastings College. A contest coordinator was not selected. A search is being conducted. Jim Schaeffer of Nebraska Wesleyan was chosen to continue to serve as yearbook competition coordinator. Lee Thomas agreed to serve as radio competition coordinator. Chad Power will serve as television competition coordinator and Brett Erickson will again serve as Web competition coordinator. A search is continuing for a newspaper competition coordinator.

Having no other business, the meeting was adjourned.