President’s Column
By Betsy Russell
The Idaho Press Club’s “Best of 2022” annual awards contest will open for entries on Dec. 15. It’s time to review and enter your best work of the year; you deserve the recognition!
This year, our Contest Committee has conducted an extensive review and update to our categories. You’ll find an array of changes, including new categories for Spanish-language media and more. The deadline to enter the contest is Jan. 20. All entries are submitted online at www.idahopressclub.org.
Go on there now, check out the categories and divisions, and be sure to enter this year.
Entry fees are the same as they were last year, and as usual, there’s a substantial discount for Idaho Press Club members, whether you’re a regular or student member. Either way, it makes sense to just join. You’ll come out ahead, and you’ll support all our efforts!
Among those efforts: Our First Amendment Committee is hard at work on public records issues and legislative matters. Our Training Committee organized an excellent fall conference, with sessions on the “right to be forgotten” and news coverage; covering extremism in Idaho; and best practices for covering Latino affairs in Idaho.
On Jan. 5, we will be hosting the Idaho Press Club Legislative Preview, starting at 8:30 a.m. with coffee. Gov. Brad Little will speak on the record and take questions from reporters starting at 9 a.m.; a panel of legislative leaders at 10 a.m. This event will take place at the Capitol, exact meeting room TBA, and will be livestreamed at idahoptv.org/insession.
Our Banquet Committee is preparing for our annual gala awards banquet, which is set for April 29, 2023 at the Boise Centre. It’ll be fun to gather in person and celebrate good journalism in Idaho.
During the week before the big event, we’re partnering with the Frank Church Institute at Boise State University to bring New York Times political reporter Maggie Haberman to Boise, and we’ll have a special event with her just for our members; stay tuned for details. And the weekend of the banquet, we’re planning to host our 4th Journalists Institute on Covering the Courts, in cooperation with the University of Idaho College of Law and Attorneys for Civic Education. Stay tuned for details and don’t miss this excellent professional development opportunity.
Some of you may have heard that I am retiring Jan. 1. I will still continue to do some part-time work for the Idaho Press, though I will be taking the winter off; and I’ll continue to serve as president of the Press Club until my term ends April 29. I welcome our next generation of Press Club leaders!
Betsy Russell is the Boise bureau chief and state capitol reporter for the Idaho Press and Adams Publishing Co., and is the president of the Idaho Press Club.
