Join us on June 3, when nationally award-winning Anchorage Daily News columnist Julia O’Malley will speak about the writing process. Bring your pen and paper!

Luncheon Information
11:30 a.m., Thursday, June 3
Kinley’s Restaurant and Bar
3230 Seward Hwy.
Anchorage

Lunch: members $19; guests of members $22; others $25

Reservations:
1. RSVP and payment through PayPal.

2. Email: akpc at gci dot net by noon Tuesday, June 1.

3. Call 274-4723 and leave a message, including a phone number where you can be reached. When calling or sending an email, please include how many people are coming and their names.

About Julia O’Malley

Julia O’Malley writes a general interest column about life and politics in Anchorage and around Alaska. She grew up in Anchorage and has worked at the ADN on and off as a columnist and reporter since 1996. She came back full time as a reporter in 2005.

As a reporter, she covered the court system and wrote extensively about life in Anchorage, including big changes in the city’s ethnic and minority communities.

In 2008, she won the Scripps-Howard Foundation’s Ernie Pyle award for the best human-interest writing in America. She has also written for the Oregonian, the Juneau Empire and the Anchorage Press.

Congratulations to the 23 winners in the 2010 APC Communications Contest. First-place winners will go on to compete at the national level in the National Federation of Press Women Communications Contest.

Sheila Balistreri, Sharon Bushell, Bruce Bustamante, Dan Carpenter , Debbie Cutler, Molly Dischner, Morgan Grey, Therese Harvey, MaryLee Hayes, Stan Jones, Karla Kolash, Allyson McBride, Rhonda McBride, Amy Murphy, Anita Nelson, Dianne O’Connell, Brenna Clairr O’Tierney, Elise Patkotak, Sarah Richards, Yereth Rosen, Kathleen Tarr, Noe Texeira, Phil Walczak.

Special recognition goes to Amy Murphy, who wins our Sweepstakes award, with the most winning entries.

1C News reporting, publication/magazine/supplement, general or specialized circulation
1st: Debbie Cutler, Ice road truckers: the “reality” behind the Haul Road, Alaska Business Monthly
2nd: Amy Murphy, AVEC’s wind program, Ruralite magazine
Hon. Mention: Amy Murphy, Issues raised at the annual meeting, Ruralite magazine

2 Continuing coverage or unfolding news
1st: Yereth Rosen, Palin leaves office, Christian Science Monitor

4 Enterprise reporting
1st: Yereth Rosen, Alaska climate change, Reuters

7C Feature story, publication for general or specialized circulation
1st: Amy Murphy, Extreme winter working conditions, Ruralite magazine
2nd: Kathleen Tarr, Cultural legacy: exploring Alaska’s Russian influences, Alaska Airlines magazine
3rd: MaryLee Hayes, The wild Valdez adventure, Alaska Women Speak
Hon. Mention: Debbie Cutler, Cruise ship magic, Alaska Business Monthly

9E Special articles, education
Hon. Mention: Molly Dischner and Sarah Richards, Students blindsided by loan change and Students struggle to achieve good credit, the Sun Star (UAF student newspaper)

9F Special articles, science
1st: Yereth Rosen, A grand quest to rid an island of rats and When Mt. Redoubt erupts, these scientists are on the job, Christian Science Monitor

9Q Special articles, travel
1st: Debbie Cutler, Magnificent Glacier Bay and Glacier Bay Lodge and tours, Alaska Business Monthly
2nd: Amy Murphy, Kala Patthar—Nepal and Arctic to Bird ski trip, Scree

10B Personal columns, general
1st: Elise Patkotak, Racial attack came from bottom up and Boys’ sex abuse a private horror, Anchorage Daily News
2nd: Elise Patkotak, Dog’s value is what it teaches kids about democracy and To help break cycle of abuse, try removing judgment, Anchorage Daily News

16C Page layout, publication for general or specialized circulation
2nd: Amy Murphy, Spring floods cause damage and Hooper Bay’s wind turbine project, Ruralite magazine

20B Photography in printed publication other than newspaper, feature photo
Hon. Mention: Amy Murphy, Kala Patthar and Mount Pumari as viewed from Gorak Shep (Himalayas—near Everest), The Scree

20C Photography in printed publication other than newspaper, sports photo
1st: Amy Murphy, Looking back toward Temptation Peak during backcountry ski trip, The Scree
Hon. Mention: Amy Murphy, Ray and John transferring skis across “bridge” at creek crossing, The Scree

22 Photographer-writer
2nd: Amy Murphy, Chevak’s new power generation facilities, Ruralite magazine

24B Prepared report, television
1st: Rhonda McBride and Phil Walczak, Walter Hickel: 90 years of vision, KTUU-TV Channel 2

25B Special programming, television
1st: Rhonda McBride and Dan Carpenter, Sarah Palin’s wild ride, KTUUTV Channel 2

30B Best newscast, television
1st: Sheila Balistreri, The Morning Edition, KTUU-TV Ch. 2

31B Best presentation, television
1st: Sheila Balistreri, The Morning Edition, KTUU-TV Ch. 2

42 Community or institutional relations
1st: Anita Nelson, Bruce Bustamante and Allyson McBride, At home in
Alaska, Princess Tours

47B Annual report, internal
1st: Amy Murphy, Alaska Village Electric Cooperative Annual Report 2008, Alaska Village Electric Co-op
2nd: Morgan Grey, Apprenticeship technologies, University of Alaska Anchorage

50A Newsletter, one– to three-color
1st: Elise Patkotak and Noe Texeira, The Flight Feather, February 2009, Bird Treatment and Learning Center
2nd: Elise Patkotak and Noe Texeira, The Flight Feather, August 2009, Bird Treatment and Learning Center

51B Brochure, four-color
1st: Morgan Grey, Alaska statehood quilt, Alaska Statehood Celebration
2nd: Dianne O’Connell, Growing the promise/cultivating the legacy: village partnerships, Presbytery of Yukon, Presbytery of Yukon

53 Direct mail marketing
1st: Noe Texeira and Karla Kolash, North Slope Borough calendar, North Slope Borough

60A Feature writing, collegiate: newspaper, magazine or special supplement
1st: Brenna Clairr O’Tierney, More than just beds and a roof over their heads, The Protest, Northwestern University
Hon. Mention: Brenna Clairr O’Tierney, Student members of Take Back NYU take over, The Protest, Northwestern University
Hon. Mention: Brenna Clairr O’Tierney, The other Olympics struggle, The Protest, Northwestern University

72B Non-fiction book, essay in book
2nd: Therese Harvey, From anthropomorphism to zoomorphism, Tidal Echoes, UAS Literary Arts Journal 2009

72D Non-fiction book, history
1st: Stan Jones and Sharon Bushell, The spill: Personal stories from the Exxon Valdez disaster, Epicenter Press Inc.

72H Non-fiction book, religious or inspirational
2nd: Morgan Grey, Bedtime stories for a dying friend

73 Fiction, novel
1st: Stan Jones, Village of the ghost bears, Soho Press

JUDGES

SAM KINCH
Categories 1-10 (print journalistic writing)
Sam Kinch Jr. was a prizewinning reporter on Texas politics and government for 37 years and founding editor of Texas Weekly, a leading political newspaper. He was educated at The University of Texas, where he was editor of the student newspaper, The Daily Texan. He began covering the Texas legislature in 1961, then moved to Washington to cover Texas members of Congress for two Dallas newspapers. In 1970 he returned to Austin, where he was state political editor for the Dallas Morning News until 1984. He then founded Texas Weekly, which he sold when he retired in 1998. He has written three books on Texas politics. He is married, with three grown children and six grandchildren.

VICKI RISHLING and REBECCA J. “BECKY” TALLENT
University of Idaho

Categories 11-17 (editing and layout), and non-fiction books
Vicki Rishling, a longtime newspaper editor and reporter, holds a master’s degree in journalism from Ohio State University, where she was a Kiplinger fellow in 2002. She is a senior lecturer for journalism classes at the University of Idaho’s School of Journalism and Mass Media in Moscow, Idaho. Rebecca J. “Becky” Tallent, an award-winning journalist and public relations specialist, is an assistant professor of journalism and mass media at the University of Idaho. Becky has been active in the Society of ProfessionalJournalists (SPJ) since 1972. She is also active in the Native American Journalists Association. She has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from the University of Central Oklahoma and a Doctor of Education in Mass Communications from Oklahoma State University.

HEATHER ANNE THOMAS
Categories 18-22 (photography)
Heather Anne Thomas’ father gave her a camera at age five and she’s never put it down. She studied painting and art history at the University of Texas and honed her technical skills assisting some of the best photographers in Houston and New York City. Her editorial work has appeared in Food Arts, Traditional Home, Wine Spectator, Garden & Gun, and Forbes Life, and her commercial clients include some of the most prestigious names in kitchen and home design and equipment. Heather Anne resides in Tennessee with her husband Dan, daughter Iris Mae, and dog Galen.

JOHN FOSHOLT
Categories 23-31 (radio and television)
John Fosholt retired as a photographer and writer with KUSA television, the NBC affiliate in Denver. He worked in Denver television news for 32 years as an editor, producer, and investigative journalist. He has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Colorado State University and a master’s in Mass Communication from the University of Denver, where he has taughttelevision news for about 30 years. He is also vice-president of the Colorado Freedom of Information Council.

RUTH ANNA
Categories 36-41 (Advertising, print and electronic); 42-57
(Public relations, promotion, publicity); and 58 (Speeches)
Ruth Anna founded Anna Public Relations Consultants in the Denver area in 1977. She has more than 30 years of diversified experience in both the private and public arenas. Her clients include professional associations, scientific firms, human service and nonprofit agencies, businesses, government agencies, and political candidates. Her services include speech and report writing and editing, media relations, crisis management, workshops and seminars, publications, campaign management, fundraising, and event management. She’s a past president of the National Federation of Press Women and Colorado Press Women, and has served on the Colorado Freedom of Information Council since 1987.

ROBERT HELLENGA
Fiction and poetry
Robert Hellenga, author, teaches English literature at Knox College in Galesburg, IL. He started writing fiction in 1973 and published his first novel (after 39 rejections) in 1994. The Italian Lover is his latest. The others are Philosophy Made Simple, The Sixteen Pleasures, The Fall of a Sparrow, Blues Lessons, and Snakewoman of Little Egypt (forthcoming). He was educated at the University of Michigan and Princeton University. He has three daughters, “like King Lear,” he says, “but unlike the Lears, we all get along.”

In 1981, our organization decided to help Alaskans pursue their education in the communications field. This year we are awarding two $1,000 scholarships in memory of Betzi Woodman, Kay Kennedy, Phyllis Carlson, Jimmy Bedford, Chris McClain, Jo Ann Wold, Natalie Gottstein, Elizabeth Plank, Mae Martin, Pat Oakes, Suzan Nightingale, Ruth Kilcher Marriott, John Killoran, Loretta Schooley, Nancy Cain Schmitt and others. Their spirits live on in our scholarship winners.

Winners of the 2010 scholarships:

Alicia Jo Johnson, editor of the student newspaper at Kodiak College. There was no student newspaper there when Johnson started as a freshman. She found supportive faculty members, recruited a team of enthusiastic writers, and developed Kodiak College’s first student-generated newspaper, The Emerald Looking Glass, which she edits. The college director, Barbara Bolson, wrote about Alicia’s “significant impact on Kodiak College, the student body and the larger community.”

Felix Rivera, a junior at Alaska Pacific University and a noteworthy student leader who, as his professor Mei Mei Evans said at the award luncheon, “Has really been on a roll, and became student body president.” He has been accepted for several programs including an internship at the Institute on Political Journalism in Washington, D.C.

A summary of our February 2010 speaker, Tracy Sinclare
By Arlene Lidbergh-Jasper

Tracy Sinclare, best known locally as a weekend meteorologist with KTUU, began her presentation at Alaska Professional Communicators’ February luncheon with an ice-breaker. “It’s much easier to talk to a camera than to a room full of people,” she said. “At KTUU, it’s just me and the camera.” After we all laughed, she told us about yet another world not often exposed to the public: Her experiences with the local chapter of Romance Writers of America (RWA), and what she has learned about the art of writing romance novels.

Tracy’s family moved to Anchorage in 1972 when her father was transferred to Elmendorf Air Force Base. Her love for writing began at home and then developed during junior high school.

In Tracy’s family, all her siblings were readers except her; she preferred to listen to stories first. If she liked a story, then she would read the book. However, in 7th grade she read Victoria Holt novels, bodice rippers with deep dark heroes. Next, she read contemporary romance—even in geometry class. By 11th grade, she was writing romances during trigonometry classes. During her last year in high school, when the seniors dressed up as what they would be in 20 years, she showed up as a romance writer wearing a long gown and floppy hat with pen and paper in hand.

For about 16 years, Tracy said, she had great story ideas and read her work to her best friends. In 1992, she joined the Romance Writers of America (RWA) and finished her first book but never submitted it. In 2002, just before her 20th class reunion, she would publish Silver Dagger. Since then she has written 15 novels and eight short stories, each in the range of 50,000 to 80,000 words.

Tracy also pursued professional communication training by more traditional routes. She received her B.A. in English and Broadcasting from Gonzaga University in 1986, and her B.S. in Broadcast Meteorology from Mississippi University in 2007.

She has stories in her head all the time, Tracy says. She doesn’t write linearly but jumps around. Characters reappear from book to book, including in the dragon-themed romance novels she writes as a series, which she says sell really well. One such series is up to five books and another is up to seven. She has no agent, and explained that in the romance genre, it is common for a writer to sell his or her first book without an agent.

Romance novels are a $1.37 billion industry, she told us. It’s three times as popular as religion with eight billion. In 2008 there were 7,311 romance novels published, with total readership calculated at 748 million. Romance books hold more than 50 percent of the mass market in paperback fiction. Women are the book buyers 90 percent of the time. This is one genre that is written for women by women.

When people mention to Tracy Sinclare, “I never have read any of your books,” her response is usually “you are not my target.” Her target audience: 31 to 59 year-old women, who “like to read about relationships and how much care you put into them. And, of course, we need a hero and heroine.”

Tracy then mentioned an essay by Jennifer Crusie, “Let Us Now Praise Scribbling Women,” reprinted on Crusie’s blog, which gives its praise in particular to women who write romance. She paraphrased: The last line these women write is that the heroine lives happily ever after. As girls, they read Sleeping Beauty, who got everything she’d ever wanted because she looked really good unconscious. Then there was Snow White, who got everything she wanted because she looked really good unconscious. Or there was Cinderella, who should be given some credit for staying awake through her whole story, but who got everything she wanted because she had small feet. Girls have been taught to be more passive to get the “crown in the castle.” But in romance novels, women are active participants—and there is a hunky man. Romance books, Crusie concludes, create an “emotionally just universe.”

And then there are the “TSTLs, Too Stupid to Live Heroines,” added Tracy. “My stories are character-based, and I like happy endings.” But there must be a believable pace even in the happy-ending storyline, she said. In re-writing Silver Dagger, Tracy said, she realized that the heroine can’t take her clothes off too early in the book until the love is established. Tracy writes under a pen name and is not public about her works in her home state–but shared her time with us to encourage other romance writers.

She recited a list: “You might be a writer if, before you get on a plane, you make sure you have several books to read and pen and paper in case your computer battery dies; you might be a writer if you hold conversations with the voices in your head, but your friends aren’t recommending that you up your medication; you might be a writer if, when relaxing at a spa, you open the locker and think, I could stuff a body in there. OK, that makes you a writer—or a psychopath!” And finally, “You might be a writer if you understand when I say, ‘My characters won’t do what I want!’”

Tracy highly recommends belonging to a writing group. “Like the group MENSA for people with high IQs,” she said, “joining a writing group does give you support. You want a writers’ group that understands you,” she said. “It’s important to work with people who are working in the same genre.” A number of writing groups in town meet once a month. The romance writers meet at Jitters in Eagle River and schedule a craft talk once a month with the other three weeks given to the members’ critiques. She only attends the craft talk, which helps motivate her to want to write. Her self-evaluation: “I’m a good storyteller and an OK writer.” The Alaska chapter of the RWA is at www.akrwa.org.

A short Q&A period followed. Did she use a dedicated writing computer, i.e., one not connected to the Internet and used only for writing? “No,” she said. She writes on a normal computer in evenings and on days off, an hour a day with four pages an hour on average.

Tracy was then asked about Nora Roberts, a favorite of one woman’s mother and many others in the room. “What separates Nora from the pack?” Tracy answered. “I’ve met her at national conferences, and she is so popular that it’s hard to weave through the crowds of people, just to hear her. She is successful, writing for a number of years, has a fan base, and started when there were bodice rippers. She got in on the ground floor. Nora Roberts writes in different genres: romance, paranormal—and her toughest character is a female cop with a dark past. The In Death series is written under her pen name of J.D. Robb.”

Sonya Senkowsky, founder of AlaskaWriters.com, an online resource offering a Web presence and assistance to Alaska writers for more than 6 years, will present at the May 6 APC luncheon at Kinley’s Restaurant.

Senkowsky, whose presentation is entitled “How I Stopped Worrying & Learned to Love My Website,” will share some basics every writer needs to know to use the Web—including why you should have your own domain name, and what a website (and Twitter and Facebook) can and can’t do for you. She will also tell stories of some of the rewards—intended and otherwise—of her own site, which brought her the opportunity to hobnob with Alaska’s best writers, as well as a book contract (Alaska Then and Now: Anchorage, Fairbanks & Juneau)—and helped facilitate a smooth transition out of newspaper journalism and into the world of multimedia communications.

Senkowsky is a member of Alaska Professional Communicators and a two-time winner of its Sweepstakes award, given to the person who garners the most points in the annual Communications Contest.

Also during May’s luncheon:

Announcement of winners in the 2010 Communications Contest and recipients of the 2010 APC memorial scholarships

An opportunity for purchase and book-signing of Alaska Then and Now

Luncheon Information
11:30 a.m., Thursday, May 6
Kinley’s Restaurant and Bar
3230 Seward Hwy.
Anchorage

Lunch: members $19; guests of members $22; others $25

Reservations:
1. RSVP and payment through PayPal.

2. Email: akpc at gci dot net by noon Tuesday, May 4.

3. Call 274-4723 and leave a message, including a phone number where you can be reached. When calling or sending an email, please include how many people are coming and their names.

More about Sonya Senkowsky

After working a short stint in a suburban New Jersey bureau of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Sonya Senkowsky came to Alaska in 1996 to escape the persistent smell of oil refineries on her daily commute, and to write for the Anchorage Daily News.

At the time, the newspaper had a vibrant Lifestyles section, which she served first as a features reporter and later as a part-time copy editor; in 2001, she left to become a full-time freelancer. As such, Sonya specialized in documenting and reporting on science fieldwork throughout the state – from dinosaur digs above the Arctic Circle to geology at the bottom of the Gulf of Alaska.

It was then that Sonya started her first websites, including AlaskaWriters.com, an online service offering a web presence for writers through “do it yourself” websites.

Through her websites, she has offered consulting and coaching to writers and scientists on freelancing, multimedia content management and Web outreach. Clients of AlaskaWriters.com include a number of prominent writers, including the state’s writer laureate. The site has also been home to numerous Alaska writing organizations, including the Alaska Press Club, the Alaska Writer’s Guild, and the Alaska chapter of Romance Writers of America—and Alaska Professional Communicators.

Sonya earned her master’s degree in journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park and her undergraduate degree in English/Communications from La Salle University, Philadelphia. In addition to having written numerous newspaper and magazine articles, she is co-author—along with Amanda Coyne—of Alaska Then and Now: Anchorage, Fairbanks & Juneau (2008), and an author of Alaska’s South Coastal Wildlife Viewing Guide (2009).

In addition to being manager and editor of AlaskaWriters.com, Sonya Senkowsky is currently Creative Services Coordinator and Webmaster for Bristol Industries, LLC, an Anchorage-based company serving the administrative and communications needs of more than a half-dozen engineering, construction and environmental remediation firms owned by Bristol Bay Native Corporation.