NEWSLETTERS

Newsletter dated June 25, 2008

NTWA Newsletter from President
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Hello fellow Turf writers,
 
I hope this note finds everyone well into enjoying the summer season and readying for the upcoming holiday weekend. It’s been a few weeks since the last NTWA newsletter and there are several items of business to address.

First and foremost, plans for the 49th annual National Turf Writers Association Awards Dinner are coming together and this year’s event will on Wednesday, October 22, at Castle Green in Pasadena, California.

Built in 1898 as the annex for the famous Hotel Green, the Castle Green facility is a seven-story Moorish Colonial- and Spanish-style building next to Central Park in Old Pasadena at Raymond and Green Street. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the State Historic Register, and the City of Pasadena's list of Historic Places, Castle Green has been the scene for several motion pictures and television commercials and is spacious enough to host our event comfortably. For more information on this year’s site, visit the Castle Green website at www.castlegreen.com.

Tentative plans are for this year’s event to begin at 5:30 p.m. PT with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres followed by the dinner and awards program at 7 p.m. Additional information will follow shortly on nominations for this year’s awards--the Mr. Fitz Award, Joe Palmer Award, and Walter Haight Award--along with invitations later this summer.
A separate e-mail with information on the awards and how to nominate will follow this newsletter. Please start thinking about the NTWA’s three awards as the deadline for submissions will be Thursday, July 10.
 
Other items:
* Several issues arose from the Triple Crown, specifically related to access, credentialing, press conferences, seating, etc., and many of you have forwarded along your concerns. Please let me know of any other specific issues or problems you encountered or knew that others had to deal with and hopefully we can work on these problems with the publicity staffs from the respective tracks.
 
* Several items of business were addressed during our semi-annual meeting on May 1 at Churchill Downs. The issues are below.
Board elections: I was reelected to a second two-year term to serve as this organization’s president. USA Today’s Tom Pedualla was reelected as vice president and Thoroughbred Times’ Ed DeRosa was elected as secretary/treasurer to complete the organization’s executive team. DeRosa succeeds outgoing secretary/treasurer Jill Williams, who will remain with the organization as a member of the board of directors.
Williams was elected to complete the remaining two-year term of DeRosa on the board. Hank Wesch of the San Diego Union-Tribune was reelected to a two-year term on the board, while Marty McGee of Daily Racing Form and Richard Rosenblatt of The Associated Press were elected to two-year terms. Williams, Wesch, McGee, and Rosenblatt join freelancer Victor Zast and Los Angeles Daily News' Kevin Modesti on the NTWA board.
 
New members: The NTWA also approved membership applications of Larry Stewart of the Los Angeles Times, Brain Nadeau of ST Publishing, and Bob Cooke of The Racing Journal during the semi-annual meeting.
 
Member benefit/perk: In addition to a reduced price for the dinner ($60 for members vs. $95 for non-members), and the right to participate in the Eclipse Awards process, the board discussed other benefits to being a member and determined there weren’t many. Thanks to the hard work of former secretary/treasurer Jill Williams, who took the lead from Dan Liebman, we have worked with a Lexington-based company to design an attractive NTWA golf shirt that we hope to provide to the members as no cost as a member benefit/perk. Ed DeRosa will take the lead from Williams and Liebman on the project and will be contacting you shortly on sizes and distribution.
 
Dues:
For a list of who has paid dues for 2008, visit http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pPpAK5nGcJ5_lFFhWlHrdMQ
 
 
As always, please feel free to contact me with an issues, questions, or concerns, either via email at tlaw@thoroughbredtimes.com, office at (859)260-9800 ext. 125, or cell phone (859)396-9407. Until next time, have a great holiday weekend and enjoy the races.
 
Tom Law
NTWA President
June 25, 2008
 

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