The Local Media Association is now accepting entries for its 2024 Digital Innovation Awards. This contest recognizes the best in local digital media in nine categories such as Best Local Website, Most Innovative Use of AI in a News Organization, Most Innovative Content Initiative, and more. It is a highly competitive contest designed to recognize both large and small media companies for their outstanding and innovative work.

Thanks to their contest sponsors, contest entries are FREE!

All work submitted should be from calendar year 2024.

The deadline to enter is Jan. 30, 2025.

Learn more and enter here

The New England High School Journalism Collaborative is excited to announce that they will hold their all-expense-paid summer workshop for students interested in journalism for the 38th year.

The 2025 workshop dates are June 21 – June 28, 2025.

The program is intended for students who are from traditionally underserved populations. Some preference is given to current juniors and seniors in high school.

Students will work out of a newsroom at Simmons University in Boston and learn to report, write, edit for a newspaper, and produce multimedia projects for a website. They will be assigned stories, do interviews, and will be exposed to working on a deadline to create their own newspaper.

The New England Newspaper and Press Association will be assisting with the application process. Application guidelines are as follows:

1. Only students who attend high school in the New England states (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT) are eligible.
2. Only students currently in high school may apply, including graduating seniors. The program is not accepting students who have already taken part in the program.
3. Students must be recommended by a teacher.
4. A letter of recommendation from the sponsoring teacher must accompany the application.
5. A transcript from the school with the student’s most recent grades must accompany the application.
6. An essay of no more than 500 words must accompany the application. The applicant can write about why they should be selected to participate in this program OR how writing has helped the applicant explore and understand a problem in their life.
7. Students will need to upload a headshot.
8. PLEASE NOTE: You will receive an email confirming the receipt of your application with a link to a Dropbox folder to upload the required documents (letter of recommendation, transcript, personal essay, and headshot).

If you have problems using the form or uploading documents, you should email students@nenpa.com.

The deadline for applications is Friday, April 4, 2025.

Students will be notified of their status by the end of April.

Don’t miss the chance to take part in this unique program, established by the late Carole C. Remick more than 38 years ago. We are looking forward to training the next generation of journalists.

If there are additional questions or if the applicant needs special accommodations to submit information, please email Leah Lamson, NEHSJC managing director, at lamsonleah@gmail.com.

In a recent NENPA University webinar, Ron Speechley, VP of Sales at Legacy.com, shared expert insights into the evolving obituary industry and its critical role in the newspaper business. With over 25 years of experience in media, including seven years at Legacy.com, Speechley provided actionable strategies to optimize this vital category.

Obituaries: The Cornerstone of Community News

Speechley emphasized that obituaries are more than announcements of death—they are a vital form of community news. As user-generated, paid content, they consistently drive high engagement, often ranking as the most-clicked section on newspaper websites.

Despite their importance, the obituary market is facing challenges. Rising costs and shifting funeral traditions, such as the growing popularity of cremations and DIY funerals, have impacted traditional practices. Today, only 30% of deaths result in published obituaries, a significant decline from past years.

Key Challenges and Opportunities

1. Pricing Concerns: With average obituary costs nearing $390, many families face sticker shock, leading to shorter obits or opting out entirely. Speechley suggested rethinking pricing models, including subscription-based strategies with funeral homes to encourage consistent placements.
2. Funeral Home Relationships: Building strong connections with local funeral directors is crucial. Regular communication can help newspapers better understand how obits are presented to families and align strategies to meet their needs.
3. Digital Transformation: Millennials, the emerging decision-makers for baby boomer funerals, expect digital-first solutions. Legacy.com and other platforms offer AI-powered tools to assist families in crafting meaningful, well-written obituaries. Testing digital-only obituary packages with upsell options, such as memorial videos, can cater to this demographic while expanding its reach.
4. Content Quality: Funeral directors and families often struggle to create comprehensive obituaries due to time and cost constraints. Tools like Legacy.com’s AI writing assistant help address this challenge, ensuring obituaries capture the full life story.

The Way Forward

To sustain and grow this category, Speechley encouraged newspapers to:

• Revisit their pricing and placement strategies.
• Focus on user-friendly digital platforms.
• Strengthen funeral home partnerships.
• Experiment with innovative solutions, including digital-only obituary offerings.

In conclusion, Speechley highlighted the enduring significance of obituaries as a cornerstone of the newspaper industry. By adapting to changing trends and proactively engaging with stakeholders, newspapers can continue to provide this essential service while driving revenue and engagement.

Visit the NENPA U Recordings page and stay tuned for other upcoming NENPA U webinars addressing other pivotal industry topics.

The Google News Initiative and Blue Engine Collaborative invite North American local news organizations to apply for the GNI AI Lab for News Sustainability.

The program will begin in March 2025 and run approximately six months.

Participating publishers will receive regular workshops to help channel innovation thinking toward practical use, as well as group and one-on-one coaching to bring their AI ideas to life.

This program will help organizations use AI to drive the business of news, giving participants a structured way to test AI tools in pursuit of key business goals such as:

• audience development

• revenue growth

• product development

• operational efficiency

• data analytics, or

• other focuses as sought by the participants.

The AI Lab is a perfect fit for operational leaders inside news organizations who have dabbled in generative AI but haven’t yet found a way to put it to work for their major business goals.

Your organization is a good fit if:

• You are a local news organization (digital, print, broadcast, etc.), nonprofit or for-profit, focused on public service for audiences in the United States or Canada;

• You have an interest in experimenting with AI applications to better support your business in any of the areas listed above, and you are committed to a test-and-learn mindset to pursue it;

• There’s a particular focus on applicants who self identify in the following ways: Your news organization is owned, led by, or serves Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian and/or other people of color; your news organization is owned, led by, or serves women or the LGBTQ+ community; and/or your news organization serves a defined local community.​​

At the Lab’s conclusion, participants will walk away with better business outcomes attributable directly to AI use, a better understanding of what AI tools can do to drive business outcomes, and the ability to help peers across their organizations build with AI.

APPLY NOW

The Shorenstein Center is now accepting submissions for the 2025 Goldsmith Awards! The Goldsmith Awards Program strives to foster a more insightful and spirited public debate about government, politics and the press, and to demonstrate the essential role of a free press in a thriving democracy.

Here’s a brief overview of the awards in 2025:

The Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting honors investigative reporting that best promotes more effective and ethical conduct of government, the making of public policy, or the practice of politics. The winner receives $25,000, and five finalists receive $10,000. The deadline for submissions is January 9, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

The Goldsmith Prize for Explanatory Reporting is a new award that honors reporting that focuses on the functioning of government and the implementation of public policy. Exemplary pieces use an explanatory and solutions-focued lens to illuminate a government or public policy implementation process, program, or problem. The winner will receive $15,000. The deadline for submissions is January 9, 2025, 11:59 p.m. ET.

The Goldsmith Book Prize is awarded to the best trade and best academic book published in the United States in the last 24 months that fulfills the objective of improving democratic governance through an examination of the intersection between the media, politics and public policy. $5,000 is awarded to the winner in each category. The deadline for submissions is December 18, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

Winners and finalists are honored at a ceremony at Harvard in the spring, and their accomplishments are promoted widely.

It is FREE to enter! Newsrooms may submit up to 2 entries for the investigative prize, and an unlimited number for this first year of the explanatory prize!

More information about all of the awards can be found at goldsmithawards.org.