MPPA News

Judging for the 2009 Pictures of the Year contest is now complete, and results and winning images are up. Thanks to our judges and everyone who helped make this year’s seminar a success.

Seminar registration is now available. Click here to downlaod the schedule and registration form (includes a map to the location).

Seminar registration needs to be completed by Friday, Feb. 19.

Regina McCombs is a faculty member of the Poynter Institute, teaching multimedia and helping develop distance-learning programs. Until last year, she was the senior producer for multimedia at StarTribune.com in Minneapolis-St. Paul. She arrived there after 13 years as a television producer and photographer at KARE-TV, the NPPA-winning powerhouse in the Twin Cities. Winner of numerous Best of Photojournalism and Pictures of the Year International awards for multimedia storytelling, as well as an Emmy for her video work, she has been a regular speaker around the country, talking about finding new ways to tell stories on the Web, especially with video.

For StarTribune.com, she coordinated the multimedia team’s coverage, shot and edited video stories, created audio slide shows, produced major projects and trained staff in creating multimedia. She also taught classes in online journalism and TV news at the University of Minnesota, where she received her master’s degree.

Matt Detrich

I have been a Senior Photographer at the Indianapolis Star since 1999 and to this day it still amazes me that I actually get paid to do what I love the most…make photographs while experiencing my subjects and the stories they have to tell. I was fortunate enough to be named Indiana News Photographer of the Year in 2001, 2006 and 2007 while also winning the Indiana Clip Photographer of the Year title for seven of the eleven years I have worked at the paper. I am also a five-time NPPA Region 4 POY while working in Indiana. This great job has not only given me the opportunity to grow within my own community, but it has taken me to places like Brazil, Europe, Afghanistan and Beijing, China to to cover the last Summer Olympics.

Before coming to Indianapolis, I worked as a photographer at The Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal and as a 1994 graduate of Ohio University, I experienced five internships before starting my first job at The Medina County Gazette. I have a great and understanding wife, Tammy, and two daughters, Lauren, 11 and Lindsay, 8.

Steve Jessmore is the Senior Editor for Photo at The Sun News in Myrtle Beach South Carolina. Jessmore has won numerous state and national photojournalism awards including the Robert F. Kennedy photojournalism award for outstanding coverage of the disadvantaged. He’s been NPPA Region 4 Photographer of the Year and a five-time MPPA Photographer of the Year, four times won consecutively. He is also a six-time Michigan Understanding Award winner and two-times Michigan Picture Editor of the year. He was a member of the 1997 NPPA Flying Short Course faculty and also the 2000 Mountain Workshop at Western Kentucky University. He was the only person to have coordinated a State, shot images and be a Senior Editor on the 2003 America 24/7 project. A graduate of Central Michigan University majoring in Journalism, Jessmore received the 2000 Distinguished Journalism Alumni Award. He was an adjunct professor at CMU teaching photojournalism from 2001-2007. In 2007 he was inducted to CMU Journalism’s Hall of Fame. Born in Saginaw, Michigan. Worked in hometown for 14 years, previously as chief photographer at the Saginaw News. Resides in Pawleys Island, SC with wife of 28-years Lisa, and sons Andrew, 20, and Alex, 18, and daughter Lindsay, 13.

Hello MPPA members—

Happy New Year to everyone. The MPPA board has much news to share with you as you work to prepare your contest entries and gear up for the annual contest judging and seminar.

1) Contest: The rules are posted on the website at www.mppa.org. You will notice some category deletions this year and an additional multimedia category. Deadline for entries is Friday, January 29 at 5 p.m.

2) Contest reminder: Please follow the rules closely when naming your files. Contest chairs Erik Holladay and Cory Olsen sort the entries and you make their job much easier when you slug your files correctly.

3) Mark your calendars: The annual MPPA seminar will be held in East Lansing on Friday, Feb 26 and Saturday, Feb 27. There will be no Sunday program this year as the board has decided to condense the schedule.

4) New Seminar location: The judging will take place in the Communication Arts and Sciences building on the MSU campus on both Friday and Saturday. The new home hotel for the MPPA will be the Quality Inn University at 3121 E. Grand River Ave. near Frandor in Lansing. The MPPA has reserved a block of rooms at the hotel for Friday night and Saturday night at a rate of $80.71. Please call 517-351-1440 before January 27 to book your room at the MPPA rate.

5) Judges: The judging panel is complete for the seminar. Matt Detrich from the Indianapolis Star, Regina McCombs, multimedia specialist at Poynter and Steve Jessmore, photo editor at the Sun News in Myrtle Beach will be joining us in Lansing this year. Bios and photos will be posted on the website soon.

6) Dues: To be eligible for the contest, your annual MPPA dues must be paid by January 29 at 5 pm. You can pay these by using the Paypal link on the MPPA website.

7) Seminar registration: With the many changes in the seminar weekend this year, the board will be asking your cooperation in registering early for the event. A seminar schedule and registration form will be available soon on the website.

Thanks much.

J. Scott Park
MPPA President

Your 2010 MPPA dues of $30 ($10 for students) are now payable. Please fill out the form below and include it with your payment, or renew online using PayPal. Dues must be paid by January 30th at 5pm to be eligible for the annual contest. For more information call Doug Tesner at 231-342-1564 or send an email to photojournalist@charter.net

If you are a National Press Photographers Association member, it is important to indicate your NPPA number. Fifty percent of the state organization’s members must also be NPPA members in order for the state organization to maintain its charter status and receive its yearly stipend.

If you are no longer interested in your membership with MPPA, just drop a note and I’ll remove you from the list. As always, some folks have their checks in the mail. If so, just ignore me. If you are retired, you are probably exempt from dues and again, just drop me a line.

Download renewal form (PDF)

— Doug Tesner
Membership Chair