August 8, 2008

Dear AP Publishers and Editors,

Please join us Thursday, Sept. 25, for the annual New York State Associated Press Association seminar and awards banquet. We will honor the best of the best in New York journalism and offer a day of professional development at the lowest price you’ll find anywhere.

Registration materials are enclosed for the meeting, which will be held this year at the Century House in Latham.

The day begins at 9 a.m. with registration and our annual seminar will follow at 9:30 a.m. – this year’s sessions will be: “Successful Innovation on Newspaper Web Sites” and “What Are They Teaching in Journalism Schools These Days?” Both sessions will address a question on a lot of editors’ and reporters’ minds: Where does long-form writing fit in to the digital age?

The day will conclude with our annual awards dinner, recognizing the best work of reporters, editors, photographers and graphic artists from across the state. The festivities begin with a cash bar reception at 5:30 p.m., followed by dinner at 6:30 p.m.

Make plans now to spend the day with your AP colleagues from around New York State. We have negotiated a special room rate of $114 at The Century House, A Clarion Hotel in Latham. They are holding a block of rooms for our event. To get the special rate, you must reserve your room no later than SEPT. 5.  After this date, rooms will be released for general sale and additional reservation requests will be taken on a space and room availability basis. You can book your room by calling 888-674-6873 or 518-785-0931. You can also visit their Web Site at www.TheCenturyHouse.com.  Be sure to tell them you are with the Associated Press conference and want the room block rate. This rate is good for Sept. 24 and Sept. 25. The hotel also provides complimentary shuttle service to and from the Amtrak station and the airport. If you need to make arrangements for this service, please be sure to mention it when making your room reservations.

As always, we’ve kept your budget in mind – the price of registration is the same as last year -- $30 per person. That covers a full day of workshops, lunch, and morning and afternoon breaks. The banquet price is $35 per person.

We’ve enclosed a registration form for the meeting and banquet. Please complete and return it to us as soon as possible. The deadline to register is Friday, September 19. You can also access information on our web site: www.ap.org/newyork/newspapers.html.

See you in Latham!

Sincerely,

Howard Goldberg

Chief of Bureau, New York State