Celebrating our industry

This past weekend was the 2019 Wyoming Press Association Winter Convention in Cheyenne. The annual event is something I look forward to every year, and not just for the opportunity to stay in a fancy hotel and eat catered meals for a couple days.

Each year, I and the rest of the staff at The Independent Record go through the articles we’ve written and the photos we’ve taken, submitting them to various categories for a chance at the Pacemaker awards given out every year. Additionally, there are the major awards for general excellence, photography, typography and other arenas. These awards recognize our accomplishments, and our list can be found in this edition.

But beyond the awards we receive, it also gives us a look at what other award-winning papers are doing and perhaps come home with some ideas on how to improve the product we are putting out to you, our readers.

Over time, the number of categories we can submit our work to has increased and we’ll be working to have as many submissions as we can. This means you’ll likely see stories on some new subjects in our pages, or familiar subjects with a different angle.

The convention also provides opportunity to network with others in our industry from across the state and country, gain some understanding on how to deal with issues and discuss the common problems we see.

So while it does give us a bit of fun for a couple days, the WPA convention also reminds us of how important we are in providing news to our communities and provides guidance to stay relevant in today’s tech-dominated society. I look forward to seeing what the next year brings.