Membership

Benefits of NPW Membership

• Spring and fall conferences hosted by members at locations across Nebraska. They feature professional development from workshops, speakers and/or panels on topics related to communications skills, the First Amendment, current events, and local history and/or culture; networking; awards; and NPW board and membership meetings.
• Annual communications contests, one for professional members and one for high school students. Awards are presented at the spring conference. Entries earning first place in both qualify to advance to the national contests. However, professional winners must be dual NPW-NFPW members.

National awards are presented at NFPW’s annual conference.

• Annual presentations of two $1,000 scholarships as additional support for the next generation of professional communicators: one to a college undergrad or graduate student and one to a graduating high school student.
• The NPW Communicator of Achievement Award, which is presented at the fall conference. If the honoree is a national member, she or he will be nominated for the NFPW COA Award, presented at the annual national conference.
• The Marian Andersen Nebraska Women Journalists Hall of Fame has been managed by NPW since 2011. It recognizes women communicators’ contributions throughout Nebraska’s history. New inductees are honored at the spring conference. Photos and bios of all hall of fame members are displayed at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications.
• Other membership benefits include networking (and friendships); visits to many parts of Nebraska and the country; state and national leadership opportunities; and group communications through newsletters, social media and email updates.

NPW’s Mary Pat Finn-Hoag of Norfolk is the NFPW assistant historian. Lori Potter of Kearney was NFPW president from 2011-13 and director of the NFPW Education Fund Board from 2013-2015. Mary Jane Skala, of Kearney, was an NFPW secretary and vice-president in the late 1990s when she was a member of Ohio Press Women.