We’re getting excited for this year’s Online News Association Conference and want your help to make it even more interesting and exciting than previous ONA conferences.

We’re going to blow up our traditional model this year, leaving space for lots of innovative programming. We’ll be opening the ONA13 Suggestion Box soon, which will allow anyone to submit a session idea, but before we do, we’d like you to help shape the direction of ONA13.

The first step is to ask to join the Branch. We’ll quickly approve you and you can weigh in. Want to see what we focused on last year? Check out the ONA12 site.

Once you’ve joined, be sure to invite others. We want to hear from as many people as possible!

Earlier this month, ONA joined with a number of journalism organizations to express disappointment with recent actions of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) that affect coverage of their member institutions. ONA Board President Jim Brady attended a meeting with NCAA officials and representatives of five other national media groups March 4 to discuss issues raised in our Feb. 13 letter to the group. NCAA agreed to the following:

• The NCAA will set up a call with our organizations after the upcoming basketball tournament to discuss the establishment of a permanent working group to address outstanding media issues.

• The NCAA will include media groups in future discussions with the Division I men’s basketball committee regarding the seating of working journalists at the tournament.

• Editors will be invited to upcoming meetings with the NCAA and conference officials and have the opportunity to introduce discussion on injury reporting standards.

• NCAA officials said there would be no numerical restrictions on social media posting during its tournament events.

• NCAA officials will contact the Pac-12 Conference to inform the league that there is no longer a policy limiting by number live tweets during college basketball or football games.

• The NCAA said there would be no change to existing policies on photo positions at the basketball tournament.

ONA at SXSWi // Awesomest Journalism Party. Ever. III.
Are you headed down to Austin for SXSW Interactive next week? Join us at the Awesomest Journalism Party. Ever. III. from 5 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 9. We’re getting together with journalists and tech folks at Palm Door, 401 Sabine St., just two blocks from the Convention Center and featuring awesome Austin food, awesome Texas beer and an awesome photobooth from SnapFiesta. Say hi to ONA’s Jeanne Brooks and Jen Mizgata at the party and while you’re at SXSWi.
RSVP for the Awesomest Journalism Party. Ever. III.

We’re hiring!
We’re taking applications now for Manager, Sponsorship Sales and Partnerships. We’re looking for a full-time, creative and tech-minded sales manager with an entrepreneurial edge to drive revenue and relationships for ONA. If you are a sales expert with deep ties to and understanding of new technology and the potential it has for digital media — or know someone who is — we’re interested in talking to you. Check out the full job posting and submit your application on LinkedIn.

ONA joins letter to NCAA on media restrictions
ONA joined nine media organizations, including the American Society of News Editors, in sending a letter to NCAA President Mark Emmert raising concerns about the actions NCAA member institutions have taken to restrict journalists from fully covering local teams, including issues regarding access to facilities, players and coaches, as well as restrictions on the publication of blog posts and use of social media, including Twitter and Facebook. As Tim Franklin and Andy Alexander of ASNE wrote, “the letter reiterates our view that the NCAA and the media should be partners in sports coverage with an eye toward producing stories of maximum interest and information to the public. We have used strong language that we feel is absolutely necessary to get the NCAA’s attention.”

It’s time to plan your trip to the 2013 Online News Association Conference & Awards Banquet, Oct. 17-19, 2013 in Atlanta, where we’re planning to blow up the traditional conference agenda for digital journalism’s biggest reunion.

Expect some surprises and new experiences this year. For the first time, we’re folding in our Thursday hands-on workshops and Job Fair to make three full days of conferencing, so one price will get you into any session or workshops, the Midway, and career development resources. Look for more details on programming when registration opens April 29.

Photo by Brendan Lim via Creative Commons

And then there’s ATL: ONA13 will tap into the history, culture and funk of Atlanta’s diverse neighborhoods. Check out the stylish boutiques and laid-back bars in Virginia-Highland, live jazz in Castleberry Hill, and Little Five Points with its alternative shopping, bars, restaurants and even an Elvis shrine at the Star Community Bar. And don’t miss Cabbagetown, an emerging area which Travel + Leisure magazine featured in “America’s Best Secret Neighborhoods.”

Here’s a guide to who’s running the show, where you can stay and how much you should budget.

As part of our effort to offer better benefits to ONA members, we’ll be experimenting, researching and partnering to bring you discounts on interesting resources, tools and opportunities. We’re delighted to announce our first, below.

Not a member? Become one today! And if you or your organization have a benefit you’d like to offer to our members, fill out this form.

Lock in beta pricing for Spundge PRO for a year

Are you looking for a better tool to follow issues and collect material about topics that you’re passionate about? Our friends at Spundge are offering ONA members the chance to lock in the beta pricing for a PRO account for the rest of the year. Spundge is a tool to collect content, letting you search news, blogs and social media and organize your material by topic, event, date and more. Going PRO gives you the ability to publish, letting you seamlessly post from Spundge to social networks, blogs, CMS and newsletters. Spundge PRO is used by journalists at Digital First Media, Quartz, National Journal, the Vancouver Sun, and other news outlets.

• ONA members can sign up until March 31 for a 12-month subscription to Spundge PRO and lock in the beta price of $9 per month.
• ONA members who sign up after March 31 (or when the beta period ends) will receive a special discount rate of 15 percent for a 12-month subscription.

Welcome to 2013, another year sure to feature significant changes in how we produce journalism, and how the public finds and consumes it. If that sounds like a complaint, it’s not. I actually find that quite exciting, and I hope you do too. It’s not often that any generation gets to invent and define a new medium.

It’s funny, but just about every ONA President’s Letter ever written has prominently referenced the transformation of our industry and our craft. So, as I sat down to write this, it struck me that, instead of referencing that again, maybe we all just need to acknowledge that “change” is our new normal. “Transformation” isn’t the word we should be using, since it implies an end point, a goal reached. It’s “evolution” we’re talking about, something constant and never-ending. And if there’s a perfect group of people to help lead this evolution, it’s the more than 2,000 members of the Online News Association.

Just one week left to apply for the AP-Google Scholarship!
AP and Google are funding six $20,000 scholarships for undergrad and graduate students working at the intersection of journalism and technology. Applications are due Friday, Feb. 8. Don’t wait to get your project proposal together. We want to see creative and innovative projects that show how you’ll expand the boundaries of journalism. Apply now.

And for inspiration, be sure to check out our first scholar's blog — Kevin Schaul kicks off a series of guest posts by the 2012 AP-Google Scholars, with background and resources focusing on why open source is so important to journalism. Each of the six scholars will be blogging on journalists.org over the coming weeks about their experiences with digital journalism and their award-wining projects.

Takeaways from AAN Digital conference
Check out the resources from ONACamp at AAN Digital, a series of workshops ONA hosted at the Association of Alternative Newsmedia conference on Jan. 26, with the support of the Gannett Foundation. We’ve pulled together presentations and more resources from Tumblr’s Mark Coatney, Google’s Vanessa Schneider, NPR’s Doug Mitchell, CIR’s Meghann Farnsworth, Stanford Knight Fellow Latoya Peterson and Deborah Petersen of the San Jose Mercury News.

Jim Brady, Editor-in-Chief, Digital First Media, was re-elected as President at the ONA’s January Board of Directors meeting in Washington, D.C. Jim, who is in his fourth term as a Board member, has held the offices of Treasurer and Vice President over the past three years, and has chaired or served on many key committees, including Legal Affairs and Strategy.

Joining Jim as officers of the organization are: Meredith Artley, Vice President & Managing Editor, CNN Digital, re-elected Vice President; Jody Brannon, Editor, Next America, The National Journal, and former Treasurer, now Secretary; and Josh Hatch, Senior Editor for Data and Interactives, Chronicle of Higher Education and chair of both the Online Journalism Awards and Legal Affairs Committee, newly elected Treasurer.

At Digital First Media, Jim oversees the 75 daily newspapers, 292 non-daily publications and 341 online sites that are owned by Journal Register Company and MediaNews Group. He also oversees DFM’s Project Thunderdome, which is providing new products and services to its properties and centralizing the production of non-local content so that local papers can focus on their local communities.

“I truly appreciate the board’s support in allowing me a second year as ONA’s president,” said Brady. “Last year was one in which we continued to expand the services we offer to our members, and we capped it off with a phenomenal ONA12 in San Francisco. I’m honored to get a front-row seat to watch how we’ll evolve in 2013, led by ONA’s amazing and expanded staff.”

Clock ticking on deadline for $20,000 AP-Google Scholarship
There’s less than a month left to apply for the AP-Google Journalism and Technology scholarship. If you’re a journalism student who codes or a techie student who loves  great storytelling, don’t miss this great scholarship opportunity. Applications, which include a project proposal, are due Feb. 8. Apply now. 

Application advice

And while you’re applying, it’s worth pointing out that ONA’s Jeanne Brooks, Irving Washington and Jen Mizgata hosted #wjchat last week, providing tips on getting scholarships, fellowships and new jobs. Check out the full transcript for ways to get your application noticed.

Inspired by the tips from #wjchat? Here are fellowships you can apply for now:

Google Journalism Fellowship
Targeting students with an interest in journalism, this fellowship includes a week at the Knight Foundation and a week at Google, split between Google News and YouTube. Deadline: Jan. 31.

Edward R. Murrow Press Fellowship
For journalists who have covered international news, this is a nine-month fellowship at the Council on Foreign Relations headquarters in New York. Deadline: March 1.

We’re happy to offer ONA members discounts on two great training and networking opportunities: ONACamp at the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Digital Conference, Jan. 24-26 in San Francisco, and the Global Editors Network News Summit in Paris, June 19-21.

If you’re not an ONA member, now’s a perfect time to join. 

We’ll be offering great discounts throughout 2013, and members recieve a number of networking, legal, and personal benefits. Become a member now.

ONACamp at AAN Digital

We’re bringing a full day of training to the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Digital Conference on Jan. 26 and ONA members can attend the full conference Jan. 24-26 for the AAN member rate. At ONACamp at AAN Digital, you can explore analytics and metrics for growth, hear from industry experts from Tumblr and Google, learn about digital newsroom workflow, and examine other pertinent topics to help you improve your skills. Note that the price increases tomorrow, Jan. 11, so register today. 
Check out the program and register for AAN Digital now.

GEN News Summit in Paris

Join global editors, media decision makers and news professionals at the Global Editors' Network News Summit, June 19-21. ONA’s six custom workshops over two days of the GEN News Summit will feature industry experts giving you the tools and strategies you need to help seed, encourage and implement experimentation and start-up culture in your digital newsroom. ONA members receive a 30% discount before Feb. 18.
Check out the workshops and register for the Global Editors Network News Summit now.

Want the ONA member rate but you’re not a member yet? Become one now.