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Gubernatorial debate to be held at APA convention APA SuperConvention schedule & registration forms
ARKANSAS
PRESS
Ar kansas
Publisher Weekly
ASSOCIATION
Serving Press and State Since 1873
Vol. 13 | No. 23 | Thursday, June 7, 2018
Miss America 2017 Named APA Headliner of the Year
Savvy Janine Shields of Fayetteville graced the Miss America stage almost two years ago as Miss Arkansas. On Sept. 11, 2016, she made headlines when she took home the title of Miss America 2017 and a $50,000 scholarship. She is still making headlines as this year’s Arkansas Press Association Headliner of the Year. When asked how the state of Arkansas influenced her during her reign, Shields replied, “It’s something to be Miss America among people you’ve never met, in states you’ve never been to and on planes you’ve never been in. But it’s something entirely different to be Miss America in front of the people who made you Miss America.” Her childhood inspired her pageant platform of “Eat Better, Live Better.” She recalls taking for granted growing up in a healthy household. As she grew up and became independent, she made the conscious effort to take control of her
health. She encourages others to do so through her platform emphasizing holistic wellness. Her journey to becoming Miss America began when she was 13 years old and simply wanted to dance in front of people. During her early years in pageantry, Shields knew she wanted to compete in Miss Arkansas one day. However, she recognized the weighty responsibility the position entailed and therefore decided to wait until she felt she was ready to take on the task. “I was inspired by watching how Miss Arkansas 2009 Sarah Slocum influenced so many people during her reign,” Shields said. “I knew I wanted to have the ability to reach that many people one day as well.” Shields said the most rewarding part of her year as Miss America was her time as the National Goodwill Ambassador of the Miss America Organization’s national
Savvy Shields
platform partner, Network Hospitals.
Children’s
Miracle
“Spending time with the children in this organization reminded me why I wanted to be Miss America in the first place,” she said. “Their courage, love and wisdom Continued on Page 2
Merlin Mann of Arkansas Tech named Just eight days till APA Journalism Educator of the Year convention hotel A journalism career that started in junior high anchored recently retired Arkansas Tech University Associate Professor of Journalism Merlin Mann in the practical aspects of his profession. Through 32 years of teaching college journalism, the basics of conducting interviews and writing stories always came first.
“My dad talked about professors in an ivory tower who tried to teach him things that didn’t apply to his Oregon dairy farm,” Mann said. “As an educator, I was always interested in the practice of journalism,
not the theory.”
Named 2018 APA Journalism Educator of the Year, Mann loves in-class interaction, seeing a lightbulb come on and watching students’ attention catch fire. “If you can show them they can interview someone and write it up, if they see themselves in that role, they will hang with you. They’ll work on the grammar and the rest. I like seeing students get interested and find some success,” he said. Continued on Page 2
deadline - June 15
The deadline to reserve hotel rooms for the June 27-30 APA SuperConvention at the Inn of the Ozarks in Eureka Springs is June 15, just eight days away. If you haven’t reserved a hotel room for your convention stay, now would be a good time to do it. To reserve your room, call the hotel at 479-253-9768 and ask for the special APA rate of $109.