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NORTH AMERICAN TRAVEL JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION (NATJA) EXTENDS DEADLINE FOR ANNUAL AWARDS SUBMISSIONS; LAUNCHES MEMBERSHIP DRIVE
PASADENA CA, USA - The North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA) has extended its deadline for submissions for its 18th annual awards competition to December 15th, 2009. The contest is open to both members and non-members alike, in the fields of media, public relations and Convention & Visitors Bureaus (CVBs) worldwide. The organization has also launched a membership drive that includes special award submission incentives for new memberships.
For more information about NATJA and the membership drive, visit their main website at www.natja.org. Award details and descriptions of the categories, as well as the award entry form, can be found on the NATJA Awards website at www.natja.org/awards.
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About NATJA
The North American Travel Journalists Association is the premier professional association of writers, photographers, editors, and tourism professionals dedicated to redefining professional development for the travel industry.
NATJA's mission is to support the professional development of its members, provide exceptional benefits and valuable resources, support high quality professional journalism, promote travel and leisure activities to the public, and honor the excellence of journalism throughout the world.In Memoriam: Luanne Pfiefer
Luanne Pfeifer, a longtime NASJA member who joined the original US Ski Writers shortly after it was formed, died of renal failure on October 14 at a hospice in San Diego, her family has reported. She was 80.
A graduate of Seattle University, where she was the only female in a class of 500 engineering students, she began ski writing for the Evening Outlook of Santa Monica (Calif.) and the Los Angeles Times. In 1967 and 1983, she won the Western Ski Writers' William Berry Award. In 1968, she became the first woman to win a Harold Hirsch Award.
She was the author of Gretchen's Gold, a biography of ski racer Gretchen Fraser, and in 1997, she was awarded the Ullr Award from the International Skiing History Association for that book. An article about her can be found below: Luanne Pfieffer: the Ullr Award for Gretchen's Gold. 
In the 1960s and '70s, she wrote Ski California, a comprehensive 1980 guide to the state's ski areas. Luanne finally discontinued her NASJA membership in 2005 since she wasn't writing anymore and not attending any functions.
Gretchen Besser Honored by National Ski Patrol
 Gretchen Besser cuts the anniversary cake with National Ski Patrol Chair Terry LaLiberte. |
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At the 70th anniversary banquet of the National Ski Patrol held in Lakewood, Colorado, on June 20, 2008, ESWA press member Gretchen Besser was honored with a special award for having served 30 years as National Ski Patrol Historian and 40 years as a ski patroller.
During her tenure, Gretchen has served as a volunteer at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid; interviewed hundreds of patrollers around the country and published the official history of the NSP entitled "The National Ski Patrol: Samaritans of the Snow" (1983); represented the National Ski Patrol on a U.S. ski industry mission to China headed by Bob Parker (1986); moved the NSP records and archives to the Denver Public Library (1992); set up a museum space at the National Office in Lakewood (1997-98); and wrote 75 articles for "Ski Patrol Magazine."
NASJA Secretary-Treasurer Mitch Kaplan addressed the National Brotherhood of Skiers meeting of eastern region ski club presidents on June 14, 2008. The topic was reaching out to the press for effective public relations.
Hilary Nangle Announces a New Publication
Hilary Nangle (Hilary@HilaryNangle.com) announces the publication of a new edition of Moon Coastal Maine and a completely reformatted edition of Moon Maine, both published by Avalon Travel. Nangle knows the state intimately: She grew up in the Portland area, worked as a Registered Maine Whitewater Guide in the Highlands and Kennebec regions and now divides her year between Sugarloaf, in the western mountains, and the mid-coast. For these editions, she drove, biked, hiked, kayaked, skied, walked, dined, slept and explored from Kittery to Fort Kent, Calais to Fryeburg. She's now researching a new edition of Moon Acadia National Park. Nangle also is blogging at http://hilarynangle.wordpress.com.
PRESS MEMBER AND MASTERFIT UNIVERSITY FOUNDER JEFF RICH TELLS HOW TO SELECT RUNNING SHOES IN MAY 2008 ISSUE OF ESQUIRE MAGAZINE
Tips on how to buy athletic shoes from Masterfit University founder Jeff Rich, C. Ped. appear in the current issue of Esquire magazine. Rich contributed pointers to the section How to Buy Running Shoes in Esquire's May 2008 issue. It is part of a larger piece, titled The Better Man 2008-Retool, reboot, rebuild. A life-extending guide to your body's next seven days, that was compiled by noted heath physicians Drs. Mehmet Oz and & Michael Roizen.
Rich, a certified pedorthist who created the Masterfit University footwear fitting program in 1994, has customized athletic shoes and built orthotics for dozens of professional athletes in his career including tennis players Ivan Lendl and Monica Seles, New York Knick Stephan Marbury and several major league baseball players including New York Mets centerfielder Carlos Beltran.
Success in every sport can be enhanced by footwear that fits and performs to each athlete's specific needs, says Rich. And creating a stable underfoot foundation with a custom orthotic is where it all begins.
Rich is the inventor of both the Instaprint BioGel Custom Molding System, a leading system used by athletic footwear retailers and medical professionals for fabricating custom orthotics, and Zapz, a unique microwavable custom insole certified for do-it-yourself molding. Both are sold through Masterfit Enterprises.
Rich's athletic shoe selection guidelines in Esquire include:
- Check to see if the store carries a range of replacement insoles. If it doesn't, it's not a store that takes athletes seriously. Go elsewhere.
- Get your foot measured. You may think you know your size, but as you get older, your arch falls and the foot spreads out. You could go up a size and a half between your twenties and your forties.
- Check the length. You want at least a quarter inch between the tips of your toes and the front of your shoe.
- Check the width by squeezing around the ball of your foot with your hand. It should feel like squeezing around your bicep when you make a muscle: firm, but with a bit of give. (If it's too tight, try another model, but not a bigger size - a shoe that's too long is no better than one that's too narrow.)
- Test the construction. The toe box should flex easily but not be floppy, and there should be a groove molded into the sole to encourage it to bend at the proper spot. Give the shoe a twist; the toe area should flex, but the rest should be fairly rigid. Finally, squeeze the heel box. The sturdier the better.
- If you run on it a few times and something's still not quite right, try exchanging the stock insole with a high-quality replacement. A lot of times, this will make all the difference.
More Farra Influence in Nordic World
John Farra, son of ESWA members Ron and Jo Farra has been named Nordic director of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Association (USSA). Farra is a former Olympic Team member.
John's achievements and success in the Nordic world just might be evidence of what Ron, his dad, has been telling us for year - that Nordic is not only provides great exercise and is fun, but it also leads to a wonderful lifestyle.
Here's a link to the announcement: Farra Named
Congratulations to the Farras.
Photojournalist, NASJA member, and Nordic Guy, Jonathan Wiesel recommends the following web resource for data and research for Nordic stories.
The Cross Country Ski Areas Association (CCSAA) has just launched its new site at www.xcski.org. According to Jonathan it's an excellent resource for vacation destinations or some simple weekend fun - in both the U.S. and Canada. Jonathan says, it's a brand new web site that can help outdoors enthusiasts find the best places to cross country ski, snowshoe, race, or go on a ski or snowshoe tour. He has utilized it for several of his stories. You can also find places to go ice skating, sledding, and sleigh riding. Plus, you can learn where you can even take your dog along.
