The 2004 Beacon Awards Call for Entries is Online
CTPAA has posted the 2004 Beacon Awards Call for Entries on its Web site. This summer the 2004 Beacon Awards Judging Operations work group reviewed the Call for Entries and modified the entrant classification levels for cable systems. The work group made these changes because there are significant differences in resources for a system that has 75,000 subs and one that has 200,000 subscribers. It noted a much smaller difference in support between systems over the 150,000/200,000 subscriber threshold.

The new levels are:

CTPAA will mail the 2004 Beacon Awards Call For Entries to members in late September. The 2004 Beacon Awards early bird deadline allows CTPAA members to save $50 off the entry fee and is November 7, 2003. The regular deadline is November 21, 2003.

The association has several other features on the Beacon pages of the CTPAA Web site, to assist members who are preparing their entries. There are links to Frequently Asked Questions, short descriptions of the 2003 Beacon Award winners and 2001 - 2003 Beacon Finalist project summaries. The project summary is the core of every Beacon entry and details the planning, implementation and results of a successful cable public affairs initiative. These posted project summaries from past Beacon finalists may serve as a good model when preparing a Beacon entry. The summaries are posted in the members-only section of the CTPAA Web site, which requires the member to log in. A prompt will ask for the member's user name (the member's email in lowercase letters) and password (the member's last name all in lowercase letters).

CTPAA will announce the winners of the 2004 Beacon Awards during a gala ceremony and dinner on Tuesday, March 23, 2004, at FORUM 2004, the cable industry's annual educational conference dedicated to the issues facing public affairs professionals. FORUM 2004 will be held March 21-24, 2004, at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington, D.C. For more information on the 2004 Beacon Awards, contact Michelle Butler at 202/775-1082 or via email at mbutler@ctpaa.org.

 Judge the 2004 Beacons
CTPAA invites its members to choose the best of the best cable public affairs initiatives of the past year by being a 2004 Beacon Awards judge. To volunteer, complete the Beacon judge form and send it to CTPAA. As a Beacon judge, CTPAA members will learn what cable public affairs professionals across the country are accomplishing and will walk away from the experience with dozens of new ideas. The first round of Beacon judging will be all day January 14 and 15 in Washington, DC, with a welcome reception hosted by NCTA on the evening of January 13. For more information, contact Michelle Butler at 202/775-1082 or via email at mbutler@ctpaa.org.

The National Association of Minorities in Cable (NAMIC) recently announced that CTPAA members Patricia Andrews-Keenan, vice president, communications, Comcast Greater Chicago Region, and Patti Rockenwagner, vice president, communications, Comcast Southern California Region, will be part of the 2003-2004 Executive Leadership Development Program (ELDP) class. The ELDP sessions, which are scheduled for October and November 2003 and February and April 2004, are designed to help people of color advance to executive-level positions within the cable industry. Currently, minorities hold seven percent of key management positions.

The NAMIC Executive Leadership Development Program is a four-session program held over 11 days with a curriculum focused on participants' personal and professional development. It also addresses the unique challenges managers and executives of color face. The course work includes business acumen skills as well as topics such as negotiation, trust building, team leadership and performance management. Participants will also be involved in self-assessment activities to help identify individual strengths and challenges. The Anderson School, ranked as the number five business school in the United States by Forbes magazine, developed and will host the program.

 NAMIC, AOL Time Warner and Court TV to Commemorate Brown vs. Board of Education 50^th Anniversary
Richard D. Parsons, chairman and chief executive officer of AOL Time Warner, and U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige will be the keynote speakers at NAMIC's Mentoring Luncheon on September 16, 2003, in New York City. The luncheon, held as part of NAMIC's 17^th annual convention will carry the theme, "Embrace Diversity, Embrace Success" and will celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education, the ruling that ended segregation and guaranteed equal rights for all citizens.

Court TV Chairman and CEO Henry Schleiff will give opening remarks and introduce Mr. Parsons. Both Parsons and Paige will offer their perspectives on the Brown decision, diversity as it relates to education and the entertainment industry, and will share their thoughts about the impact Brown has had on their personal and professional lives. Cheryl Brown Henderson, daughter of the named plaintiff and founder and president of The Brown Foundation, will also attend as a special guest.

During the luncheon, Court TV's Henry Schleiff will announce Court TV's partnership with parent, AOL Time Warner, and the Brown vs. Board of Education 50^th Anniversary Commission to celebrate the Brown anniversary. Court TV is producing a series of vignettes, featuring Parsons, Paige, and prominent African-Americans speaking about the legacy of the Brown decision in commemoration of the Brown decision. The vignettes will air on Court TV this fall and run through the Brown decision in May 2004.

 Refer CTPAA to Your Peers and Receive a $20 Gift Certificate
FORUM. Beacons. Networking. These are just a few of the many benefits that come with membership in CTPAA. Help your peers succeed in cable public affairs by encouraging them to join the Cable Television Public Affairs Association. As a token of appreciation, CTPAA will send members a $20 gift certificate from Amazon.com or from Borders Book Store for each new (upon receiving payment) cable television public affairs professional who joins CTPAA through their recommendation. The name of the referring member must appear on the new member's application. For your convenience, Refer Your Peer flyers will be included in future CTPAA mailings. The Refer Your Peer program was designed based on the recommendation of the CTPAA Membership sub-committee.

 CTAM Collaborative Marketing Seminar To Examine the Importance of Communications
The CTAM Collaborative Marketing Seminar "Partnering for Profit: Join Forces. Gain Resources." is designed to help cable industry professionals in communications, marketing and local ad sales work together in powerful new ways to maximize their messages, resources and bottom-line results. Held on September 18, 2003, at the Park Central New York Hotel in New York, New York, this one-day seminar will give examples of profitable marketing collaborations from cable and other industries, explore the challenges of Return On Investment (ROI), and focus on the nuts and bolts of successful collaborations within cable.

During the seminar public affairs experts will examine the importance of communications in a successful collaborative marketing initiative. Mark Weiner, CEO Delahaye Media, will lead a session on using specific metrics and return on investment tools to measure cross-platform campaigns with a special emphasis on public relations. He will give examples of successful collaborations that used public relations resources well and juxtapose them with collaborations that would have been more successful if they had incorporated public relations resources. Lynn Yaeger, executive vice president corporate affairs for Time Warner Cable, will be a panelist on the session "Bold Ideas to Boost Budgets." The seminar also offers attendees the opportunity to both share and learn best practices of this collaborative marketing approach through the showcase of examples from the CTAM, Cable World and Turner Network Sales Collaborative Marketing Case Study Competition. For more information about the CTAM seminar and the case study competition, please visit http://www.magnetmail.net/Actions/linktosite.cfm?message_id=17667&user_id=CTPPA&recipient_id=5484063&site=http://www.ctamconferences.com.

 Account Manager Wanted for Top Los Angeles/Bay Area Public Relations Agency
Bob Gold & Associates, a public relations and marketing services agency for the communications industry, is looking for a seasoned account manager who knows the cable television industry. If you're a leader who wants to teach, and can inspire your team while handling media and analyst relations, with demonstrable solid writing skills, Bob Gold & Associates wants you! The ideal candidate will have previous experience managing staff and have demonstrated achievements managing teams on cable industry accounts or other PR agency experience. This is a growth opportunity with great benefits located near Southern California's beaches. The candidate must have PR agency experience and technology and cable TV industry experience preferred. Bob Gold & Associates offers a competitive salary and a great benefits package. For consideration please fax or e-mail resume with salary requirements and references to marcia@bobgoldpr.com or via fax 310-320-2002. No phone calls, please! Visit our Web site at www.bobgoldpr.com for more information.

 Thank You 2003 Corporate Members!

For information on how your organization can join CTPAA as a corporate member in 2004, please contact Steve Jones at sjones@ctpaa.org or at 202/775-1083. For membership details, go to http://www.magnetmail.net/Actions/linktosite.cfm?message_id=17667&user_id=CTPPA&recipient_id=5484063&site=http://www.ctpaa.org/mcorp.shtml.

2003 Golden Benefactors

A&E Networks
Advance/Newhouse Communications
Cablevision Systems Corporation
Charter Communications
Comcast Cable Communications
Cox Communications
NBC Cable Networks
Rainbow Media Holdings
Time Warner Cable
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.

2003 Benefactors

ABC Cable Networks Group
ESPN
Lifetime Television
MTV Networks
TechTV
The Weather Channel

2003 Friends & Associates

Adelphia
CableLabs
Cable Telecommunications Association of New York
Comedy Central
Court TV
C-SPAN Networks
Discovery Networks
Florida Cable Telecommunications Association
Game Show Network
Hallmark Channel
HBO
Indiana Cable Telecommunications Association
Insight Communications
International Channel
Midcontinent Communications
Motorola, Broadband Communications Sector
Ohio Cable Telecommunications Association
Oxygen Media
Scientific-Atlanta
Scripps Networks
Showtime Networks
Texas Cable & Telecommunications Association
Terayon Communication Systems