The Arkansas Press Women (APW) Association will recognize the award winners in its 2025 Professional Communications Contest at a luncheon on Saturday, June 21. The featured speaker at the luncheon will be APW vice president Lara Farrar, who will discuss her investigative reporting on psychiatric residential treatment facilities in Arkansas.
The luncheon will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Community Room of the Mabee Student Center at Central Baptist College in Conway. The cost to attend the awards presentation is $20 per person, payable at the door in cash, by check or with a debit/credit card.
Persons who plan to attend the luncheon should RSVP to Richard S. Plotkin, APW treasurer, by June 6 at (501) 920-9429 or rsplotkin@conwaycorp.net. Advance notice of attendance is needed to plan catering for the event. Those with special dietary needs should notify Plotkin.
APW will also honor Immediate Past President Kristin Netterstrom Higgins as the organization’s 2025 Communicator of Achievement Award honoree and the recipients of other local chapter awards.
Farrar has been examining psychiatric residential treatment facilities for more than three years as the recipient of a University of Southern California Annenberg investigative journalism fellowship. Part of her reporting was featured as the cover story in the October 2024 issue of Arkansas Times magazine.
A total of 321 entries were submitted in the Arkansas contest. All awards – first, second, third and honorable mention – will be presented at the luncheon. Each entrant will receive an award certificate and a judge’s comment about their entry, required to have been published, posted or broadcast in calendar year 2024.
First-place winners in the Arkansas contest are eligible to compete in the national tier of judging overseen by the National Federation of Press Women (NFPW).
NFPW will recognize national winners during the 2025 NFPW Conference, scheduled Sept. 11-13 in Golden, Colorado. The national awards dinner will be on Saturday, Sept. 13. Details about the conference are available at https://www.nfpw.org/2025-conference-golden-colorado.