Father Micheal Oleksa and rural educator Clifton Bates will discuss their new book, Conflicting Landscapes, at the APC luncheon on October 2.

Pollster to speak at September 4 luncheon.

Join Alaska Professional Communicators for a look back at the primaries and a look ahead to the general election with pollster Ivan Moore.

Luncheon Information
11:30 a.m., Thursday, September 4
Golden Lion Hotel, 1000 East 36th Avenue, Anchorage

Lunch: members $16; guests of members $18; others $20

Reservations:
1. RSVP and payment through PayPal.

2. Email: akpc at gci dot net by noon Tuesday, September 2.

3. Call 274-4723 and leave a message, including a phone number where you can be reached. When calling or sending an email, please include how many people are coming and their names.

More about Ivan Moore

These days you can find Ivan Moore’s take on the Alaska political scene in the Anchorage Press and the Frontiersman. And occasionally, you’ll find him quoted in national publications, who turn to Moore to get a pulse on Alaska politics.

From ANWR to abortion to marijuana, Moore has conducted polls on just about every hot-button topic in our state and tracked some of Alaska’s pivotal political races.

During the 2004 Senate race that pitted Lisa Murkowski and former governor Tony Knowles, he was pollster for KTUU-TV and did a weekly segment on the evening news. In the 2002 gubernatorial race he worked as a consultant for Fran Ulmer’s campaign.

So what motivates Moore? He says it’s pretty simple: “I enjoy nothing more than knowing what’s going on.”

Moore says his morning ritual is to comb through the “Letters to the Editor” section of the newspaper, which he calls one of the most valuable tools to measure public opinion. It factors into the much more scientific work of polling – in which Moore measures a candidate’s negatives and positives, or looks at where the undecided voters are leaning.

Ivan Moore learned to crunch the numbers in his home country of Great Britain, where he earned a mathematics degree at Nottingham University. After finishing his studies, he spent a year traveling and met his wife, Shelley, at a international youth hostel in Australia. A subsequent trip to Shelly’s home in Anchorage locked up Moore’s future as an Alaskan.

Moore moved here in February 1989. A year later, Anchorage pollster Mark Hellenthal gave him his first job as a political researcher. In 1996, he started his own company, Ivan Moore Research.

Alaska writers and media communicators made a strong showing in the 2008 national contest sponsored by the National Federation of Press Women (NFPW). Alaska had 21 winning entries, including 11 first places, from 13 individuals.

Alaska did especially well in television journalism and in the book authoring categories.

Rhonda McBride, who is now on the staff of Gov. Sarah Palin, took first place in three categories for her work for KTUU-TV Channel 2. She also took second place in another category and, significantly, placed second in a competition for individual achievement in any medium.

Sheila Balistreri took two first places for her work for Channel 2, The Morning Edition with Sheila Balistreri.

Steve Levi took first place in fiction writing for his novel, Cadzow, set in Alaska and published by Lachesis Publishing of Nova Scotia, Canada. This is the third year in a row that Alaska has placed first in the novel category.

Aliza Sherman Risdahl took first in non-fiction book, instructional, for her how-to book on starting an internet business. Part of the Adams Streetwise series published by F+W Publications, Inc., the book is titled Streetwise eCommerce: Establish Your Online Business, Expand Your Reach, and Watch Your Profits Soar.

The local affiliate of NFPW is Alaska Professional Communicators (APC), based in Anchorage. Each year the organization, with about 70 members in the writing and media communication fields, offers a contest at the state level. State first place winners go to the national contest.

The awards will be presented Sept. 13 at the NFPW conference in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Alaska’s national winners follow, in alphabetical order:

Sheila Balistreri: 1st, best television newscast, and 1st, best television presentation, both for The Morning Edition with Sheila Balistreri.

Mary Katzke and Deborah Schildt: 1st, poster campaign for the Alaska Office of Breast and Cervical Health Partnership; 3rd, video productions, For the Love of Riley for the Arc of Anchorage.

Steve Levi: 1st, fiction, novel, Cadzow.

Ginny Mahar: 1st, personal column or critic’s review, radio, The Sauk, KTOO 104.3 FM.

Rhonda McBride: 1st, on-scene spot report, television, Walrus Bellies; 1st, prepared report, television, 49th Cello; 1st, television interview, Fallen Heroes Project; 2nd, television special programming, Bethel Remembers; 2nd, individual achievement. All work for KTUU-TV Channel 2.

Amy Murphy: 1st, single advertisement, AVEC Cooperative Month ad, Delta Discovery and Ruralite magazine; 3rd, annual report, internal, Alaska Village Electric Co-op Annual Report; Hon. Mention, community or institutional relations program, Kalskag high school story writing project, for AVEC.

Elise Patkotak: 2nd, personal columns, general, “We’re each part of some minority” and “Beware the power of the ‘babe’,” Anchorage Daily News; 2nd, newsletter, one- to three-color, The Flight Feather, for Bird TLC.

Aliza Sherman Risdahl: 1st, non-fiction book, instructional, Streetwise eCommerce: Establish Your Online Business, Expand Your Reach, and Watch Your Profits Soar.

Yereth Rosen: 2nd, personality profile, “The Moose Babysitter,” Christian Science Monitor.

Sherrie Simmonds: 1st, annual report, CD-electronics, 2006 Annual Report–celebrating 60 years of housing Alaskans, for Alaska Housing Finance Corp.

Alan Sorum: 2nd, manuals and handbooks, Clean Boating, for University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Linda Thompson: Hon. Mention, non-fiction book, religious or inspirational, Erik’s Story, Finding His Gifts Against All Odds in Rural Alaska, published by Publication Consultants of Anchorage.

Join Alaska Professional Communicators June 6 and 7 for a garage sale to benefit the memorial scholarship fund. The sale will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days at 640 Giroux Circle.

How you can get involved:

Kathleen McCoy and Fran Durner to speak at June 5 luncheon.

This time of turmoil for mainstream media journalists is also a time of opportunity, as newspapers expand their online efforts. The Anchorage Daily News’ Assistant Managing Editor for Interactivity, Kathleen McCoy, will discuss community blogging
and multimedia storytelling at Alaska’s largest daily newspaper. She’ll also address what it feels like to be in the middle of this transition, and what readers should expect from the ADN team as they “ride the bronco and try to stay on.”

Kathleen recently finished a year as a Knight Fellow at Stanford, studying new media, creativity and leadership as part of an expenses paid, mid-career fellowship.

Also on hand to answer questions, photographer/blogger Fran Durner, who is responsible for the “Talk Dirt to Me” blog.

Luncheon Information
11:30 a.m., Thursday, June 5
Golden Lion Hotel, 1000 East 36th Avenue, Anchorage

Lunch: members $16; guests of members $18; others $20

Reservations:
1. RSVP and payment through PayPal.

2. Email: thetus at gci dot net by noon Tuesday, June 3.

3. Call 274-4723 and leave a message, including a phone number where you can be reached. When calling or sending an email, please include how many people are coming and their names.