Deadline: Extended through Thursday, April 2, 2026
2026 Ideas Contest Rules & Info
TPA is calling for entries in the 2026 Ideas Contest for advertising and circulation departments. The contest has 41 categories, including 10 for digital and one for innovation. The Ideas Contest deadline is extended through Thursday, April 2.
The contests portal opened on Feb. 13.
TPA is asking all publishers, editors and general managers to plan to join us in Nashville on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, for the TPA Day on the Hill. The day will kick off with a breakfast for members and legislators, followed by member appointments with legislators to talk about how proposed changes to the laws would impact our industry.
The day will also include some addresses by House and Senate leaders and a TPA Board of Directors Meeting.
TPA President Alison Gerber has set the Concurrent TPA Board of Directors Meeting and Business Session for 3:00 p.m. Central Standard Time on Tuesday, February 24, 2026, during the TPA Day on the Hill in Nashville. The meeting and day’s activities will be held in the Cordell Hull Building, which houses the offices of state legislators. All members are invited to the meeting and Day on the Hill.
The schedule is as follows:
8:00 a.m. – 8:25 a.m. Plan to go through security
8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Coffee with Legislators. Invite legislators and their staff members come see us for coffee
10:00 a.m. to Noon: Members visit with Legislators
Noon to 1:00 p.m. Members lunch, hear from a couple of legislators speaking to our group
1 p.m.-3:00 p.m. Members visit with Legislators
3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. TPA Concurrent Board of Directors Meeting and Business Session
Adjourn
Register online. Day on the Hill Additional information
Questions? Contact Mark Millsap, TPA Executive Director, mmillsap@tnpress.com.
(Jan. 26, 2026 at 6:35 p.m. EST)
Because of impacts from the weekend ice storm in much of our state, TPA has extended the 2026 Tennessee State Press Contests (for the Newsroom) deadline to Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. The rules and entry information are available as a PDF click to download the Rules Brochure PDF. The categories remain the same as in 2025.
Contact TPA with questions by emailing rgentile@tnpress.com.
The Tennessee Press Association (TPA) announced the 2025 Ideas Contest awards on Friday, Oct. 17, during the TPA Revenue Summit in Chattanooga.
The 2025 Ideas Contest Best of Show was awarded to the Chattanooga Times Free Press for its Best Special Section entry, “Best of the Best.” PDF of entry The entry is a special section of its readers’ choice award winners.
The First Runner-up was awarded to The Bledsonian-Banner of Pikeville for its entry in Best Special Section, “Women in Business.” PDF of entry
The Second Runner-up was awarded to the Farragut Press for its entry in Best Feature Page or Pages (a themed page or pages with multiple advertisers). The entry is a wrap “ Remembering Fallen Heroes” that was published for Memorial Day. PDF of entry
There were 308 entries from 19 newspapers in the 2025 contest, which has three divisions and 41 categories. The divisions are Non-daily newspapers less than 2,300 circulation; Non-daily newspapers with 2,300 total circulation and above; and Daily newspapers.
The entries were for work published in 2024. TPA partnered with the Arkansas Press Association for the judging, which resulted in 127 awards.
The newspaper with the most awards was the Farragut Press with 22 awards, followed by The Bledsonian-Banner and the McNairy County News of Selmer, with 12 awards each.
The awards are for advertising, circulation and marketing.
Link to the PDF slideshow of the winners
Link to the list of winners
You are invited to the TPA Advertising & Circulation Revenue Summit for member newspapers in Chattanooga on Friday, October 17 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.The day will include lunch and the presentation of the Ideas Contest Awards. It is an event designed for networking and exchanging ideas within our industry.
Tennessee Press Advertising and Circulation Revenue Summit
Friday, October 17, 2025 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. EDT
Location: Chattanooga Times Free Press
TPA Member cost it $25.00. Lunch provided.
Advertising and Circulation training sessions will include:
· Selling with AI: Tips and Tricks
·Digital Selling including Branded Content
· New Revenue Projects and Ideas
· Circulation: Audience Growth Strategies
· Idea Sharing Session: Bring your Best Revenue Ideas and Win Prizes
· Roundtables on Advertising and Circulation topics
Register at https://tinyurl.com/TPARevenue2025
Alison Gerber, editor of the Chattanooga Times Free Press, is the new president of the Tennessee Press Association (TPA).
TPA is the trade association of the state’s daily and non-daily newspapers. It is composed of 133 newspapers and online publications.
Gerber succeeds Darrell Richardson, general manager of the News-Herald, Lenoir City.
Other officers elected at TPA’s Business Session during the Concurrent Board of Directors Meeting and Business Session on June 26 are Dave Gould, president/CEO of Main Street Media of Tennessee, elected first vice president; Darren Haimer, general manager of The Daily Times, Maryville, elected second vice president; Chris Sherrill Vass, public editor of the Chattanooga Times Free Press, re-elected secretary; and Eric Barnes, CEO of The Daily Memphian, Memphis, re-elected treasurer.
Directors elected for two-year terms representing District One are Brittany Washburn Martin, publisher of The McKenzie Banner; Victor Parkins, publisher of The Mirror-Exchange, Milan; and Scott Whaley, publisher of the Chester County Independent, Henderson. Directors elected to represent District Three are Sandy Dodson, publisher of The Bledsonian-Banner, Pikeville; Dale Gentry, publisher of The Standard Banner, Jefferson City; and Ron Waite, publisher of the Kingsport Times News.
Darrell Richardson will continue on the board for one year as immediate past president. Continuing on the board are District Two directors Liz Schubauer, city editor of The Tennessean, Nashville; Lindsay Pride, editor of the Herald-Citizen, Cookeville, and Lora Scripps, editor and general manager of the Elk Valley Times, Fayetteville. Their terms continue until the summer of 2026.
The TPA Board of Directors elected Darrell Richardson to serve on the Tennessee Press Association Foundation (TPAF) Board of Trustees and re-elected Daniel Richardson of Richardson Media Group, Camden. Both were elected for three-year terms.
About Alison Gerber
Alison Gerber joined the Chattanooga Times Free Press in 2003 and served as assistant metro editor, metro editor and managing editor before becoming editor in 2011. Prior to joining the Times Free Press, Gerber was a reporter at the Naples Daily News and the Fort Myers News-Press in Florida.
Gerber also serve on the board of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government. She previously served on the boards of the Associated Press Media Editors and the News Leaders Association.
She has long been involved with TPA with service on the Board of Directors and as chair of the Contests Committee and co-chair of the Government Affairs Committee.
About TPA
The TPA was founded in 1870-71 for the purpose of creating a unified voice for the newspaper industry in Tennessee. Today, TPA continues to assist its 133 members by monitoring legislative activities, providing training programs, issuing press credentials, and providing regular meetings and forums to foster the exchange of information and ideas.
The TPA presidency rotates among TPA’s three divisions of Tennessee.
The winners of the 2025 University of Tennessee – Tennessee Press Association Tennessee State Press Contests were announced June 28 at a luncheon held at the Hilton Memphis.
Here is the link to the list of winners with the judges’ comments.
https://tnpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/SPC_2025_Winners.xls
A total of 1,113 entries were submitted by 71 newspapers in this year’s contest.
Melissa Tindell, UT System Assistant Vice President of Communications, presented the awards.
The 2025 General Excellence winners for each group are as follows:
Group One: Herald & Tribune, Jonesborough
Group Two: The Standard Banner, Jefferson City
Group Three: Cleveland Daily Banner
Group Four: Johnson City Press
Group Five: Chattanooga Times Free Press
TPA thanks the UT System for this 85-year partnership on the Tennessee State Press Contests.
This year’s contest was judged by members of the Arkansas Press Association.
Link to photos taken of the First Place Winners at the awards event. Photo credit: Donn Jones, Donn Jones Photography
When we talk to the public, we continue to inform and remind them that Tennessee newspapers
place public notices in print, on the newspaper website and on a statewide public notice website
—www.tnpublicnotice.com.
To that end, we have created a new Public Notice Awareness campaign. We need our members’ help
promoting our tnpublicnotice.com. Both our 2024 and 2025 Public Notice Awareness Campaign ads are available.
The Tennessee Press Association (TPA) announced the 2024 Ideas Contest awards on Thursday, Oct. 10, during a virtual presentation.
The 2024 Ideas Contest Best of Show was awarded to the Brownsville States-Graphic for its Best Special Section entry, “The Phoenix.” The entry is a special section marking the Bicentennial of Haywood County. View this section at: https://tnpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/BSIS_N1_first.pdf
The First Runner-up was awarded to The Paris Post-Intelligencer for entry in Best Social Media Self Promotion, which encouraged readers to follow the paper on Instagram and offered a Sprockets Coffee giveaway. View the entry at: https://tnpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/35_N2_first.mp4
The Second Runner-up was awarded to the Farragut Press for its niche publication “Kickoff,” which featured high school football. View the publication at: https://tnpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/29_N2_first.pdf
There were 406 entries from 22 newspapers in the 2024 contest, which has three circulation divisions and 41 categories. Entries were for work published in 2023. TPA partnered with the New York Press Association for the judging, which resulted in 187 awards.
The newspaper with the most awards is the Farragut Press with 24 awards, followed by The Greeneville Sun with 19 awards, and the Brownsville States-Graphic with 18 awards.
TPA congratulates all of the winners!
TPA has set advertising seminars for Thursday, Oct. 17 in Jackson, Tenn. and Friday, Oct. 25 in Knoxville.
John Montuori, who spoke at the winter convention, will be a presenter at both seminars. Montuori is
Director of New Business Development for WEHCO Media, Inc.. His topic is “Earning Trusted Advisor Status.”
Jarod Goenner of Gannett’s Local IQ team will speak on digital sales. The session will be for non-daily and daily newspapers. Goenner will speak at the Jackson seminar. A different presenter will cover the topic for the Knoxville date.
TPA Executive Director Mark Millsap will present on “Selling the Value of Your Newspaper and Overcoming Objections.”
The seminars will also include an idea exchange with a $100 to the winner. TPA encourages members to send ad managers and ad reps to this event. Registration is $70 per person for staff of TPA members.
The programming will be the first in-person advertising sessions since 2019.
Registration, schedule and speaker details are posted at https://tnpress.com/tpa-advertising-seminars-2024/.