The cutoff date for hotel reservations at the special “Texas APME” rate was February 25th.

The room block could not be extended past the 25th. However, the APME has rooms that can be reserved by attendees at the convention rate.

To reserve one of these room, you must call Pam Collins at 972-677-2262 or e-mail pcollins@ap.org. The room rate is still $129 and these remaining rooms are available on a first come, first served basis.

To make your own hotel reservations at the normal rate, contact the hotel directly:

The Hotel Galvez
2024 Seawall Blvd.
Galveston, TX 77550
Hotel Reservations: 409-765-7721  

For a map and driving directions, click here.

The challenges are familiar: Circulation decline, revenue decline, migration to online, shrinking staff and rising demands.

That’s the headline, but dig a little farther and some innovative ideas emerge. At the Texas APME Convention in Galveston March 28-30, you’ll have the chance to hear some of those ideas and meet some of the innovators.

We’d like to hear your success stories, your creative solutions, your innovations. How are the state’s editors coping? What’s working? Who’s innovating?

Please contact Larry Lutz, managing editor development & copy desk at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, with your contributions. He’s especially interested in best practices, innovations and solutions. If you’ve got one you can share, please let him know at llutz@star-telegram or 817-390-7121.

The deadline for getting your entries in for the annual Texas APME Headliners Excellence in Journalism Awards is a month away.

Contest rules have been mailed to your newsrooms and are moving daily on the Texas AP wire. The key date to remember is that your entries must be in the hands of the contest coordinators by 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18, 2008.

If you have questions about the rules, please contact the contest coordinators.

Shane Fitzgerald, managing editor of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, is the coordinator for Class AA and AAAA. Class AA covers papers with a circulation of 10,000 to 29,999. Class AAAA covers papers with a circulation of 125,000 or more.

Sharon Roberts, assistant managing editor of the Austin American-Statesman, is the coordinator for Class A and AAA. Class A covers newspapers with a circulation of up to 9,999. Class AAA covers papers with a circulation of 30,000 to 124,999.

Spanish-language entries should be sent to Dino Chiecchi, director of Hispanic publications for the San Antonio Express-News.