Wanted to remind everyone our famed Top of the Rockies regional journalism contest opens Dec. 23, with entries accepted through Jan. 31. We’ll get you the link (www.betternewspapercontest.com) when we’re live on the Top of the Rockies page. There will also be an email sent to all Colorado Pro members and most Colorado media outlets.

JANUARY FREELANCE WORKSHOP

Award-winning writer Jayme Moye presents a FREE workshop on freelance and magazine writing 6 p.m., January 8^, the Denver Press Club, 1330 Glenarm.

Jayme Moye

A freelance success story, Moye has written for nearly 50 magazines, including National Geographic, Marie Claire, Outside, Men’s Journal, Women’s Health, Backpacker, Bicycling, Runner’s World, and 5280. She is the author of the Boulder and North Central Colorado section of the Fodor’s Colorado guidebook. In 2013, her work won five awards from the North American Travel Journalists Association.

In this 1.5-hour workshop, participants will learn how to break into freelancing for magazines, both print and digital. No previous experience is required. Moye will cover how magazines are structured, and how to target a story idea to a specific section. She will discuss how to hook an editor with a relevant pitch, and the business process behind landing an assignment. A portion of the workshop is devoted to how to craft a pitch, with real-life examples of successful and not-so-successful pitches. Participants walk away with the information they need to begin earning money from magazine writing.

FIRST FIRESIDE CHAT OF 2014

The first Fireside Chat of 2014 will feature Bente Birkeland of Rocky Mountain Community Radio at the Denver Press Club, 1330 Glenarm Place. The event, at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan 15, is sponsored by the Colorado Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Admission is free.

Birkeland has covered Colorado politics and government since the spring of 2006. Her capitol beat reporting is heard on RMCA’s network of 16 public radio stations across Colorado. She keeps track of state politics throughout the year and is especially busy during the annual legislative session January through early May.

Birkeland will discuss the process of covering state government, gathering information for and editing her stories, and what her public radio clients want in her reporting. She’ll also talk about coverage of the legislative session which begins Jan. 8.

KUNC in Greeley is one of the stations in the RMCR network.

“The work of Bente at the statehouse is critical to the 16 stations that make up Rocky Mountain Community Radio,” said KUNC President and CEO Neil Best. “The public radio audience wants to be informed about what is taking place in state government. Working collaboratively we have a highly qualified reporter on site throughout the year, not just during the legislative session, keeping our audiences throughout the state better informed.”

Birkeland’s stories also have aired on NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered, American Public Media’s Marketplace, and she was a contributor for WNYC’s The Next Big Thing.