Standard’s publisher named Kentucky Press Association president

In recognition of her leadership in the industry, Kentucky Standard Publisher Jamie Sizemore has been named president of the Kentucky Press Association for 2011.

Jamie Sizemore

Sizemore assumes the post after being nominated to vice-president last January by KPA’s membership, which is composed of publishers of newspapers throughout Kentucky. She said it marks a fulfilling moment in her 25-year career in the print business.

“It is really a humbling moment to be president of an association with a 142-year history in Kentucky,” she said.

Sizemore’s nomination is part of a tradition of Kentucky Standard publishers taking on a leadership role in the press association, which itself is the 10th oldest of its kind in the United States. Previous publishers Steve Lowery and Alfred S. Wathen Jr. also served as KPA president in 1994 and 1957, respectively.

KPA Executive Director David Thompson said he and his staff are looking forward to working with Sizemore.

“We are very excited. She has put a lot into the board activities we have had and I know that will continue with her presidency,” Thompson said.

The mission of the association is to work for the betterment of the newspaper industry in Kentucky. Thompson said this can include establishing new programs such as its news content service and lobbying on issues that affect print publications.

Sizemore said her goals for her tenure are to continue working on hard on the association’s initiatives and its strategic plan.

“The Kentucky Press Association staff and board have really done a good job making it come to life,” she said of the plan.

A graduate of Western Kentucky University with a bachelor’s degree in advertising, Sizemore began her newspaper career in Virginia at the Galax Gazette in 1986. She worked as an advertising representative for the paper and was then promoted to general manager of The Community Times and Randallstown News in suburban Baltimore, Md. In 1988, she became the advertising manager for Roane Newspaper Group in Kingston, Tenn., before coming to Kentucky in 1992 to work for the News-Enterprise in Elizabethtown.

While there, Sizemore held several senior leadership roles including advertising manager, new ventures manager and circulation director. She became publisher of The Kentucky Standard in August of 2008.

The KPA position is not the first time Sizemore has been honored for her work in journalism. In 2006, she was awarded Circulation Sales Executive of the Year for papers with circulations of 150,000 or less by the Newspaper Association of America. That same years, she was also honored by her alma matter when WKU’s College Heights Herald presented her with a Herald Award for outstanding contributions to journalism.