Media Contact:
Lindsey Loving
Manager, Communications
Lindsey@newsmediaalliance.org
571.366.1009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NAA Announces Third Annual Accelerator Pitch Program
October 29, 2015
Arlington, Va. — The Newspaper Association of America (NAA) is now accepting submissions for its third annual Accelerator Pitch program at NAA mediaXchange 2016, which will take place April 17-20, 2016, at the Marriott Marquis in Washington, DC. The program provides the opportunity for media startup companies to pitch their businesses to approximately 1,000 newspaper media industry executives and their colleagues.
The program is open to startup companies that have been founded within the last three years whose product or service helps meet newspaper companies’ print, digital, mobile or advertising needs.
“We are excited to be bringing back the Accelerator Pitch program at NAA mediaXchange 2016, as it generates a lot of buzz on the part of the startups and the newspaper executives alike,” said David Chavern, NAA president and CEO. “Accelerator Pitch is an excellent way to highlight innovations taking place in the industry that will propel newspaper media companies into the future.”
NAA will select up to eight startup companies from the submissions it receives to pitch their products or services to key media, newspapers and advertising executives during NAA mediaXchange.
“As a former newspaper editor, it was great to be among the delegates at last year’s NAA mediaXchange. It was even more of a buzz to take part in the Accelerator Pitch – and a thrill to win!” said Paul Field, CEO Europe for TouchCast, a 2015 Accelerator Pitch winner. “As a video start-up working extensively with media partners like the BBC, Wall Street Journal, Globo and Financial Times, it was fantastic to be able to network with newspaper executives at the event.”
NAA is accepting entries for the program beginning today through 5:00 pm EST on Friday, December 11, 2015.Entries will be judged on usefulness to newspaper media companies, innovation and creativity. The winners will be notified by Friday, February 5, 2016.
2014 Accelerator Pitch winner and 2015 mediaXchange panelist Kim Wilson, president and founder of Social News Desk, said “Social News Desk has grown exponentially since having won the opportunity to present at the Accelerator Pitch at NAA mediaXchange. More than 900 publishers and broadcasters around the world now use our social media management software tools. And through our experience with NAA, we’ve been able to build out our suite of social media tools for publishers!”
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About NAA mediaXchange 2016
NAA mediaXchange 2016 will take place from April 17-20, 2016, at the Marriott Marquis Washington, DC. The conference is designed to inspire and provide valuable ideas to help newspaper professionals grow audience and revenue for their print and digital products. The theme of the conference is “local” — the importance of newspapers in providing localized knowledge and information, engaging and improving the lives of their local communities. Previous Washington conferences featured speeches from the top presidential candidates. We hope to add the leading 2016 candidates to the event, making it a particularly noteworthy affair for all attendees. For more information, visit www.newsmedia.com/events/mediaxchange.
About NAA
NAA is a nonprofit organization representing nearly 2,000 newspapers and their multiplatform businesses in the United States and Canada. NAA members include daily newspapers, as well as nondailies, other print publications and online products. Headquartered near Washington, D.C., in Arlington, Va., the association focuses on the major issues that affect today’s newspaper industry: public policy/legal matters, advertising revenue growth and audience development across the medium’s broad portfolio of products and digital platforms. Information about the association and the industry also may be found at www.newsmedia.com.
Lindsey is Director, Communications at the News/Media Alliance. Prior to joining the Alliance, she led communications for a food and nutrition nonprofit in Washington, D.C. for over eight years.
