Custer County Chronicle Publisher Charley Najacht was elected president of South Dakota Newspaper Association during the group’s 130th annual convention last weekend.

Najacht and his wife Norma also publish the Hill City Prevailer and the Winner Advocate.

In accepting the gavel from outgoing President Lucy Halverson of the Lyman County Herald, Najacht emphasized that South Dakota’s 130 newspapers are important to the success and vitality of the communities they serve.

“Newspapers in South Dakota will continue to be a vital source of information in their communities for many years to come. Our readers and advertisers rely on us to provide local news and promotional services that directly affect their lives,” Najacht said. “As long as we provide these vital services we will continue to have a bright future.

“I’m excited to be leading such a great organization which includes so many outstanding weekly and daily newspaper publishers, staffs and long-time friends. We are also fortunate to have such an outstanding full-time support staff in Brookings led by our General Manager David Bordewyk.”

Najacht, a Wisconsin native and a South Dakota State University journalism graduate, began his newspaper career at the Hot Springs Star in 1972. He has published newspapers at Hot Springs, S.D., Broken Bow, Neb., and Cameron, Mo. He and his wife, Norma, purchased the Custer County Chronicle and Hill City Prevailer News in December 1999 and the Winner Advocate in January 2008.

His military career began in 1968 and spanned more than 31 years. He served three and a half years on active duty in the U.S. Army, which included a year as an infantry rifle platoon leader in Vietnam, and the rest of the time in the South Dakota and Nebraska Army National Guard. He retired in October 1999 in Lincoln, Neb., as a full colonel.

He and Norma have three married sons and four grandchildren. Two live in the Chicago area and one lives in Bowling Green, Ohio.

Also elected to the SDNA Board of Directors were: First Vice President Steve Baker, publisher of the Pierre Capital Journal; Second Vice President Paul Buum, publisher of The Alcester Union & Hudsonite; Third Vice President John Suhr, publisher of the Reporter & Farmer, Webster; Director Randell Beck, publisher of the Argus Leader, Sioux Falls; Director Jan Kittelson, of the Miller Press, Wessington Times Enterprise and Wolsey News; and Immediate Past President Lucy Halverson, publisher of the Lyman County Herald and Chamberlain/Oacoma Sun.

The SDNA Board members were elected at the association’s annual business meeting held in conjunction with the convention.

South Dakota Newspaper Association, founded in 1882 and based in Brookings, represents 130 weekly and daily newspapers with a total readership of more than 600,000.

State Senator Al Novstrup of Aberdeen will be honored by South Dakota Newspaper Association this week for his legislative work to improve openness and transparency in government.

Each year SDNA recognizes an individual or organization demonstrating outstanding efforts to protect the public’s right to know with its Eagle Award. The award will be given to Novstrup during SDNA’s 130^th convention Friday at Cedar Shore Resort, Oacoma.

In 2012, Novstrup was the prime sponsor of two open government bills that were signed into law. One new law, which takes effect July 1, will clarify that public officials’ employment contracts are public records. A second new law will make it more convenient for the public to participate in certain public board meetings conducted via teleconference.

In 2011, Novstrup was prime sponsor of a successful bill that created a civil penalty for public officials who knowingly deny access to public records.

“Al Novstrup has taken the lead on several measures designed to make our government  more transparent,” Argus Leader Executive Editor Maricarrol Kueter said. “These are not always the most popular bills to champion and we salute Novstrup for his hard work in pushing for change.”

Longtime newspaperman Noel Hamiel will be inducted into the South Dakota Newspaper Hall of Fame on April 27 at Cedar Shore Resort, Oacoma.

Hamiel will be honored during the 130th convention of the South Dakota Newspaper Association. He becomes the 103rd member of the Newspaper Hall of Fame.

Hamiel retired as publisher of The Daily Republic in Mitchell in 2007 after 35 years in the newspaper business. He began his career in 1972 at the Huron Plainsman as a sports writer. He also worked at the Brookings Register, Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, The Morning Sun in Pittsburg, Kan., the Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan and the Cincinnati Post.

When he retired from newspapering in 2007, Hamiel took a position with the South Dakota Community Foundation where he works with communities statewide in philanthropic development.

“We are humbled to honor someone who has made huge contributions to the newspaper business in our state,” said SDNA President Lucy Halverson, publisher of the Lyman County Herald, Presho. “Noel Hamiel has had a positive, powerful impact not only on the newspaper industry in South Dakota, but throughout our state as well.”

Through his years as a journalist, Hamiel won numerous awards for editorial and column writing. He was president (twice) of the South Dakota Associated Press Managing Editors group and served on the SDNA Board of Directors. He was named a Lusk Fellow at South Dakota State University in 2007 for outstanding service to journalism and received the SDNA Distinguished Service Award in 2009.

Hamiel served in the South Dakota Legislature from 2008 to 2010. As a freshman representative, he successfully sponsored a bill to require transparency for certain no-bid contracts in government. He served as co-chairman of the Governor’s Wage Study Task Force and as chairman of the South Dakota Board of Education.

Hamiel and his wife Janet have been married for 38 years. They have three grown children and five grandchildren.

Plaques honoring members of the Newspaper Hall of Fame are displayed in the lobby of the Anson & Ada May Yeager Hall on the SDSU campus. The SDSU Department of Journalism and Mass Communications has been home to the Newspaper Hall of Fame ever since it was established in 1934.