Elsewhere in this issue you will see an article announcing the great news—to me at least— about the Minnesota Newspaper Association industry awards. I am thrilled that the Cook County News-Herald received three awards. You can read more about them on page A3.
It is especially nice because just a few weeks ago I wrote about judging the Iowa Better Newspaper Contest. When I wrote that Unorganized Territory, I didn’t think the News-Herald would win any awards because our paper doesn’t fit the mold of many modern newspapers. However, as I was reviewing and evaluating those Iowa papers, judges from newspapers in Iowa were perusing ours. And happily, they liked our unique style and found three stories that they felt worthy of recognition.
One was a no-brainer to me. Our designer—of ads and pages—Laurie Johnson always does a wonderful job creating clean, creative and organized pages and ads, so I think she is deserving of first place honors in all categories. She received special recognition for her layout of the 2014 primary election results. If you remember, we had a lot of candidates in Commissioner Districts 1 and 5, so it was a complicated design project. As always, Laurie put it together in a nice, easy-to-follow format. Thanks for that, Laurie and for all your hard work on everything you do!
Another great award that is especially meaningful to me was the Lynn Smith Community Leadership Award, which wasn’t a no-brainer. I knew that the “Move It Awards,” which we partnered with Sawtooth Mountain Clinic and the Cook County Senior Center to present, was inspiring to our community. That is why I submitted it for consideration. But I didn’t know if it would be as interesting to the Iowa news folks.
The Community Leadership Award is not like the other awards which are selected and judged randomly. For other awards, the Better Newspaper Contest sends out a request for copies of newspapers from three calendar weeks. We never know from year to year which weeks will be selected for review in the various categories. MNA received over 3,000 entries in all and in our circulation class of 2,500 – 5,000 there were about 800 entries.
The Lynn Smith Community Leadership Award, which is not divided into newspaper circulation classes but reviews all newspapers across the state, did not receive as many entries. I checked with the Minnesota Newspaper Association and they said there were only six submissions, so the competition was not as fierce. However, the newspapers that did submit something in this category ranged in size from papers smaller than ours to papers much larger. All had fabulous community leadership entries, so I feel it is a great honor to be selected. It’s nice that it is recognition of our community, not just our community newspaper.
Again, thanks to our designer Laurie who created the “Move It! Awards” ads and designed the pages that featured the winners. I’m sure the attractive layout scored points with the Iowa Newspaper Association judges.
Thanks also to all of our News-Herald staff, who not only helped promote our “Move It! Awards,” but who work diligently every day in service to our community.
Thanks to Bill Neil, our super city beat reporter as well as subscription supervisor. Bill is also a master at helping edit the myriad press releases we receive each week to mine out the local connection and highlight it. And finally, Bill is our archivist, each week finding a delightful—or tragic—tale from the past for Down Memory Lane.
Thanks to Brian Larsen, who covers just about everything while riding herd on his kids and helping out with logrolling, church and other community activities. Brian’s forte is sports for which I am incredibly grateful as it is not mine. He does a great job keeping tabs on our college and community athletes and reading his sports articles brings the action to life.
Thanks too, to our “new” ad sales representative Mary Kay. If you haven’t met her yet, stop by and say hello or give her a call. She’d be happy to sell you some ad space to support our award-winning newspaper! And she’s just plain fun to talk to.
And of course, thanks to our Publishers Hal and Deidre. If it weren’t for their bravery and investment in the Cook County News-Herald, the 120-plus year old tradition of community newspaper would have come to an end years ago. There would be no place in the county to share public notices, births and deaths, sports news, weather reports, historical reflections and hard news—both good and bad.
There would be no Minnesota Better Newspaper Contest Awards to hang on our office wall. Thanks Hal and Deidre and crew. I’m grateful to and proud of all of you!
People love newspapers. We have hundreds of visitors at the Newseum every day. Why? Because newspapers are like works of art. Think about it. Every day, every week, there is a blank page to be filled.
Charles Overby,
Director of the Newseum,
Washington, D.C.
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