North Dakota Newspaper Association
05/03/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 05/03/2024 20:49
State’s top newspapers recognized for ‘general excellence’
State's top newspapers recognized for 'general excellence'
5/03/24 (Fri)
North Dakota newspapers were recognized Friday for general excellence during the North Dakota Newspaper Association's 138th Annual convention held May 2-4 at the Baymont Inn, Mandan.
Taking home the top awards in NDNA's Better Newspaper Contest were The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, The Dickinson Press, The Walsh County Record of Grafton, the Hillsboro Banner and the Walsh County Press, Park River. The category covers all aspects of the newspaper, including news and advertising, layout and design, and even headline writing.
In addition, ad designers, reporters, editors and photographers were recognized for their best newspaper work in 60 different categories. All awards are made in five circulation categories: large and small multi-day papers, large, medium and small weeklies.
In the largest circulation category, judges praised The Forum for extra projects "along with depth and number of sections" in its entries.
The Grand Forks Herald and The Bismarck Tribune placed second and third, respectively.
In the small multi-day category, The Dickinson Press was lauded for "strong reporting and easy to navigate layout. The Jamestown Sun and the Daily News, Wahpeton, also placed.
The Walsh County Record, tops in general excellence for large weeklies, was recognized for "attention to content and strong photography."
Second place for large weeklies went to The Journal, Crosby and third place to the Cass County Reporter of Casselton.
For medium sized weeklies -- a category one judge described as "extremely competitive," the Hillsboro Banner rose to the top "on the strength of its creative presentation and readability."
Second place went to the Tioga Tribune, and the Foster County Independent placed third.
For small weeklies, judges declared the Walsh County Press of Park River as "stuffed with news," with an easy to follow design and crisp photographs.
Judges awarded second place the Grant County News, Elgin; third to the News Monitor of Hankinson; and the Mandan News received honorable mention.
Several special awards were also announced:
The Forum won Photo of the Year in the multi-day division for a shot by Dave Samson; in the weekly division, Cory Erickson claimed the top photo prize.
In addition to recognizing 70-year member -- and 2016 Hall of Fame inductee Glen Froseth, Kenmare -- NDNA recognized 50-year pin recipient and current NDNA employee Shari Peterson.
Other major awards included:
n Sav Kelly, Grand Forks Herald, named Rookie Reporter of the Year.
n The First Amendment Award went to the The Forum for coverage of West Fargo city government by Wendy Reuer.
n The award for Public Notice Journalism went to the Grand Forks Herald for the evasive approach of the U.S. Postal Service related to public meetings, with reporting by Matthew Voigt and Korrie Wenzel.
In addition to editorial and photography awards, ad designers were recognized in a series of categories for specific types of messages -- from apparel to vehicle ads.
Allison Olimb of the Walsh County Press, Park River, received the gavel from outgoing NDNA president Cole Short of Hillsboro. Veteran board member and past president Matt Von Pinnon, The Forum, along with immediate past president Amy Wobbema, publisher of the Foster County Independent, Carrington and the New Rockford Transcript, were recognized for their years of service.
NDNA elected new board members Joy Schoch, the Dickinson Press, and Tara Klostreich, the Daily News, Wahpeton. Rounding out the board are 1st VP Alyssa Meier of Forum Communications; 2nd VP Jill Friesz, GS Publishing, Elgin; Terry Schwartzenberger, Napoleon Homestead; and Lynn Evenson, Bottineau Courant.
During its annual meeting, NDNA voted on a bylaws change related to digital-only news organization memberships.
The keynote speaker was Tom Cullen of the Storm Lake Times, Iowa.
A screening of the documentary "Storm Lake," held Thursday, was sponsored by the North Dakota News Cooperative and emceed by Cally Peterson, editor of ND Living magazine.
For further information, contact the
NDNA Executive Director,
866-685-8889 or [email protected]
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