LITTLE ROCK – The Nashville News-Leader received 16 individual awards, including five for first place, during the Arkansas Press Association’s awards luncheon Saturday at the DoubleTree Hotel.
The News-Leader received third place in general excellence, behind Carroll County and Monticello.
The awards presentation marked the conclusion of the APA’s summer convention July 5-8. Contest entries were judged by members of the Oklahoma Press Association.
Seventeen daily newspapers submitted 672 entries in the competition.
Thirty-three weekly papers submitted 982 entries. The News-Leader competed in the medium weeklies division.
First-place awards and judges’ comments include the following:
Best Beat Reporter – John R. Schirmer. “These are great stories that cover a variety of education issues. I liked seeing follow-ups on some of the issues from the school board meetings (school lunch, football field turf, Bibles, etc.).”
General Interest Column – Louie Graves, “Reflecting.” “I tell my reporters I know when they’ve written a good story or column when I forget to proof it during the first read because I was pulled along by the words. That’s what this writer did. Nice column.”
Best Front Page – John R. Schirmer. “Clean and interesting layouts, clear separation of stories, great mix of coverage.”
Best Graphic Design Portfolio – John R. Schirmer. “Very nice. Best of the bunch.”
Coverage of Education – Terrica Hendrix, John R. Schirmer. “Excellent!! Once I read ‘Graduation through 6-year-old’s eyes,’ I knew I had my winner – what a great story! The other stories are also top-notch; all-around just great reporting on topics that all too often may not seem too terribly exciting. Well done.”
Second-place awards and comments include the following:
News Story – Terrica Hendrix. “Intriguing, great story. Good coverage of back and forth argument.”
Humorous column – Louie Graves. Funny, topical and well written.
Single Feature Photograph – John R. Schirmer. Touching moment, both personal and precious. Every mom would love to have this photo of her son/daughter’s graduation.”
Single Sports Action Photograph – John R. Schirmer. “Cool shot and well timed being in focus.”
Best Sports Page – John R. Schirmer. “Good layout. Good variety of coverage. Great photos and I like the use of the mascots with the stories. Lots of information, but still very clean and easy to locate the different stories.”
Coverage of Health/Medical – Terrica Hendrix, John R. Schirmer. “Nice news and feature photos.”
Third place awards include the following:
Feature Story – John R. Schirmer
Sports News Story – John R. Schirmer
Sports Feature Story – John R. Schirmer
Single Sports Feature Photo – John R. Schirmer
Honorable mention:
Sports News Story – John R. Schirmer
Dewayne Holloway of the Montgomery County News at Mount Ida received four awards in the smaller weeklies division, including honorable mention for a feature story, third place single sports action photograph, third place sports feature photograph, third place coverage of education.
