Reporter honored in national contest

Your hometown paper was recently honored by the National Newspaper Association (NNA), receiving an award for General Excellence for a weekly newspaper, plus awards for feature series and columns.

There were 1,303 entries in the NNA’s Better Newspaper Editorial Contest. A total of 485 awards were won by 97 member newspapers from 36 states.

The Reporter received third place in the General Excellence category for it’s mix of news, features and lifestyle articles and, the judges added, the Reporter was recognized because of “the amount of pages and advertising support for this weekly.”

Editor Ambrose Clancy was awarded second place for columns. The judges singled out a column by Mr. Clancy on freedom of the press, with one judge noting: “The narrative to the column is exceptional. I like the final paragraph: ‘Why do people attack freedom of the press? Easy. Because they’re encouraged every day to do it. And they think they can get away with it.’”

Reporter Annabelle Woodward took home a third place in the Best Feature Series category for her three-part examination of Island religious institutions. Ms. Woodward was singled out, a judge wrote, because her work is “professionally done. So often reporters of religion put themselves and their personal beliefs, even subtly, into the articles. I couldn’t guess the writer’s religious beliefs after reading these articles and I shouldn’t be able to. The writer is not the story. The church is. I appreciate the writing style and pace. Some tough topics were covered here and done well … and engaging.”

Winners will be recognized at an awards breakfast to be held Saturday, October 5, 2019, during NNA’s 133rd Annual Convention at The Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Congratulations to the Reporter staff for these major achievements. And most of all, thanks to our readers and advertisers, who support and inspire us, week in and week out.