2003 Better Newspaper Contest — Advertising
Division 2, Dailies
Division 3, Dailies
Division 4, Semiweeklies
Division 5, Semiweeklies
Division 6, Weeklies
Division 7, Weeklies
Division 8, Weeklies
Division 9, Weeklies
Division 10, Weeklies
Advertising
Division 2 Dailies 7,000 to 99,999
1st. The Paris News — “Join our team” Excellent use of team picture and well-balanced layout with good copy including prices. A good-looking ad. Easy to read copy. “Building the future” Wow! This ad with all these expressions just tops them all. It propelled this newspaper into No. 1 for this division. Terrific ad. No copy needed. “Lamar County’s” A terrific ad. Gets your attention quickly – M’m! M’m! Good ad!
2nd. Lubbock Avalanche Journal — “ihs Hospital (3)” There’s no better way to promote yourself than by others promoting you. Excellent testimonial small space ads.
3rd. Odessa American — “Palm Harbor” Very dynamic ad. Could only be imagined with total price or price range of the home. “It’s your health” My only criticism of this ad is the small printing over the halftone. “Texas football” Simple but effective with the red/white/blue on football.
4th. The Baytown Sun — “See the difference” Great eye appeal. Pricing would have helped the copy. Good layout. “30 years” Good use of photographs but it is difficult to know whether pricing also pertains to in-ground pools. “Jimmy’s Point” Good public relations ad. A testimonial from a customer would have completed this ad.
Division 3 Dailies Less Than 7,000
1st. Waxahachie Daily Light — “Saturn L300” Sharp looking ad. Nice use of red spot color. “Peace on earth” Beautiful ad. Nice use of space. “Action Powersports” Great ad. Nice use of photos and copy.
2nd. Athens Daily Review — “Grandy’s” Great use of coupons. Nice use of spot color. “Car Wars” Creative use of border. Nice layout. “Elliott Chevrolet” Great eye catching ad. Nice use of border.
3rd. Hereford Brand — “Paint sale” Great ad. Very eye catching. Great use of color. “Reinke” Good ad. Nice use of space. “Unsung Heroes” Nice informative ad.
4th. Texas City Sun — “Community” Very informative. Nice use of pictures and time line. “Sept. 11th” Looks nice. “Mainland Medical” Very creative. Great idea for advertising.
Division 4 Semiweeklies 4,001 or More
1st. Hood County News — “Mike Brown” Great art, color and white space! “Black tie” Good idea not having a square border. “Durant Autoby” No comment.
2nd. Wise County Messenger — “Area 114” Alien was great idea and the green color. “2L Trucksport” No comment. “House ad” Very creative, good color, great size of ad.
3rd. Beeville Bee-Picayune — “Giant savings” No comment. “Father’s Day” Very creative and good idea. “Dine out” No comment.
4th. Polk County Enterprise — “Congratulations” Very creative. “FFA & 4H” Public service information and ads large enough to merchandise. “Ghostbusters” No comment.
Division 5 Semiweeklies 4,000 or Less
1st. The Light & Champion (Center) — “Center Autoplex” No comment. “Goldstar EMS” Great looking ad. Good photo. “Deep East Texas Electric” Ad jumps right at you! It’s very electrifying.
2nd. Mansfield News Mirror — “Walnut Creek” Very inviting ad, good color. “Mansfield Pools” Wonderful use of photo, great color. “Congratulations” No comment.
3rd. The Highlander (Marble Falls) — “Margaritas” Was very inviting! “Highland Sealy” No comment. “Highland attic” Made me want to go there and look at the furniture.
4th. Lamesa Press-Reporter — “Shop at home” No comment. “Hurry” No comment. “BRR” Good choice of artwork.
1st. Fredericksburg Standard Radio Post — “Blueprint” Wow! You have reason to be proud. The photos tell the story. “Home Sweet Home” Such a “homey” comfortable photo. Yes…one photo is worth 10,000 words. Very nice. “Spring straw hats” One of the best ads I’ve seen. Original, well placed graphics, testimonial letter from daughter /niece is super tie-in. Everyone should want one of these hats!
2nd. Azle News — “Warehouse Clearance” Good use of color. All the print (including reverse) is legible. Ad is well-balanced. “House ad” Beautiful photo of your new building and placement of the info. Readers need to know about the move. “National Nursing” Absolutely wonderful way to promote nursing homes. All the photos show that nursing homes are not what the media often portrays. Good job!
3rd. Duncanville Today — “Veterans” Wonderful honor to those serving in military. This page is a “keeper.” “Hot deals” Good looking ad. Advertiser didn’t try to cram his entire inventory in one ad. “Chuck Fairbanks” I thought the dark print on dark background was hard to read but the bursts are effective.
4th. River Cities Tribune (Marble Falls) — “Rag Doll” Ad leads me to think the unusual and unique in women’s fashions are available here. Simple, very eye-catching ad. “After 9” Like the original use of the company name and placement of other information. “Tomato days” Very clever. Gardeners should love shopping here. There is quite a bit of info but ad does not look too busy.
Division 7 Medium Large Weeklies
1st. Colorado County Citizen — “Proud to buy” Good, nice use of red, white and blue color. “Columbus auto” I loved the theme. Great layout of ad. “Prices to Smile About” Really fun ad.
2nd. Westlake Picayune — “Call me first” Very eye-pleasing. Nice use of pictures, color and spacing. “Tight coverage” Great ad. Nice use of picture and ad copy. “Westlake Classic” No comment.
3rd. Midlothian Mirror — “Silken Inc.” Nice. “Ace” Clean looking ad. Nice use of white space. “Mueller” Great ad. Nice arrangement of information.
4th. Elgin Courier — “We’re proud” Great human interest ad. “Elgin Bank” Fun ad. Nice use of pictures and copy. “Gigi’s” Includes a lot of information.
1st. Clay County Leader — “Volunteers” Very nice use of photography throughout ad and making it a part of headline inviting. “Pirates” Nice display for common theme page. “Christmas” Excellent reproduction and color work.
2nd. Canyon Lake Times Guardian — “Wet sloppy” Great headline! Would have centered the text in the middle pink box. “Jan Kennedy” Photo usage was good. “Blanco Bank” Nice way to personalize a bank.
3rd. Leader News (Lytle) — “Reunion” Very nice way to honor past graduates. “Nice floor” Headline and art work well together. “Let our elves” Good artwork and a great way to jazz up stock art.
4th. Iowa Park Leader — “HumBugs” Great headline. “Santa, what I …” Made headline fit the art. Art is digitized. “Let us help” Good use of theme throughout the campaign. Every newspaper can use this in their market.
Division 9 Small Medium Weeklies
1st. Hico News Review — “Holy cow!” Good humor and nice play on words. “Puke” Funny! Great self promotion with a sense of humor. “Hot weather” Artwork would help this ad catch more attention.
2nd. The Canadian Record — “Alexander’s” A little cheesy, but a nice idea for this type of business. “The Outdoorsman” Nice way to incorporate several ads into one. Prices could be bigger. “Rodeo” Very nice theme throughout the ad.
3rd. Castroville News Bulletin — “Vote” Very clean and easy to read. “Haby Realty” Nice flow of information. “Caught a Keeper” We all loved this idea for self promotion. Great headline!
4th. Midlothian Today — “Ace” Neat promotion idea for any hardware store. “House ad” Great color, but the ad doesn’t “say” anything. “Ford” Good use of color and photos. Price comparison would back up the headline.
1st. The Princeton Herald — “Holiday greeting” Very nice ad. Excellent choice of type font for an ad of this nature, gives it a warm, fuzzy feeling. “Classic Gardens” Excellent ad. It’s great that all plants, trees are pictured to show readers what they’re buying. An address on front page would have helped this ad. “Lafon’s Fireworks” Good clean, neat layout with effective art elements. Open June 24th would have really read opening June 24th. Otherwise good ad.
2nd. The Freer Press — “Isaac” A super ad! Excellent headline and body copy. Good use of type fonts giving good balance and separation to this ad. “Bowden Ford” this is not a pretty ad, but it works because of these specials for the month and how they’re displayed. “Billy’s Classic Car” Very good ad with good quality photographs and copy.
3rd. Benbrook Star — “Stuart Douglas” Catchy headline that draws you into the ad (I would suggest it be used on a series of ads to follow.) Good layout and copy. “Congratulations” Very neat, well organized layout. “Dance camp” Good looking ad, especially the use of reverse highlighting the dancer.
4th. Dripping Springs Century News — “Lovejoys Garden” Looks good and gets point across with corner artwork closing in on the copy. “Sophies Garden” Excellent small space ad. Well organized copy. “Action Grand Open” This ad really bugs me! I like it!
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