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2005 Better Newspaper Contest — Sports Coverage

contestheader

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

Sports Coverage

Division 2 Dailies 7,000 to 99,999

1st Midland Reporter-Telegram - Great layout, good writing, wonderful photos and reproduction. An overall good sports section. A clear winner!

2nd The Beaumont Enterprise - Excellent photos, graphics, article, design. A good read.

3rd Odessa American - Nice section. Good stories, photos. Easy to read and good variety on subjects.

4th The Facts, Clute - Nice photos, good stories, wide variety of topics.

Division 3 Dailies Less Than 7,000

1st Waxahachie Daily Light - John Hicks and staff provide their readers with a well-rounded product. "Sunday Sports Extra" pushed this entry into first.

2nd Plano Star Courier - Good photos, sharp design and tight writing style works well for the readers of the Star Courier.

3rd Kilgore News Herald - Nice overall section. I like the Mitch Lucas style of short and to the point. Good leads.

4th Brownwood Bulletin - This sports section would have scored higher if the layout/design had held my attention.

Division 4 Semiweeklies 4,001 or More

1st Wise County Messenger - Headlines and art made this paper stand out, but it was the subject matter that kept my interests. This was a stand-out submission because of its constant creativity in story selection and design. Stories are engaging, informative and can appeal to anyone, not just sports fans.

2nd Williamson County Sun - A great read, though headlines could be improved. Easy to navigate and stories held my attention. The photos were spectacular.

3rd Hood County News - Wow! The photos here are some of best I've seen in any category. Thoroughly engrossing coverage, though it would have been helped by some diversity.

4th Round Rock Leader - Where this paper lacked in the play of its art, it more than made up for it in the headlines on the color page. The writing was consistently good, though other elements were not, such as design and headlines.

Division 5 Semiweeklies 4,000 or Less

1st Mansfield News-Mirror - Great headlines and layout. Stories included personality features, good ledes and diversity in coverage. Reporters can do traditional sports stories and features.

2nd The Highlander, Marble Falls - Diverse sports and perspectives. Nice use of photos, columns and wide range shown.

3rd Lampasas Dispatch Record - I like the blend of feature, traditional game stories and the player of the week. A good variety of coverage of many sports from several angles. I like the feature on the "small" football team, a different approach.

4th Breckenridge American - Good job covering sports in the community in a different way - the "faces" photo pages. Good ledes.

Division 6 Large Weeklies

1st Pleasanton Express - In a category with too few imaginative entries, the Pleasanton entry boasted two great covers! I like the 2004 retrospective. Yes, Virginia, there are sports besides football in Texas, and the Pleasanton Express proves that.

2nd Park Cities People - "A wing and a prayer" cover was compelling. I enjoyed the Sepulveda story as well.

3rd Hondo Anvil Herald - Combination of Jeff Berger's ledes and nice photos earned this paper third place. Nice variety of coverage.

4th The Jasper Newsboy - Other papers had the color photos, but this one has interesting and arresting black and whites of football games that stood out from the pack. Willis Webb knows how to craft a lede and story that flows better than most of the sports stories I read.

Division 7 Medium Large Weeklies

1st Westlake Picayune - Good, comprehensive package. Good photos: good color good action, good captions. Broad range of coverage. Impressive story count. Like "weekly countdown," "tabs on the Chaps," and "Chap Chatt." Your readers are lucky.

2nd The Community News, Aledo - Nice package. Good color, nice design/layout, good heds, like the pull quotes. Lose the advertising on sports section front -- this package deserves more. Action photos with great reproduction, best among all entries this category.

3rd Burnet Bulletin - Best package in the category. Clean layout, easy to read, terrific photo treatment. Wish stories were shorter to allow for broader range of coverage. Graphics helpful, nice treatment on stats.

4th Clifton Record - Photos terrific and given the space/sizing they deserve. Writing could be stronger, but range of coverage impressive. Page layout very busy, packaging would do a lot. Overall your readers are getting a good package, just make it easier for them to navigate.

Division 8 Medium Weeklies

1st Iowa Park Leader - Great use of photos and variety of stories. Enjoyable read.

2nd Frisco Enterprise - Great photos, easy-to-follow layout and wide variety of sports stories made this a good read.

3rd Bandera Bulletin - Everything one could want out of sports pages. Good job.

4th Rockwall County News - Good headlines. Good photos. Everything from weightlifting to soccer are featured.

Division 9 Small Medium Weeklies

1st Pflugerville Pflag - Extensive coverage -- though almost all football -- and a columnist help the Pflag stand out from the crowd.

2nd Crowley Star - Writing is crisper than most in this category. Poor reproduction and layout mar good photos. Giving girls and sports like volleyball equal time is admirable.

3rd The Canadian Record - Extensive coverage. Nice to see girls get some ink in the basketball photos.

4th None awarded.

Division 10 Small Weeklies

1st Alvord Gazette - Solid package of sports news for all to enjoy, local action good layout, informative headlines, excellent photos and more.

2nd Burnet County Citizens Gazette - Enjoyable and informative read!

3rd The Little Elm Journal - Photos tell the story. Stories take the reader to the action. Clean layout.

4th Thorndale Champion - Nice work. Great photos, good leads. Complete coverage.