2007 Better Newspaper Contest — General Excellence
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
General Excellence
View Winners' Slideshow
Division 1 Metro Dailies
1. Fort Worth Star-Telegram - This entry rates excellent top to bottom and front to back! The consistency of design elements, headline style and quality of writing put this entry in first place. The interesting and colorful specialty pages/sections were just icing. Good job!
2. Houston Chronicle - Not much separated this entry from top spot. The story selection, headlines and quality of writing are first rate. Some design elements on interior pages were "busy." Picky, yes, but little things separate this entry from first.
3. None awarded.
1. The Beaumont Enterprise - A year later hurricane coverage was still solid in these top class entries and I suspect well-read and appreciated by readers. Consistent design, excellent photos and design, put this entry out front in this category. Good work!
2. Midland Reporter-Telegram - Use of front page photos of both editions entered were excellent and put the reader into the story. Display is excellent throughout but section header font choice is a little over the top in this judge's view. Overall an outstanding entry. Keep up the good work!
3. Lufkin Daily News - This entry was clearly in upper echelon of category. Photos and art are excellent but some design elements confusing to the eye. Overall good effort just doesn't rate first in this class.
4. Amarillo Globe-News - Photo choice and use in "high winds" edition hurt overall entry. Specialty pages, "today" and "lifestyles" are excellent. Overall this is a good product, just not in the top three of a tough class of entries.
1. Plainview Daily Herald - Newsy and reader-friendly. Nice mix of features and informative or explanatory stories. Clean design.
2. River Cities Daily Tribune - Informative, easy to follow - good mix of news and features. Nice uncluttered design. Strong heds.
3. Waxahachie Daily Light - Nice mix of hard and light news. In touch with the community.
4. The Terrell Tribune - Reader-friendly. Cool mix of features and news. Creative heds.
1. Wise County Messenger - Creative newspaper. Photography and graphics are tremendous. A lot going on here. Kudos to the staff on a top-notch publication.
2. Williamson County Sun - Crisp photography makes this paper stand out. Much effort goes into this publication, obviously. A product to be very proud of.
3. Hood County News - Very solid paper with unique specialty page. Cutting-edge and creative opinion page. Photography keeps this paper from finishing higher. Overall a very, very solid newspaper.
4. Beeville Bee-Picayune - Solid newspaper with good "at a glance" features. Good opinion and feature pages.
1. Breckenridge American - Like the style - attractive layouts - enticing, good photos. Loved the first three pages and large photos. Great paper!
2. Lampasas Dispatch Record - Good front page, nice banner on bottom front. Great photos.
3. Copperas Cove Leader Press - Attractive front and editorial pages. Good photos.
4. The Highlander, Marble Falls - Wonderful layout, inviting to the eyes. Good editorial. Great sports photos and fun specialty section.
1. Park Cities People - An all-out effort, rich in local news, expert in display.
2. Rockdale Reporter - Strong overall news coverage, with a high quality of writing.
3. Port Aransas South Jetty - Fun to read, fun to look at, fun from front to back.
4. Rusk Cherokeean Herald - An unusual breadth of news coverage.
Division 7 Medium Large Weeklies
1. The Community News, Aledo - Great look - clean, classic, well defined areas of coverage. Great presswork and reproduction. Superior local emphasis. Easy to read. Need (1) an index and (2) a true opinion page. Otherwise a class act.
2. The Cameron Herald - As solid as they come. Great local news, superior layout and sectionalization. Great presswork, solid opinion page, nice photos - very little that didn't leave me impressed. Well done!
3. Colorado County Citizen - Solid from top to bottom - very nice front pages, excellent local coverage, superior presswork. Clear and clean, easy to read, lots of news. Well presented. Headlines need a little variety.
4. Aransas Pass Progress - Very good paper with a lot of local news in not a lot of space, yet not crowded pages. Good color graphics and heads. Very good page one both weeks. Has all of what a good community paper needs put together well.
1. The Springtown Epigraph - Great paper! Strong design, especially on front page. Great photos, well-written stories on compelling subjects. Good mix of content. Nice special sections. I like that you include the high school's pub. Hard to find anything to criticize. Very well done!
2. Pilot Point Post-Signal - Nice design, though it could use freshening. Good writing. Great fire photo and strong overall pics.
3. The Smithville Times - Very attractive front page with good news content and good writing. Interior design is a little crowded. Good photos. Excellent variety of content, but seems very thin on sports. Clear community focus. (And what's with the "critter?")
4. Frisco Enterprise - Nice layout, well-written stories. Very good mix of hard news, features and community news. Some photos are really good, especially front page, but others seem poorly exposed (a printing problem maybe?) Well-organized content.
Division 9 Small Medium Weeklies
1. The Albany News - Excellent paper, great community coverage.
2. Rosebud News - Great work on Chilton fire, story and pics.
3. The Citizen, Clear Lake - Very extensive coverage. A pleasure to read.
4. Malakoff News - Enjoyed all parts of paper
1. Sachse News - There was a lot of competition in this category. I like the layout and use of pictures. Good reporting on local issues and the multiple sections is a plus. Very good community newspaper.
2. South Tarrant Star - I kept coming back to this paper. Everything you need to know about the community is here. Good writing, nice uncluttered layout. A good community paper.
3. Rowlett Lakeshore Times - Like the layout and everything was easy to find. Good coverage of local events with a nice mix of news and features.
4. Alvarado Star - Good community paper. Excellent coverage of local stories. The special report on the missing boy was well done.
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