2011 Texas Better Newspaper Contest - General Excellence

Division 2
Dailies 7,000 to 99,999
1. Victoria Advocate, Front pages are eye-catching and flow well. They give a wealth of info at first glance. The writing is excellent as well as the special sections. Great job!
2. Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Fabulous front pages and masthead. Great content, photos and artwork. Special sections were awesome too! Great product - well done!
3. The Facts, Clute, Great front pages and lots of local content. Really love the masthead! Really enjoyed Brazos column!
4. Beaumont Enterprise, Great writing in both papers. Local stories on front page were eye-catching and brought the reader in. Specialty pages were full of great photos and stories too! Great job!

Division 3                                                
Dailies Less Than 7,000
1. The Herald Banner, Greenville, Great front pages and great use of photos and artwork. Tons of local coverage and very easy to read. The flow of this paper is excellent!
2. Waxahachie Daily Light, Great welcome Home section with great use of photos. Great writing and lead-ins. Bold headlines on front page are eye-catching. Love the local coverage. Really enjoyed “Welcome Home”! Great job!
3. Henderson Daily News, Great front pages. “Sports Champions” was eye-catching. Enjoyed the large photos on the “Family” page.
4. Athens Daily Review, Clean and organized layout with easy-to-read headlines. I loved the front pages. Local stories catch the reader’s eye.

Division 4
Semiweeklies 4,001 or More
1. Wise County Messenger, Decatur, Headlines caught the reader’s attention! Stories were very well written. Great front page!
2. The Williamson County Sun, Georgetown, Beautiful photos and terrific writing. A well-rounded paper with tons of local coverage! Great job!
3. Hood County News, Granbury, Loved your special section and the photos were beautiful. The entire look and feel of the paper was terrific. Easy to navigate and diverse stories.
4. The Highlander, Marble Falls,  Loved the Sports Preview section! Great stories on many local happenings with terrific photos to match!

Division 5
Semiweeklies 4,000 or Less
1. Kilgore News Herald, Clean, good looking layout. Great news coverage. Well rounded and informative.
2. The Terrell Tribune, Great front page layout. Nice size photos and diverse stories. Good job!
3. The Canyon News, Great options for specialty pages. Stories are well written and there seems to be something for everyone! Good job!
4. Andrews County News, Great use of photos on front page. Nice photos throughout and enjoyed all of the local stories.

Division 6
Large Weeklies
1. Park Cities People, Dallas, Very well done. Layout & design propels this paper into the winners’ circle. Good use of strong photos. Great local coverage. We like this paper a lot!
2. The Silsbee Bee, This is a bold paper - there’s a lot going on on page ones, but they work. Cold Case: Good enterprise coverage. No opinion page? Great local paper.
3. Burnet Bulletin, Very well done. Liked the green color coordination throughout paper. Everything flows nicely. I would prefer fewer posed photos, but other than that, not too many bad things to say.
4. Wilson County News, Floresville, Very clean layouts on page 1. Sept. 22 page 1 copy well packaged. Lack of indent on ledes is unfortunate. Great job on a well-done community paper.

Division 7
Medium-Large Weeklies
1. The River Cities Sunday Tribune, Marble Falls, Sharp-looking newspaper. Clean, professional community paper. The July 4 edition is much stronger than Sept. 12. Did editors change? Great opinion page. It’s like judging two different newspapers because the quality varies from July 4 to Sept. 12.
2. Clay County Leader, Henrietta, Good mix of stories on page 1. Strong photos, not too many posed. Nice story/photo packaging. I liked this newspaper. Great page ones.
3. The Sealy News, County fair photos are nice, along with some sports. Nice overall paper. Some ledes are too wordy.
4. Hill Country Community Journal, Kerrville, Ronald McDonald cutout well-executed - can be risky. Good/average because you take risks. Ledes can be too long - get punchier. Excellent sports section. Strong action pics. Great job covering your community.

Division 8
Medium Weeklies
1. The Ellis County Press, Ferris, Page layout & design is excellent, but it comes across as busy and hard to read. Where should my eye go? It’s a paradox. A less-busy front page would have earned an “excellent” for the front page.
2. The Llano County Journal, Good, solid community newspaper. Clean design. Writing could be improved with stronger editing.
3. Tri County Leader, Whitehouse, Great layout. Stronger photos, more consistently would help overall score. Good local coverage.
4. The Canadian Record, Unique front page. Tabloid format well-executed.

Division 9
Small-Medium Weeklies
1. The Waller County News Citizen, Hempstead, Corruption Eruption - coverage & layout knocks our socks off. Great work. The only weakness, if any, is photography. Great newspaper. Your community is well served.
2. The Albany News, Dec. 9 “Albany Dominates” didn’t mention football until mid-story when it mentioned defensive lineman. Sports photos were either great or average. Great sports page.
3. Sachse News, Great photo selection for page 1 - the football ones. Use of cheesy wind turbine clipart is unfortunate and diminishes page 1 photo on front of May 20 edition.
4. Van Alstyne Leader, Good variety of stories. Ledes are long and boring. Big mugshots, could be smaller. May 7 issue main photo and smaller photo has same guy in red.

Division 10
Small Weeklies
1. Pearland Journal, Outstanding photos, well used to anchor pages. Great job! The Xtra doesn’t hold up to the quality. Sports photos & layout earns “excellent” for specialty pages.
2. Friendswood Journal, Nice looking, well-composed paper. Good range of coverage. Well written. Photos could be stronger. Well done.
3. Dripping Springs Century-News, Great photography, great selection & use of photos. Great job there! Tighter writing and editing would benefit this nice-looking publication. Excellent page designs, especially page 1. Inside pages need the same attention as page 1.
4. The Bay Area Citizen, Houston, Inconsistent quality in specialty pages. Strong design, good photos, enjoyable headlines. Great newspaper!