Texas Press Association

Texas Press Association

Division 6 Weeklies 2,001 to 3,000
Division 7 Weeklies 1,201 to 2,000
Division 8 Weeklies 1,200 or Less 

Division 5 Weeklies 3,001 or more

General Excellence

1. Park Cities People, Dallas. Good job with photos, color and display ads. Would like to see a dominant picture on the front page, though. You’ve demonstrated that you can do color, but prove that you can showcase the best picture. Strong sports pictures. Good looking product, overall.

2. Navasota Examiner. Inviting front page with big photos. A few too many grip and grins, though.

3. Houston Business Journal. Good front page and editorial pages. Good use of subheads and color throughout.

4. Burnet Bulletin. “Column 1” is a nice touch. Front is clean with a nice lead picture in 10/12 edition. Good job with photos, overall. You do well with what appears to be fewer resources than most in this class.

Advertising

1. Pleasanton Express. Creative, catchy, agency quality ads. Variety of ads flowed throughout pages. Copy simple but informative. Good use of all parts of ad, including white space. Excellent!

2. Jewish Herald-Voice, Houston. Creative, easy to read. Attention getters, good use of space, copy, graphics, e.g., “Hey, It’s Camp Time.” Variety throughout newspaper. Graphics, border, message all worked together.

3. Colleyville News & Times. Texas Bank, 5/5, cute! Teny Feragne Sweet 16 was done with class and showed quality work by photographer. Good sell! Animal Crackers simple with class, touches mothers’ hearts, makes you want to go to store. Feragne AB does excellent work in keeping continuity of a class ad. I could spot a Feragne ad without seeing the name. Excellent example of the catches the eye and does the selling. The way shopping center ads are laid out is well thought out. Good attention getters. Overall, style of newspaper ads geared toward upper class readers, which is what majority of Colleyville area is. Good insight to community. Good advertising.

Column Writing

1. Azle News. Big Bad Christmas: I haven’t been invited to the world domination committee meetings either. Good job. OJ, Oliver Stone and Me: Your thought process seems a little whacky and makes for a great column.

2. Houston Business Journal. Graffiti Justice: Good job of grabbing readers with a personal example and turn ing into a larger issue. Gift Rapping: I’ll suggest those to our local agencies.

3. Burnet Bulletin. Deer Hunting: Nice presentation of conflict that many of us can identify with. Reflections: You write well. Last sentence a good summation.

4. Park Cities People, Dallas. Don’t Drink Rain Water: Who’d have thought a little rainwater could create a whole column? I like the Episcopal Church doctrine-on-moderation part. Father’s Day Feminism: Insightful observations about 11 year olds.

1. Azle News. Goodbye Iona: Your appreciation for Iona, warts and all, is a tribute to your own open-mindedness. Well written. Open Up the Process. Your paper is on the side of the angels, but it’s a tough job to open up bureaucracies that are determined to stay shut. Good luck!

2. Colleyville News & Times. Press Box. It’s my bet that it took some courage to throw light on this sorry situation. The school board should be tarred and feathered. Curfew: Good expose of the problems inherent in a class law & order decision that probably appears simple to many.

3. Fredericksburg Standard/Radio Post. It’s toDie for: Impassioned plea for voter participation goes well with “here’s how.” Time to Be Home: The pertinent question: Where Are Mom and Dad?

4. Duncanville Today. Vote Favoring Children: It’s rare to find an editor supporting a children’s home over vested property interests. Good lob. Several Thank You: Your community surely appreciated this editorial.

Feature Story

1. Fort Worth Business Press. Cigars: Eye-catching photo. Your lead pulls me into story. You need headings to break up inside portion of story. Steel Magnolia: Headline is distinctive. Good photo. Headings are lacking inside to break up your story.

2. Duncanville Today: Dr. D.G. Edwards: I like your big photo! Distinctive headline. Paragraphs are short and to the point for easy reading. Inside page needs to be broken up with headings, photos, etc. Barbara Tow: Well organized, highly personal. Touching story that comes through.

3. Rockdale Reporter. World War II Veteran No. 9: Really appreciated the way you broke the story into locations. Made it much easier to read. Would like to have seen more old photos, if they exist. World War II Veteran No. 5: Good lead. I like the use of many direct quotes. Makes the story personal.

4. Park Cities News, Dallas. Bryan Black Homecoming: I enjoyed the conversational style of your writing. Quotes were personal and touching. Sheriffs Honor Texas Hero: Eye-catching photo pulls me into a story that has a headline that seems uninteresting. Good lead! Placement of photos could be improved (scattered).

News Writing

1. Mabank Monitor. The best in this class, clearly. Lively writing. Solid news coverage. Excellent and visually compelling presentation.

2. Park Cities People, Dallas. Excellent and compelling news writing.

3.Azle News. Quality writing. Good news coverage. Little to separate the second and third place finishers this class.

4.Burnet Bulletin. A quality newspaper with solid writing.

Sports Coverage

1. Park Cities People, Dallas. Nice variety of sports covered with pictures. Good picture quality, cropping. Reporting goes beyond the routine. Graphics were good, but your newspaper indicates it could be even better. Overall the best in this category. Congratulations!

2. Fredericksburg Standard/Radio Post. Don’t make your readers guess what you are writing about. Identify your sports in stories. Nice photos! Nice range of sports covered. Average reporting. Hunter special nice. Sports features are nice.

3. Pleasanton Express. Don’t assume readers always know of which sport you are writing without more clues early on. Most photos are good. Sports column a little long. Some stories are easy to read.

4. Park Cities News, Dallas. Only football pictures? Nice individual sports heads, but should occasionally give the other sports key attention. Writing is entertaining. Better emphasis on other sports may have moved you up.

Best Sports Photo

1. Duncanville Today. Double Header: Great shot, timing, action and emotion.

2. Colleyville News & Times. Cheek to Cheek: Good photo. Eyes are on the ball, love the doo!

3. Port Aransas South Jetty. Up, Up and Away: E.T., phone home! Fuzzy somewhat, but great idea, timing.

4. Pleasanton Express. Paige Byerley: Good action. Like to see it just a smidge quicker to see her face, but sand is still flying here.

Best News or Feature Photo

1. Fredericksburg Standard/Radio Post. Fancy Footwork: Excellent use relative to size and placement. Significant for capturing mood, spirit, enjoyment of moment, not to mention action. Bold caption above photo would help. Very strong for taking full advantage of facial features to bring home humor aspect of feature picture.

3. Navasota Examiner. Senior Girls: Daring use of oversize and page placement help this picture: Direction into page also assists. Strong photo captures human aspect of event, eye catching novelty of clown seated amid spectators. Resolution could be better. Could use clearer, sharper facial definition.

4. Burnet Bulletin. Spectators: Effective use of overall size on front page. Placement a little low. The photo is quite good, idea is fine, cropping is good. There is, however, one serious problem. The photo gets its very being from student’s use of blue and white faces It’s a photo based on color alone and it is in black and white. Idea great, but it loses a lot in the printing.

Best Use of Photos

2. Duncanville Today. No comment.

3. Navasota Examiner. No comment.

4. Port Aransas South Jetty. No comment.

Division 6 Weeklies 2,001 to 3,000

General Excellence

1. Lancaster Today. Good coverage of a bad event. The paper overall was easy to read.

2. DeSoto Today. No comment.

3. Cedar Hill Today. No comment.

4. Mineola Monitor. No comment.

Advertising

1. Elgin Courier. Putting graduating student photos in ads a unique concept. Christmas Guide: Looks great, photos sell the ad. Good looking paper!

2. Refugio County Advantage-Press. Super Open House Celebration ad: Way to use photos! Graphics in ads a plus.

3. Pittsburg Gazette. Good use of Holiday themes. Consistent throughout. Paper color looks nice on Christmas section.

4. DeSoto Today. Christmas section: nice size ads and makeup. Spot color really eye catching. Good overall product.

Column Writing

1. Cedar Hill Today. Rob Peebles, New Fall Season: Clever idea, nice satire, good job at the end. Wedding Ring: Funny and touching. A real insight into the character of the writer.

2. Wylie News. Jacque Hilburn, Old Standbys: Easy and fun to read; real life. Waisting Away: A little juggling could have given you a stinger lead, but your play on “waist” was terrific.

3. Rockwall Chronicle. John Sparks, Proposition 1: An easy to understand explanation of a political issue. Pay Now, Pay Later: A good job of exploring the options.

4. Mineola Monitor. Tom Beesley, Pilgrimage Home: Good lead. You make us see Lancaster and feel for it. Rites of Parenthood: Good lead, good end. The “what happened” part could have been a little higher.

Editorials

1. DeSoto Today. Brady Deserves: Nice layout, well written. Is the guy so good that an interview process wouldn’t turn up anyone better? Still, good effort on behalf of community. DeSoto: How did local businesses take this? Screening is a bit dark. Still, well written, took insight and some guts.

2. Lancaster Today. Gaither Firing: Insightful Piece. This type of event is never easy on a community. Single Member Districts: Short, sweet, enough said.

3. Brazorian News, Lake Jackson. Phillips: Good job! Out of Line: Go back to 4/13 format. Letter spacing on this editorial is not helpful.

4. Refugio County Advantage-Press. Fiefdoms: Anytime you establish a boundary, it’s possible, no, make that inescapable, that someone will live in a district not shared with their neighbor. Sounds like the public has the chance for input. Doesn’t seem like a steamroller to me. Deputy Dawg: I don’t agree. If it’s wrong, it’s wrong, eve if it’s inadvertent.

Feature Story

1. Lancaster Today. Living in Zoo: Excellent writing! Lively, stimulating. Mike Barber: Sterling effort, clearly superior writing.

2. Hays County Free Press, Buda. Good School, Bad Cow: Interesting feature, but not best in class. Make Room at the Inn: Striking writing, compelling from beginning to end.

3. Diboll Free Press. Love Hope All Things: Good human interest story. Compelling working in subject that could easily have made for a hackneyed story. Porter Retiring: Social reporting, but not outstanding.

4. Shiner Gazette. Lange Ready to Walk: Quality writing. Life’s Simple Fawn: Outstanding, entertaining writing.

News Writing

1. Lancaster Today. Nice presentation of your news. I want to read it. Nice leads. Nice story lengths. Thanks for not trying to put too much in any one tornado story. Well written!

2. Pittsburg Gazette. Loaded with locally generated news. Presented cleanly. Routine stories are spiced up with inviting leads. Good.

3. Medina Valley Times, Lytle. I like grouping of city council, landfill, etc., stories. Leads need some work and some trimming. Pleasing to see local news on inside pages, too. Explain initials on first or second reference in story (POCA, PD). Don’t assume everyone knows these.

4. Mineola Monitor. Great job covering courts, but little local outside of that.

Sports Coverage

1. Cameron Herald. Thorough coverage with good photo selection appears to be hallmark of this sports staff. Headlines could be more crisp, e.g., Roberson rolls as Giddings gallops. Great coverage of women’s sports, 5/19, especially front page story.

2. Lancaster Today. Great presentations on major stories, including design and use of photos. Sports staff doesn’t attempt to cover it all, but what it does cover, it covers well.

3. Rockwall Chronicle. Nice to see volleyball champs make front page, though photo selection should have been better. Good sizing of action photos inside, but faster film is needed to avoid blurring. Nice team and crowd shot inside on volleyball champs. Coverage appears thorough, though not cramped, 10/26. Special playoff section captures multiple angles of great season.

4. Brazorian News, Lake Jackson. Photo double truck is well designed with good photo selection, but photos need to be sharper with greater contrast. Good shorts in sports note column. Good heads on major articles.

Best Sports Photo

1. Clay County Leader, Henrietta. Long Jump: There are 16 sets of eyes in this photo that seem very excited about the jump. Jason, the jumper, however, looks pretty calm. Those fans make this photo work both as a sports action shot and a composition elements.

2. DeSoto Today. Price Is Right That face says it all. This sports photo goes beyond the action. Anyone can appreciate it even if they are not a fan.

3. Wood County Democrat, Quitman. Safe at Third: Nice shot in a technically difficult situation. Picture is

overall a little dark in the highlights. I like the big print.

4. Mineola Monitor. Football Rain: This photo does a good job of showing the quarterback battling the other team and the weather. Nice print.

Best News or Feature Photo

1. Mineola Monitor. Please Don’t Leave Me Here, Mom: Excellent work in capturing the all too common “tragedy” of the first day of school. Congratulations on a superior effort for bringing the reader into the emotions of not only the child but the parents as well. Composition good, as is cropping. Resolution fine, too. This is an emotional memory piece for all the readers.

2. Iowa Park Leader. Fatal Scene: Size and placement excellent. Composition and cropping very well done. Significant power achieved through timing of loading, but even more so in the foreground: the bicycle, the fatal vehicle, the grim reminder. Camera angle also makes this a superior news photo.

3. Zapata County News. On Scene: On the surface not a great photograph. It’s grainy and lacks in sharpness or definition, but, when the reader links the photo, story, camera angle and contrast, it equals a tone or emotion equal to the seriousness of the story. Plain, cold, sterile law awaits the offender, says this shot.

4. Cameron Herald. Vansa Home Fire: Excellent timing. Effective sizing and page placement. Color would have been significant improvement. Use of vehicles and firemen to establish proportion assists reader to instant communication. A lot of action captured in this one photo.

Best Use of Photos

1. DeSoto Today. Photos give the paper a real hometown paper look.

2. Lancaster Today. Photos blend well with other elements of the paper. They are not just thrown in wherever there is a hole to fill.

3. Clifton Record. Good overall photographic quality.

4. Mineola Monitor. No comment.

Division 7 Weeklies 1,201 to 2,000

General Excellence

1. Friendswood Journal. Clean package. Attractive.

2. Springtown Epigraph. Staff makes a valiant effort to cover community in depth. Keep at it.

3. (tie) Ballinger Ledger. Leads need work, but you’ve got a lot of content your readers surely appreciate.

3. (tie) La Marque Times. Plenty of news. Layout design need work.

3. (tie) Palacios Beacon. You have some good elements, but you need to fine-tune your design and beef-up your writing.

4. Albany News. Lots of local news. Shows promise.

Advertising

1. Canadian Record. Display ads are significantly varied in design, typography and illustration, allowing each ad to stand alone — a great achievement. Production is sharp! Tabloid format contributes to the presentation of the ads. Classified section is good, but consider a serif typeface.

2. Blanco County News. Service/business directory is clean and well organized. Classified section is straightforward and well labeled. Hunters guide has good mix of copy and ads throughout, with good use of spot color on back page.

3. Dublin Citizen. Spot color employed well in Dublin Motor Co. ad. Smaller display ads generally uncluttered and straightforward for good message delivery. Good mix of classified display and straight classified. Crossword puzzle sponsorship a great idea.

4. Alvin Sun. Mother’s Day double truck uses spot color well; sufficient graphic variety differentiates messages. Business card bulletin has good design contrast. Classified section is uncluttered, but category names need to stand out more. Father’s Day double truck would have benefited from spot color.

Column Writing

1. Joshua Tribune. Daun Eierdam, What You Don’t Know: Writer deserves a medal for straight talk on hot topic of sex education. Well written and documented. City Council: Good writing. Crisp plea for better communication. Sounds like community needs this crusading-editor.

2. Canadian Record. Laurie Ezzell Brown, Maddie: Nobody will top this writer for beautiful writing, but let your reader know at the outset why you’re writing about Maddie. Edge of World: Outstanding writing. Again, mention George Tubbs up front. This helps your reader following your thinking.

3. Albany News. Pat Lidia Jones, Jackie 0: Thoughtful. Expresses the feelings of many. Good craftsmanship. Wonder Brassiere: Great bit of humor and satire “Tempest in a B-Cup.” Had me laughing out loud.

4. McGregor Mirror. Bonnie Mullens, Homecoming Mums: Almost everybody has the equivalent of the little wooden football tucked away. Writer’s style is readable, easy conversational. Goldfish: Fine nostalgia piece The writer takes us there.

Editorials

1. Dublin Citizen. Democracy: One of the better “vote” editorials I’ve seen. A touch wordy at the beginning, but you wrap it up well. Nice phrase, “sharing coffee and umbrellas and democracy for the first time.” First Stone: O.K., another one of the better “vote” editorials I’ve seen. Just remember that a newspaper’s editorials are a little like a stage play’s pacing: If you’re reasonable and compassionate all the time, the audience nods-off. Be prepared to break some dishes once in awhile! Change your type face and get your printer to reproduce it better!

2. Canadian Record. Girls Will Be Girls: Your letters section shows readers are interested in Rotary, abandoned pets and high school football. Your editorials, meanwhile, visited tailhook and tragedies from the 1940s, ‘SOs, ‘60s. Both are well written, thoughtful, complete, important and valid. But what do you think about Hemphill County? You certainly would be top selection if topics were local.

3. Friendswood Journal. Curfew: You ask lots of questions on both sides of the debate, and leave me with no more information than when I started. I thought you were headed to a pro-curfew position, then you fudged. Editorial must take a stand, not a straddle. Playground Politics: Sounds like your new city council is my old one! Focusing on council’s responsibility from the first graph would have kept you more organized, but not a bad editorial. It ought to have sent them a message! Unrelated note: Print your letter policy in same size type as rest of paper.

4. Alvin Sun. Downtown Action: Selling old property for $1 isn’t especially progressive: Communities have been doing it for ages. I’d offer less applause for the idea and more support to keep the momentum moving forward in an acceptable fashion: What if a massage parlor buys the lodges? Balloon Festival: As a newspaper, you should be able to answer all the questions you propose in the editorial. Don’t let it stop here.  Find out for your readers.

Feature Story

1. Copperas Cove Leader-Press. Cove House: Timely topic on homeless. Decent photo. Cove Man: Fun to read.

2. Vidor Vidorian. Final Frontier: Girl Astronomer: Many would say that’s an upset. Head of Class: Where’s the feature?

3. Blanco County News. Cyril: Dog gone good story. Morgan Frame: Interesting, but average.

4. Canadian Record. Wastewater: Good job. Informative. Charles Newton. Some good moments, but you almost never got into the story.

News Writing

1. Dublin Citizen. The Citizen isn’t the flashiest paper among those submitted, but it gives its readers variety, spice and the news it needs. The reader is drawn into stories and doesn’t have to read it twice to understand what is says. Keep up the good work!

2. Copperas Cove Leader-Press. Looks like you know your community and you provide it with a palate of clearly written, easy to digest stories.

3. Friendswood Journal. This award would have been higher had there been a news article and not just a six column head over a buried police log item, “Bank ATM under investigation.” Aside from The disappointment, the paper boasts clear, concise writing.

4. Crane News. Nothing fancy, but it is community news presented in a clean, clearly written manner that makes even dull topics worth reading.

Sports

1. Palacios Beacon. Impressive sports section. Coverage from the varsity all the way down to junior high. I’m sure most other sports editors are envious.

2. Copperas Cove Leader-Press. Fantastic photos! Lots of space means lots of happy readers.

3. Springtown Epigraph. Column a plus! Good coverage, depth. Photos inconsistent. Layout fair.

4. Canyon Lake Times Guardian. You don’t go overboard on sports, but do a good job, at least on the varsity team.

Best Sports Photo

1. Crane News. Ride ‘Em: Super shot. Yeah, I guess Rodeo is a sport in Texas.

2. Vidor Vidorian. Vidor Vikes: Good timing, action, face! Unusual to have a middle school picture, especially this good!

3. Canadian Record. The Pick: Perfect timing with defensive back facing the camera. I’d like to see it blown up bigger and cropped much tighter. Then it would be No.1 or 2 in this category.

4. Albany News. Albany Junior: Good action, emotion and clarity. Nothing great, but everything good, plus.

Best News or Feature Photo

1. Canadian Record. Eclipse: Photographing the sun on a cloudy day must have been a little frustrating, but you dealt with the challenge well. Nice series.

2. Friendswood Journal. Firefighter Funeral: Good subject for a color photo. Blue colors set the mood well.

3. Albany News. Well Blows (Fire). No comment.

4. Dublin Citizen. Domino Round Table. No comment.

Best Use of Photos

1. Copperas Cove Leader-Press. Girls aren’t all bad. Congrats on being able to see a small detail in a large photo and playing that up to its best advantage. Folklife Festival photos are big enough to enjoy!

2. Albany News. Prints are crisp and sharp. Like the use of a kicker above photo or cutline. Well spaced throughout issue.

3. Canadian Record. Good sports shots. Too many photos on front clutter the page. One dominant photo would be more appealing. Photos relate well to news articles. Good youth coverage.

4. Springtown Epigraph. Photos could be bigger. Photos relate well to news topic. Pictures taken from some other angle than eye level are always more attractive.

Division 8 Weeklies 1,200 or less

General Excellence

1. Lake Cities Sun, Lake Dallas. 10/19 issue front page: Major placement error. Police photo and top news story and second top story totally unrelated. Great publication. Just watch placement of stand alone photos with news stones.

2. White Oak Independent. Headlines should be more crisp. Photo quality needs improvement, though selection and use is good. Overall design is impressive.

3. Johnson City Record Courier. Reproduction of type needs improvement. Do you have a laser printer? Nice flag and capsule. Good use of front page color. Tone down screen and box a photo or two and use background color to make photo pop out.

4. Garrison in the News. I like “Greater Garrison” feature at bottom of front page. Nice school page. Great center spread 10/6.

Advertising

1. Wimberley View. Outstanding selling of service directory. Well designed section loaded with classifieds. Real estate ads full of photos. Ads are creative. Excellent use of illustrations and screens Advertising in this newspaper is simply the best.

2. Hometown Press, Winnie. Block color in schedule of events effective. Overall use of line drawings in this section creative. Dominant classified page.

3. Hamlin Herald. Oldtime type in City Food Market ad effective. I like the small line art on classified page. Good editorial support in Rath’s Trail section. Historic photos enhance readership in Hamlin Bowl and Reynolds Drug ads.

4. Fritch Eagle Press. Mystery couple ads great idea. Free classified ad will help build up classified section. Signatures in Northwest Bank and other ads effective. Use of grad photos in ads would help readership.

Column Writing

1. Everman Times. Gene S. Blessing, Throw Away Dog: Excellent, touching, and very sad. Fall Day: Nicely written, descriptive.

2. Dallas Suburban Tribune. Jim Jarvis, Special Christmas: Excellent! Just Excellent! Brought tears to my eyes.

3. Deport Times. Nanalee Nichols, People in Need: Excellent writing. Brought a tear to my eye. Very moving! Animals: Amusing and well written.

4. Fritch Eagle Press. Crystal Moran, Lewis Grizzard: Well written, touching. Grizzard was one of my favorite authors as well. He will be missed. Sweet Sixteen: Anyone with sisters can relate.

Editorials

1. Dallas Suburban Tribune. Endorsement: This is part history lesson, part endorsement, part voting reminder; a lot of ground to cover. You also seem to abdicate your newspaper credibility to CUBBS’ slate, rather than reinforce their candidates with your own good judgment. But you are to be congratulated for taking a stand. This is the first endorsement editorial for candidates I’ve seen today. Reason to be Proud: A bit heavy on hyperbole, but a nice message. I’d like the editorial on an inside page, without Arthur’s picture, which makes it seem to be a personal column.

2. Hamlin Herald. Voting: I agree with you: Voting should be an act that informed citizens want to do, rather than a convenience. But the truth is that voters can meet candidates face to face, and don’t have to rely on 7-second sound bites and wild TV ads; it’s their decision, not the campaign manager’s. I don’t have a solution, though. Fee Increase: I had some difficulty following your logic, but it seems unfair. I wasn’t sure whether this was simply a financial turf grab, or whether there were real costs associated with their services.

3. Miami Chief. Hood Winking: Whoo! Slow down! Shorter sentences. Clearer writing. You get your point across after some obvious emotion in the first couple of graphs, yet, I’m still not sure if your readers know what this means to them. Remember to put yourself at their kitchen table, paying the bills, when you’ write your editorials. Will they say “oh!” or “So what?” Big Gun: Again, this is confusing to read because you are reacting to issues that aren’t fully discussed in the editorial. I can tell you want to get your point across, so resist the urge to get caught up in emotion and give your readers a calm, objective opinion.

4. Burnet Citizens Gazette. Eleventh Hour: You concede that the move was legitimate, and say the issue of need isn’t a main concern. Seems to be an alarmist rant triggered by petty complaints. Either sharpen your editorial or get a different subject. These kinds of editorials are too easy to write and kill your credibility. Agenda Debate:

Needs tighter writing, editing. This is an issue custom made for newspapers, yet you focused on individual personalities. Neither cost nor private agendas is the issue: Access is the only issue. You should point out that your paper carries notices of these meetings (doesn’t it?)

Feature Story

1. Garrison in the News. D-Day: Pleasant Hill Project: Like the gray background to grab attention.

2. Keene Reporter. Nature: Excelient layout, use of photos and not jump! Wonderful lead, very nicely done. Abuse: “In her last breathe” should be “breath.” Strong writing, love the last sentence.

3. Normangee Star. Tornado: Excellent! J.L. Cobb: Very good, great use of quotes.

4. Wimberley View. Stonecutter: Excellent writing; but I would have preferred it all in one piece or with only one jump. Good use of quotes; great job. Child Prodigy: I liked the boxed-in quotes. The keep you reading.

News Writing

1. Dallas Suburban Tribune. Scope of coverage was very good. Nice job finding the extraordinary stories. Generally good. writing. Leads generally not too long. Congrats!

2. White Oak Independent. Good coverage of articles. Nice job making some that could be routine worth reading.

3. Normangee Star. Good approach to most articles. Short paragraphs are nice and refreshing. Three election stories and all read differently! Good.

4. Presidio International. Generally, I liked the range of stories and their treatment. Work on readability, especially with the intro paragraphs.

Sports Coverage

1. White Oak Independent. Enjoyed seeing a personal sports column. Also some good pictures.

2. Kerens Tribune. I like the Q & A column with the head coach. A nice touch. Maybe there was too much space devoted to the junior high team. Overall coverage is excellent.

3. Hometown Press, Winnie. Crisp writing, lots of action photos.

4. Lake Cities Sun, Lake Dallas. Some photos rather poor, but good job with the yardstick statistics. Pretty good writing.

Best Sports Photo

1. White Oak Independent. Basketball.

2. Hico News Review. Football Catch: I would liked to have seen this cropped tighter and printed larger. Looks like a good picture, but subject’s small size takes away impact.

3. Dallas Suburban Tribune. Ron Manning Touchdown: Nice anticipation by photographer, but the contrast of the print is too high.

4. Burnet Citizens Gazette. Turning the Corner: I like the composition. Action on the right is important. Nice skin tone, but overall gray print.

Best News or Feature Photo

1. Valley Mills Progress. This was the only photo in the whole group that came close to showing any emotion, and the subjects up close.

3. Abernathy Weekly Review. Crop this photo for more impact.

4. Hico News Review. This photo would have been much better if larger. The man on top makes the photo.

Best Use of Photos

1. Garrison in the News. Overall good quality, reproduction and print. Some are weak, but number and quality is good on most. Need to be less repetitive with pictures in stories. Maybe some are printed too slow. Story about Jason Manning is good, but pictures all look the same.

2. Brackett News, Brackettville. Overall use good in number of photos used. Front page and some inside could improve with dodging and burning prints. Vary size of pictures.

3. Wimberley View. Great reproduction and print quality. Need to work on action in candid photos. Pictures could be larger and maybe more on front page.

4. Deport Times. Good number of pictures. Need to vary the size of photos more. Watch layout. Also need to work on consistency of prints. Some need more burning and dodging. Picture pages need to be more integrated.