Texas Press Association

Texas Press Association

Division 6 Weeklies 2,000 to 3,350
Division 7 Weeklies Less Than 2,000

Division 5 weeklies over 3,251

General Excellence

1. Marble Fails Highlander. Strong front-page design Beautiful dominant photos. Nice use of spot color. Excellent typography. Nice op/ed work in each issue. Beautiful feature coverage. Strong sports coverage. Nice graphic treatments. Great human interest photos, cover pages. Overall, good work. Plenty of reader rewards.

2. Jasper News-Boy. Nice four-color photography. Nameplate becomes too graphic with usages of color. Great community feedback in letters. Good, solid op/ed pages. Good feeling of community with guest pieces by variety of public figures. Creative sports design and coverage. Artistic handling of elements. Handsome front page on Aug. 19 issue. Good news writing throughout.

3. Navasota Examiner-Review. Nameplate on cover looks dated, even with tubular graphic. Maybe a redesign? Clean, effective headlines, news, design of front pages. Ad index serves advertisers well. Interior pages clean, but a bit too gray. Very handsome people section. Good use of gray screen. Photos are a mixed bag. Aim for consistency of halftones. Interior design great. Photo cropping and tags great. Very good coverage, editorials throughout. Paper serves readers well. Eclectic, informative, responsive. No fillers in these papers.

4. Burnet Bulletin. Neat front page. Nicely up-sized photo complement. Good use of second color, especially in ads. Informative departments. Clever topper on sports with cut out photos. Overall clean design, but emphasis is clearly moving to modular. Cover pages of each section are handsomely designed. Photos generally good quality. Why not headline variety? More than one deck? TV listing booklets provide added reader service. Good use of guest columns. Ad for Burnet Bulletin is fun, but muddy repro on headlines is bothersome. Column headers are great! Good feature writing. Very nice overall impact of writing, graphics, coverage.

Column Writing

1. Canton Herald. Subject: Ricky. Emotion-filled and to the point. Excellent work. Minor problems overcome with impact of story.

2. Azle News-Advertiser. Subject Nerfs and Nerds. Good job. Tight topic. Good subject.

3. Park Cities People, Dallas. Subject: Hillary. Very good. Pure thought set down professionally. Very articulate.

4. Houston Informer. Subject For the Small Things. Good treatment of seasonal topic. Articulate. Nicely written.

Editorial

1. Burnet Bulletin. Subject CASA. Excellent, powerful writing.

2. Bandera Bulletin. Subject Gambling. Excellent use of conversation to present negative side of Texas getting into gambling business. Entertaining, powerful.

3. Fredericksburg Standard/Radio Post. Subject Bond Needed. Good listing of reasons to vote yes. Lead graph let reader feel good about who was recommending tax increase. Good writing.

4. Rockdale Reporter. Subject: Small Claims. Good editorial! Well-researched. Clearly stated response for readers well. Better to convince them with persuasive arguments or entertaining writing. Where’s the objectivity? Look at both sides and draw your conclusion.

Feature Story

1. Burnet Bulletin. Subject Time of Darkness. Good story on life of women in jail. Particularly good in telling their stories. Timely topic. Meaningful.

2. Park Cities People, Dallas. Subject SMU Freiburger. Good story, good use of quotes, anecdotes, facts. Good lead.

3. DeSoto Today. Subject: Puppet Maker. Interesting, fact-filled feature, though somewhat promotional.

4. Canton Herald. Subject: Alzheimer’s Disease. Good description of what it’s like dealing with disease. Good picture of problems families face.

Best Photo

1. Park Cities News, Dallas. Subject Hang On. Great action, detail, emotion, composition, etc.

2. Marble Falls Highlander. Subject Punt Block. Very good piece of photography that is presented as well as it should be.

3. Canton Herald. Subject Child Rescued. Linda did a good job of getting up close and personal to capture successful rescue.

4. Duncanville Today. Subject: School’s Out. Nice photo. Well used.

Mabank Monitor. Subject not listed. If you can get this close, you should get the child’s name. Top quality picture otherwise.

Best Use of Photos

1. Park Cities People, Dallas. Technically very good with nice reproduction. Fashion front is particularly nice.

2. Duncanville Today. Nice variety of photos. Good angle on front page shot from middle of group of children.

3. DeSoto Today. Nice reproduction, but try and use less posed group shots. Sports photos are nice and tell a good story.

4. Rockdale Reporter. Good use of photo combo to show grief from a house fire. Also nice candid photos throughout the paper.

News Writing

1. DeSoto Today. Well-written stories filled with quotes to support precise leads. Traditional approach to hard news.

2. Canton Herald. Excellent stories with good, precise leads. The “city delays” story is particularly well written. Good use of quotes and dialog.

3. Park Cities People, Dallas. Excellent writing in May entry with snappy leads on feature news and precise leads on hard news.

4. Rockdale Reporter. Excellent news content. Quotes might be moved higher to support leads and create feeling of a breaking story.

Advertising

1. Marble Falls Highlander. Good layout. Pages balanced. Ads look clean and readable.

2. Park Cities People, Dallas. Good, readable ads. Good use of graphics. Layout and placement on page is great.

3. Pleasanton Express. In 5/13 issue, had some graphic art that was faded out. “Kaktus Kick” section was great. If the print was better it would have been better. Register was off on some pages, but great use of color.

4. Fort Stockton Pioneer. Good use of graphics in ads

Sports Coverage

1. Park Cities People, Dallas. Are you sure you folks aren’t a daily paper? Good column/commentary. Topics well written. Great overall package: design, content, use of space. Good writing style. Good use of color.

2. Park Cities News, Dallas. Pay your photographer more money! Great overall package: design, style and content, story ideas. Strong local coverage. Definitely on right track. Writing has too many cliches. Headlines too small.

3. Azle News-Advertiser. Nice commentary/ideas in columns. Good local coverage. Design needs work, more excitement.

4. DeSoto Today. Good local content/coverage. Decent design/section.

Division 6 weeklies 3,251 to 2,000

General Excellence

1. La Marque Times. A great job Good balance, strong writing, balanced news coverage, photos that have impact on the reader and clean, attractive advertising. A real winner.

2. Austin Business Journal. A well-put-together prod­uct that sells itself. Attractive layout, clean, concise writing.

3. Cameron Herald. A good, clean newspaper. Provides readers in-depth coverage of major news. Good readable layout and attractive advertising.

4. Cedar Hill Today. A complete package that should sell well!

Column Writing

1. Grand Saline Sun. Jack McNickle, subject: Eleven Uncles. A well written tribute to all “uncles” everywhere.

2. Dallas Suburban Tribune. Ken Milstead, subject: Lost Puppy. Great thoughts on what’s really important.

3. Lindale News. Tom Boone, subject: Strongest Person. (No comments written by judge).

4. Diboll Free Press. Gary Willmon, subject: We’re With You All the Way, No.90. Well written, inspirational.

Editorial

1. Big Bend Sentinel, Marfa. Subject: Coke Bust. Tense, in-your-face piece opinion. Logically developed. Strong note of hope at end.

2. Pittsburg Gazette. Subject Closed Meeting. Timely. Shows development of issue, both sides. Invites response from county judge. Takes a stand.

3. Lindale News. Subject: Humane Society Worker. Deftly spun story of an unfortunate mistake. Evokes compassion for woman just doing her job and for bereaved pet owners.

Feature Story

2. Port Aransas South Jetty. Subject Play It Again. Stayed to topic. Nice piece. Good anecdotes. Author didn’t get in way of story with value judgments, moralizing. Subject: Whoopin It Down. Tried tomake too much out of story. Maybe should have waited until scout bird came.

3. Tulia Herald. Subject: Teen Pregnancies. Interesting, timely piece. Part of series. Would hope other viewpoints and people are interviewed in other parts of series.

4. Castro County News, Dimmitt. Subject: Arizona or Bust. Good idea for story. Good quotes. Wanted toknow ages. Subject: Sudden Death. Needs anecdotes about Jennifer.

Best Photo

1. WaIler County News-Citizen, Hempstead. David Hopper. Subject News. Good thinking by photographer: an aerial of gas explosion aftermath. Photo could have been cropped tighter, but nice job.

2. Cedar Hill Today. David Goodspeed, subject Sports. Tight, clean shot of football four following a victory.

3. Cameron Herald. Subject: Feature. Statuesque moment. We had to look twice todetermine if it was real! Good job by photographer capturing peak action.

4. Port Aransas South Jetty. Murray Judson, subject: Feature. Photographer captured great moment of girl playing volleyball. Excellent expression on subject’s face.

Best Use of Photos

1. Colleyville News & Times Entry A: You used quality photos and had just two pages without pics. Overall a nice clean job. B. The photos were played well through most of the paper but Fossil Creek ad in middle of sports pics on page seven (Sept. 10) did not help your efforts.

2. Cameron Herald. Pictures interesting and different. Mostly good reproduction.

3. Grand Saline Sun. Entry A: Good, but reproduction on page four hurt. Overall, liked photos and layouts. B: Photo reproduction good—consistent.

4. Refugio County Advantage Press. Entry A: Good photos, layouts. B: Liked blowup of corn. Ag pages had good, clear photos.

News Writing

1. Waller County News-Citizen, Hempstead. Nov. 11: Good job by Katy Hall. Wide selection of subjects, well done. Sept.30: Good lead paragraphs on front page stories. Well done job by Hall.

2. Austin Business Journal. Nov. 9-15: Excellently done. Good variety of subjects for business and non-business readers.

3. Tulia Herald. Nov. 12: Very good news writing throughout. Jan. 30: Excellent diversity and style in news and features.

4. Daingerfield Bee. Nov. 11: Excellent front stories and good variety throughout. Dec. 16: Very good front news writing.

Advertising

1. Dallas Suburban Tribune. Ads show good layout approach/balance & type selection. Graduation double truck shows good layout/color use. Classified is easy to scan, ads show creativity. Shopping center page has good ads and good use of color.

2. Port Aransas South Jetty. Good creative approach to layouts. Visitor Guide: Very well done for the most part. Upside down ad on page 23 is a total waste. Most ad layouts show good creative approach.

3. Waller County News-Citizen, Hempstead. Nov. 4: Good creative layouts, balance and type. July 15: Nice Watermelon Fest tab—good ad layouts.

4. Whitesboro News-Record. May 28: Good, interesting layouts for the most part’ some need help. Very good “Grad” section, some ads a little weak. Aug. 13: Some very good layouts. Some need help.

Sports Coverage

1. Cedar Hill Today. Good, clean look on photo package. Good commentary. Nice job of teasing inside coverage. Good packaging of briefs.

2. La Marque Times. Nicely packaged football section. Good consistent use of briefs. Some headlines awkward.

3. Cameron Herald. Layout often hard to follow. I don’t know why you use half-boxes on heads. Good use of logos for packaging and good variety of coverage.

4. Belton Journal. Long, multi-deck head appears awkward. Sport headlines like “soccer” too small. Predictions take up a lot of space. Good headline: “Tigers feast on roast duck.” Some stories stretched into boxes to fill space.

Division 7 Weeklies under 2,000

General Excellence

1. Canadian Record. Not too crazy about page one, but overall an excellent newspaper. Clear, clean, concise. Sections extremely well-done. Good photo clarity, use. Strong editorial, sports, family pages. Super school coverage. A lot of news as well-as it can be presented. Ads well-placed, solid. Writing uniformly solid. Diverse coverage. Extra nice.

2. Albany News. Nice paper, good layout, although ads might look better if pages had consistent “well.” Photos clear, sharp, well-placed; headlines solid, well-written. Sections clearly defined. Editorial page especially nice. Writing uniformly solid. Sports emphasis a little heavy; not much on family lifestyle, but church page nice. Very readable paper.

3. Fort Worth Times-Record. Good local news coverage, good use of color, graphics. Solid writing, nice ed page and sports pages. Generally excellent in all areas: news enterprise, advertising, writing, readability, photos. Good mix of news and features. Nice school coverage. Good work.

4. Pilot Point Post-Signal. Superior photo reproduction, outstanding layout, top-flight news writing. Other than too much air in a few headlines, this paper just about has it all. Great sports coverage. Touched every community news base. Excellent ad department: not flashy, just exceptionally solid. If Post-Signal had atop-notch editorial page, no one would compete with you. Could have won first place with better editorial page.

Column Writing

1. Deer Park Progress. BJ. Power, subject: Death. tonight, I guarantee!

2. Big Sandy/Hawkins Journal. Linda Smith, subject:  Shopping. Fantastic use of the English language. Delightful to read.

3. Celina Record. Dave Lewis, subject: Fishing. This is funny stuff. I just hope my wife never sees it.

4. Citizens Gazette, Burnet. Rick Espitia, subject Baseball. Nicely done. Good idea development.

Editorial

1. Garrison In The News. Lillian Cook, subject: Our Town. Well- done call to action about community outrage. Hard-hitting.

2. Canadian Record. Ben Ezzell, subject: Presidency Up for Bids, May 14. Excellent Well-thought out, well-written.

3. Miami Chief. Subject Stop It Now, Oct. 29. Very well-done, straightforward presentation and call to action. Good editorial stand.

4. Pilot Point Post-Signal. Dave Lewis, subject: Letter From the Editor, May 21. Excellent. Well-done call for leadership.

Feature Story

1. Dublin Citizen. Subject: Forbidden Fishing Trip. Well-done story, good quotes, liked photo of boys, loved description.

2. Pilot Point Post-Signal. Subject: Finding Their Roots. Coming back to America is an interesting angle. Keep up the good work.

3. Brackett News, Brackettville. Subject Brothers Five. Interesting. Touching.

4. Muenster Enterprise. Subject Ostrich Hatching.

Best Photo

1. Pflugerville Pflag. Terry Hagerty, subject: Scout. Close is good—powerful composition.

2. Zapata Weekly Express. Subject Cap and Kid. Nice shot. I wish you had caught picture of kid holding on to cap as described in your column. Even so, it’s powerful.

3. Burnet Citizens Gazette. Subject: Corpse. Nice news shot. Tighter cropping at bottom would improve it.

4. White Oak Independent. Subject: Fetal Attraction. Nice moment, but unappealing cutline.

Best Use of Photos

1. Miami Chief. Nice use of interesting photos and reproduction.

2. Pflugerville Pflag. Good and interesting photos throughout paper. Quality of printing very good.

3. White Oak Independent. Excellent front page photo could have been bigger.

4. Eagle Press, Fritch. Good pictures throughout paper. Good reproduction.

News Writing

1. Pilot Point Post-Signal. Stories are well-written. They give good background information and are structured in a logical manner. Leads are concise and active. Good quotes.

2. Springtown Epigraph. Good, in-depth job on Garcia case. Good stories throughout. Leads are strong, active and concise. Good transitions, also. Stories flow smoothly. Easy to read and understand. Need more quotes in some stories.

3. Blanco County News. Leads on most stories very good. Give name and place as much as possible—do not assume readers will know you are talking about schools in your city. Good content in stories. Good leads and transi­tional paragraphs. Avoid editorializing in sports stories.

4. Malakoff News. Good stories. Well-written, in-depth and easy to understand. Leads on some stories could have been shortened.

Advertising

1. Canadian Record. Good use of art. Good lively ads with spark. It looks like you give individual attention to each advertiser and they should appreciate it!

2. Fort Worth Times-Record. Wow! You packed in the ads. Nice insert, great church page. Railroad spread is inviting and helpful information.

3. Abernathy Weekly Review. Nice way to show basketball teams. Good use of photos in ads. I like Dine Out Guide ad. Business Review is a good promotion. Back to School tab is good, but is there a way to give more value to sig page advertisers?

4. Big Sandy/Hawkins Journal. How about a graduation section rather than just a couple of ads? Nice business directory. Festival guide is good, but would be more effective as a tab! Lots of good ads inside!

Sports Coverage

1. Dublin Citizen. Good writing. Good coverage in special section. Photos good, especially front page.

2. Menard News. Excellent coverage of a big event. Good photos and sports coverage.

3. Albany News. Impressive coverage—wide range of good photos.

4. Springtown Epigraph. Good photos and writing. Good coverage.