2020-21 Texas BNC awards announced

SAN MARCOS — Winners in the 2020-21 Texas Better Newspaper Contest were announced July 30 in the closing event of the annual Texas Press Association Convention and Trade Show.
Sweepstakes winners were The Longview News Journal in Division 2 dailies; Hood County News, Granbury, in Division 3 semiweeklies; El Campo Leader-News, Division 4 semiweeklies; and weeklies Port Aransas South Jetty in Division 5, Beeville Bee Picayune in Division 7, Hill Country News Weekender in Division 8 and The Clarendon Enterprise in Division 9.
Newspapers competed in eight divisions based on frequency of publication and circulation, including one daily division, two semiweekly divisions and five weekly divisions. The contest included 12 sweepstakes categories in which points for each award go toward the sweepstakes. There are also six special categories based on the number of daily, semiweekly and weekly newspapers. These categories do not contribute points toward sweepstakes totals.
In all, 113 first place award plaques, eight sweepstakes award plaques and 445 first-place through fourth-place certificates were presented.
The 2020-21 contest was judged by members of the West Virginia Press Association. Earlier this year, TPA volunteers judged entries in the WVPA contest. Awards in the WVPA contest were presented at their convention held a week after the TPA event.
Next year’s contest for work published in 2022 will be held with a new platform. TPA’s contest will be moving to the Advanced Contest Entry System (ACES) platform. Entry period will begin in January 2023 with judging in March. Awards will be presented at the 2023 TPA Convention and Trade Show June 1-3, 2023 at the Kalahari Resort in Round Rock.
In addition to the contest awards, the Fred Hartman Award for Excellence in Sports Writing was presented to James LaCombe, sports editor for The Daily News, Galveston. The award was presented by Clyde King of Hartman Newspapers. This year’s competition was among newspapers of 10,000 circulation or more. Contest judge Griff Singer noted LaCombe’s articles met the challenge for sports staffs: “to provide consistently worthwhile stories even on an average or slow news day.” 
Next year’s Hartman award competition will be among newspapers of less than 10,000 circulation. The award carries a cash prize.