1991 Better Newspaper Contest — Weeklies
Texas Press Association
Division 5 Weeklies more than 3,500
GENERAL EXCELLENCE
1st-WESTLAKE PICAYUNE, Austin. This is an excellent tab-sized newspaper. The news coverage and writing are excellent and the photography is sharp, creative and a strong addition to the stories. All sections of this newspaper appeared strong, and the layouts work well with the size limitations of each page. Good work!
2nd-THE BUSINESS PRESS, Fort Worth. Although it was difficult to compare this newspaper with the competition, we found the content excellent and to-the-point. Page design is excellent and writing is very good. The lack of photos and sections such as Living and Sports did make it tough to compare to the other papers, but decided that the quality of the paper makes it deserving of second place.
3rd-DUNCANVILLE SUBURBAN. The Suburban is a very good newspaper with clear writing and good use of photos. The layout on most pages was very good, but the use of color (too much in some areas) was a slight drawback. The paper is very good and advertising layout helps.
4th-DeSOTO NEWS. The News’ papers that we judged were interesting and fun to read. The Oct.4 issue was especially good with a real nice and informative front page. The June 21 issue was somewhat confusing at first glance, but the stories were good and very informative to the community. Coverage is good, paper design good and the June21 ‘Suburban Life’ was especially well designed.
COLUMN WRITING
1st-THE HIGHLANDER, Marble Falls. Cotton Kirklin column is excellent, great use of detail and description, quotes. Variety in sentence and graf construction. Wonderful insight into the man. I enjoy Edd O’Donnell’s tone — conversational and strong.
2nd-PARK CITIES PEOPLE, Dallas.
Both home-oriented columns by Len Bourland captured my attention and held my interest without being too cute and trite. Language use is excellent and lively. Good variety in sentence and graf construction.
3rd-WESTLAKE PICAYUNE, Austin. I don’t know much about Texas politics, but I was able to understand and enjoy Sam Kinch’s columns. They’re easy to read, and the reader is moved along quickly by good strong language, not a lot of extra verbiage.
4th-AZLE NEWS-ADVERTISER. I like Bob Buckel’s humor—understated and not forced—good, easy-to-read conversational tone, column move easily along.
EDITORIALS
lst-AZLE NEWS-ADVERTISER. This is a wonderful editorial. It brought chills amid a strong field of contenders. It is grabbing and powerful. My only question would be: What can the newspaper do to help the community change? Great job!
2nd-PARK CITIES PEOPLE, Dallas. A very well written, insightful piece, especially good because I disagree on the issue. The writer has style and evokes emotion. He does so while backing his thoughts with heart-felt reasons. Good job.
3rd-WINNSBORO NEWS. It is evident writer and paper are important to the community. Good reasoning, display of stance. Strong material and writing.
4th-FREDERICKSBURG STANDARD/RADIO POST. Good piece. Important issue to community and area. Writer stales background, identifies problem, then guides reader to action. Good example of weekly newspaper role.
FEATURE STORY
1st-NORTH SAN ANTONIO TIMES, San Antonio. Quad story brightly written, good use of quotes, maybe could have used even more description of the young women. Good contrast between the two photos. Good tone inhome brewers story. Interesting leads inboth stories.
2nd-WESTLAKE PICAYUNE, Austin. Good quotes in both stories. Nice design and use of photos in Fred Miller story. Good flow to stories.
3rd-DIBOLL FREE PRESS. Good use of tone, appropriate in both stories. Nice light, bright writing in roller coaster story. Good description and use of first-person.
4th-BANDERA BULLETIN. Both stories were descriptive. It was easy to see carvings and knights without the very good photos. Writing in “Knights...” story a bit ponderous, mix up the description of the gear with some description of action, quotes, etc.
BEST PHOTO
1st-DeSOTO NEWS. Good effort to get this shot which required pre-planning and a lot of extra work and good timing. Nice composition, good action and expression. This angle has become a standard technique but is usually quite effective and visually interesting.
2nd-PARK CITIES PEOPLE, Dallas. Nice tight, clean image conveying a good sense of a child’s curiosity; good color reproduction. Photo is simple, light in news value, but works well tobrighten the page, providing a good overall package.
3rd-WESTLAKE PICAYUNE, Austin. “Agony of Defeat” photos are so common that they become almost ineffective. This photo may provide some sense of the story of the game, but only in a very general way. However, it clearly states defeat and works strongly in that regard.
4th-FREDERICKSBURG STANDARD/RADIO POST. Excellent action and reproduction. Provides a unique view of the race that is hard to come by. A tighter view of these horses with type knocked out of the bottom of the photo would have brought the races closer and provided more impact.
BEST USE OF PHOTOS
1st-DUNCANVILLE SUBURBAN. Staff photographer Glenn James and reporter Sean Wood work well together. Page design works well.
2nd-WESTLAKE PICAYUNE, Austin. Photogs Sylvia Brown and Eileen Llorente really have their work cut out for them fitting their material in the only tabloid format paper in this class. But they pull it off. Even shots that could be dull, like a gaggle of politicians at a business lunch, have a fresh angle to them. Virtually every shot a quick, clear read. Some sports shots make imaginative use of light. Who said women couldn’t shoot sports?
3rd-FORT STOCKTON PIONEER. There was no more than a gnat’s-ass distance between third and fourth in this category. I chose the Pioneer because it had fewer do-nothing group photos, run smaller. Sports action shows more than “thrill of victory, agony of defeat”. It allows the uncertainty during heat of battle. I almost didn’t miss the lack of hard news shots (unless the shot of bored attendees at political forum counts as such).
4th-ROCKDALE REPORTER. Good mix of humor, hard news. What hurt you was: Miss Rockdale appears on page one with no link to Rockdale Fair story and no reference in caption to the Miss Rockdale photo and story package on page 5; Too many photos of people standing around doing nothing. Inside, show me how the people won their awards. Photos of them with their prizes afterwards misses the point.
NEWS WRITING
lst-DIBOLLFREEPRESS. The writing in this paper is consistently strong throughout, but if Gary Willmon ever leaves, that could change. Story-for-story, his stuff is great — snappy, interesting leads, good quotes and lots a information. Great job.
2nd-PARK CITIES PEOPLE, Dallas. Unlike many entries reviewed, this paper is not held up with the strength of one good writer. Appears to be a balanced attack, with many staffers contributing to a fine product.
3rd-MABANK MONITOR. John Motter won me over with his Gun Barrel City’s budget ship sinking before it reached port — but he proved equally adept at handling features and sports as well.
4th-CANTON HERALD. Especially impressed by the writing of Linda Brown, who obviously cranks out a lot of stuff in a week’s time. Nice to see she can put a special spin on a story in spite of that.
ADVERTISING
1st-PARK CITIES NEWS, Dallas. Ads generally look good. Holiday Gift section presents attractive upscale image. Good use of air.
2nd-KERRVILLE MOUNTAIN SUN. Good looking Spring-Style double (nick. Rest of ads composed well. Have a clean look tothem.
3rd-PLEASANTON EXPRESS. Good 25th Cowboy Homecoming. Good tie-in with news.
4th-NORTH SAN ANTONIO TIMES, San Antonio. Nice Fiesta 90 edition, but color reproduction doesn’t appear true.
SPORTS COVERAGE
1st-PARK CITIES PEOPLE, Dallas. Well balanced, pleasingly done layout. Obviously you have the funds to produce a quality sports section.
2nd-ROCKDALE REPORTER. Good job for community weekly. It would be nice to see more sports photos.
3rd-AZLE NEWS-ADVERTISER. Well balanced sports. Good mix of photos. Could use a weekly sports column on front of sports page.
4th-DUNCANVILLE SUBURBAN. Lots and lots of coverage.
Division 6 Weeklies 1,500 to 3,500
GENERAL EXCELLENCE
lst-PITTSBURG GAZETTE. Good, clean makeup, high story count and good mix of news on page one. Lots of good, newsy stuff inside. Photos could use some attention, though (I suspect the printing of photos is more to blame for uneven quality than the photographer’s skill). Bordering prints would hold ‘em together some.
2nd-LaMARQUE TIMES. Nice, readable product, especially strong in design and presentation. One suggestion: Outlaw use of initials in headlines. An awful lot of people have to wonder what “TEA rejects GED exemption, LMISD starts pilot in spring” means.
3rd-GRAND SALINE SUN. Great sports section, strongest thing in the paper. Good mix of other things as well.
4th-WALLER COUNTY NEWS CITIZEN, Hempstead. Good little paper, great instincts for news and giving readers what they’re interested in. Always hate tosee opinion pages with no “voice” of newspaper editorials.
COLUMN WRITING
1st-NIXON NEWS-STAR. “Jews don’t raise pigs”: By Chuck Bloom. A hilarious column. What makes it especially good is the buildup to “Pigs, Robert! Jews don’t raise pigs!” Nice finish about your Lutheran wife too. Ethnic humor is so risky, but this works beautifully. “What it means…” Not as strong, goes on a little too long. Not as witty in making its point. But this is probably gutsy stuff for a small-town Texas newspaper.
2nd-MINEOLA MONITOR. Tom’s Turn by Tom Beesley, March 14: Touching column about a heart-wrenching experience many can identify with. Sometimes there are no big answers or solutions to problems. The “my dog, a good dog” and “Daddy, please don’t let him die” bits pull at the heartstrings. Dec. 19: A rare treat —a Christmas column that’s worth reading without getting religious or sentimental. A modern retelling of the parable of the widow’s mite. Nice finish.
3rd-CANADIAN RECORD. Spur of the Moment, by Ben Ezzell, Oct 11: Nice treatment of the “curmudgeonly reporter switches to computer” theme. I’m 27 and I type that way, too. Most J-grads today probably don’t know what an Underwood is. Dec. 20: I usually dread war remembrance columns but this one works well. Of particular merit is the Sani-Flush/whiskey anecdote. I’d have stopped with the second-to-last graf.
4th-GRAND SALINE SUN. Always on Wednesday. by Jack McNickle, March 29: Column perhaps exaggerates the menace of the census but still raises good points in a fun manner. Feb. 15: Again raises good points on a timely issue in a humorous way. Both columns keep sentences short, improving readability.
EDITORIALS
1st-THE BEE, Daingerfield. This editorial deals with a touchy subject — health combined with money—advocates a tough stance in regard to that topic — shutting down a hospital. It clearly presents the facts and background, and dribbles in numbers adroitly; it tosses in some humor when needed (“businessmen screaming into the night”); it’s well-researched. The tagline also cuts to the quick. This is a good editorial because it states an opinion and everything that follows backs up that opinion in a logical fashion. Clear examples illustrate, the pros and cons of Voters’ possible alternatives; by weighing those options, the consequences of each choice become clear. The editorial is logically ordered and reads well.
2nd-CLAY COUNTY LEADER, Henrietta. This editorial works because it immediately shows why readers should take the course of action the writer suggests: vote for the sales tax and your community could get more jobs. It then illustrates how that works, by chronologically showing how more jobs mean more people, more people mean more retail sales, etc. It’s a clear appeal, on an often complicated topic. By showing alternate courses of action, and giving reasons justifying the expenditures, the writer walks the reader through the decision-making process.
3rd-EAST TEXAS BANNER, Kirbyville. Humor is often a good strategy when writing about volatile issues —comic relief can, after all, spare bloodshed. Writer makes numerous points, and does so well, by the use of hyperbole and downright off-the-wall thinking. It works.
4th-SOUTH JETTY, Port Aransas. Writer has done her homework. Good, easy writing style on important topics.
FEATURE STORY
1st-THE SUBURBAN TRIBUNE, Dallas. The story on gang violence was clearly the best in the division. Writing is to the point, description interesting and quotes well used. Good job. The story on the policeman was well put together and interesting, but the subject just isn’t compelling.
2nd-SOUTH JETTY, Port Aransas. Both of these storiesjump with liveliness. Style isn’t always perfect, and the writing is on the wordy side. But the leads are interesting and draw a reader in. The writers appear to have taken time to understand their subjects and describe them to readers.
3rd-GRAND SALINE SUN. Both stories are put together well and interesting. Neither has the depth or color of those placing higher in this category.
4th-LINDALE NEWS. If the fire story was the newspaper’s first story after the fire it probably should have presented the information more directly so readers could know the situation. If it wasn’t the first story, it’s too long and drawn out. The story on the e sisters had a good lead and read well.
BEST PHOTO
1st-HONDO ANVIL HERALD. Wonderful. Thanks for getting on the ground toCassandra’s level. Much better than looking down from above. Good to see that you enlarged it to give the photo the dominance it deserved. Good job of cropping as well. It’s hard, though, to see where the photo ends and the cutline begins. If you used a hairline tape around the entire photo it would have made a nice separation.
2nd-CLAY COUNTY LEADER, Henrietta. Good selection of photos. Nice to see both a close-up and the scene-setting by the long line of vehicles. I might have run the traffic shot six columns across and put the boat scene underneath to bring more impact.
3rd-COPPELL CITIZENS’ ADVOCATE. Nice personal photo. But where’s the size? A photo this good deserves better play. It might have gone all five columns across to make it jump out at the readers. Good job of cropping. You don’t need anything else todistract. I might have tried to move a few feet tothe left to emphasize the expression on John’s face. And where’s the photo credit? The shooter deserves toget her or his name on it.
4th-EAST TEXAS BANNER, Kirbyville. Nice job of capturing an impromptu moment. The only thing I would have done differently would be to get down lower. That would have emphasized the height difference between the subjects. And who is this? Not knowing the boy’s identity detracts from the scene.
BEST USE OF PHOTOS
1st-MINEOLA MONITOR. Nice shot selection in the Betty Madsen incident. Thanks for giving them good play in sizing. Wonderful job on Gee & Haw. Good use of photos and pleasant layout. Gray screen works well, too. I found the cropping on “backstage rehearsal” distracting. Place your hand over guitar case at left and I think you would have a much more effective shot. Beautiful job on “Let the Lord.” Unlike the preceding photo, the crop of the woman coming out of the church is just right. Much more effective as printed than if you had gone to just the woman. Same with minister and showing last supper scene on wall. Very nice use of photos.
2nd-LaMARQUE TIMES. Good mix of photos, but try to stay away from so many group and ribbon-cutting photos. The action shots are much more effective. Most of the pictures are sized similarly. Try giving more impact by four or five columns with an important shot. In the emergency drills, for example, I would have blown up the “took teamwork’ shot four columns in the space you had and made it the dominant photo. The students keeping track, your dominant photo was not as important as the “injury.” Same with ‘fair on the square.” Feature one photo by making it dominant. Focus on cheerleader detracts, but good shot selection.
3rd-ZAPATA COUNTY NEWS, Zapata. Good mixture of photos. Good emphasis on people, many with limited depth-of-field. Real effective. Try to cut down on so many group shots. Your action photos are much better. Don’t be afraid to enlarge photos for dramatic impact. One large photo dominating a page, surrounded by smaller ones, works much better than a lot of pictures all similarly sized. I was confused by “Junior high meet.” At first I thought it was an ad because the IBC block is contained within the black border. Also, the numbers detract from the layout. Top, right center, bottom, could be used to direct attention to the correct photo.
4th-GRAND SALINE SUN. Good mixture of photos. Effective use of sizing large for impact. Try to stay away from group shots as much as possible. Your action shots are much more effective. Good use of white space in Harvest Festival feature page. Sports shots are often difficult, especially with location lighting problems, but try to stay away from badly blurred pictures.
NEWS WRITING
1st-PITTSBURG GAZETTE. Gazette’s front page is a real winner. Politics, police, court, schools and “light” news are all represented. I would have liked to have seen a strong feature piece on a front page, but the quality of the writing and the clarity of the editing is clear. The “funeral director arson” story was particularly well handled. I bet readership was high on that.
2nd-LaMARQUE TIMES. The Times hits you between the eyes with strong, honest reporting on tough issues. Their courage and sense of responsibility is to be commended. However, there is a need for more and better features, as well as more “inside” news. Adding another staffer would help.
3rd-VAN ZANDT COUNTY NEWS, Wills Point. The News’ school coverage is fine, but some of the features, particularly the “Miz Hallie Day” piece, could be better written. One problem I noticed with all the entries was a dearth of quotes. The News didn’t suffer from that malady — they let the reader “hear” the voice of the newsmakers. An excellent paper overall.
4th-WALLER COUNTY NEWS CITIZEN, Hempstead. The News Citizen’s coverage of the dead judge candidate was interesting reading and quality reporting. The PV athletic director story was also well researched and an interesting read. There was a lot to read in these papers, and I’m sure the community enjoyed that.
ADVERTISING
1st-TULIA HERALD.Excellent 100th Anniversary edition. Especially impressive if this was a one-shot effort rather than an annual Progress edition by another name. Good tie-in with news. Suggestion: a little color on the front page instead of the black reverse would have helped.
2nd-SOUTH JETTY, Port Aransas. Deep Sea Roundupedition makes excellent use of photos in ads. Good ties with news.
3rd-LAKE TRAVIS VIEW, Austin. Design on ad section something I haven’t seen before. Good imagination. Nice-looking section. As was Focus on Lake Travis.
4th-CASTRO COUNTY NEWS, Dimmitt. Looks like Dimmitt doesn’t miss a trick. Good enterprise effort with basketball and 4-H sections.
SPORTS COVERAGE
lst-LaMARQUE TIMES. Good balance of sports content. Photos show more than just traditional men’s sports. Like having a lead sports page without advertising. Good to see sports column.
2nd-GRAND SALINE SUN. Plenty of sports coverage. Large photos. Keep those ads off that lead sports page.
3rd-HONDO ANVIL HERALD. Good volume of sports. Ideas: add photo of sports columnist; rotate onto front sports page some football sports photo; get ad off of lead sports page.
4th-CANADIAN RECORD. Nice layout. Keep ads off of lead sports page. Good volume of coverage.
Division 7 Weeklies Less Than 1,500
GENERAL EXCELLENCE
1st-MALAKOFF NEWS. Excellent readability. Good news sense and writing. Very nice use of headlines and the photography is crisp and creative. The two samples showed very broad coverage of events in the community and focused on what the community expects from a local paper. Nice page layout, but the papers could use more editorial writing.
2nd-CELINA RECORD. Very appealing front page designs. Good writing and good use of photos throughout paper. News focus is community oriented and stories are well balanced.
3rd-CASS COUNTY SUN, Linden. News coverage is very good and photos are very appealing. There are a few too many photos in parts. Good page design on lead pages. Interesting special sections.
4th-POTFSBORO PRESS. The ‘Air Race’ story on page one (May 24) was excellent. A real eye-catcher and a very nice story. Good focus on community and good writing.
COLUMN WRITING
1st-MIAMI CHIEF. “Uptake” is an unusual name for a column, but ValdaTraughber is an unusually talented writer. The two samples we were given were similar, but the prose was so good, the stories so funny and the organization, timing and delivery so smooth, I heartily enjoyed both.
2nd-HAMLIN HERALD. Rick Craig writes a good, newsy column, filled with “inside stuff” and his comments on them. I liked both columns for their straight talk and well-phrased style.
3rd-THE INTERNATIONAL, Presidio. “Open Spaces” is a hard-news column, the type of work that informs some, enrages others, but is read by all. Dan Bodine’s “Going South” piece was excellent journalism.
4th-BOOKER NEWS. “Panhandle Viewpoint” by Ben Boren is an interesting read, a column that covers the spectrum from news to fluff to opinion. In short, it’s everything a weekly column should be, and more. Good work.
EDITORIALS
1st-THE INTERNATIONAL, Presidio. Excellent writing. Extensive use of background material. Perhaps a bit long for some people to stay with but arguments made well and strongly presented.
2nd-INGLESIDE INDEX. Well written. Arguments made strongly. Good display. Urges specific actions.
3rd-CELINA RECORD. “How about a fresh approach” asks many pointed questions about the local police/crime situation and offers solutions. Minces no words.
4th-HAMLIN HERALD. Presented good arguments for passing a hospital tax increase.
FEATURE STORY
1st-THE INTERNATIONAL, Presidio. U. S. Resident alien. This is a good use of personal stories, along with a news angle, to bring home a news event. Balance between quotes and paraphrase moves the story along. Good lead, gets the reader interested right away.
2nd-CELINA RECORD. From Prosper. The lead caught my attention and personal details, such as third graf, kept me moving through the story. Good balance between quote and paraphrase, good use of the bullets to signify pauses in the story. Good photos.
3rd-INGLESIDE INDEX. Duzich. This is a wonderful story. I was pulled through it, even though it seemed too long, by a lead that grabbed my attention and presentation of details that kept my interest. I missed the quotes they would have brought me closer to the man and they would hate broken up the repetitive paragraph and sentence construction.
4th-BROWNSBORO STATESMAN. Old Fashioned Christmas: The description details and a soft-pedal on sentimentality pull this feature out of the numbers of similar Christmas memory stories. The fireworks, the coffee-drinker uncle, waiting for gifts, all kept my attention and pulled me through the story.
4th-THE EAGLE PRESS, Fritch. Get Record Straight. Although some more paraphrasing would have strengthened this presentation, I was pulled through the story by Iker’s quotes. The writer brought this personality home. Lead caught my attention and the addition of details kept me reading.
BEST PHOTO
1st-CELINA RECORD. Precarious news peg, but it reproduced excellently.
2nd-CASS COUNTY SUN, Linden. Cute kid shot. Good work, catching them unaware like that.
3rd-CORRIGAN TIMES. Is the man on the right using the fire hose or just relieving himself on the fire? A tip: get closer to eliminate unwanted clutter. I know you don’t want to get any closer than you did, but get closer. Believe me, it works! I’ve shot several fires up close with a 20mm lens and lived to tell about it.
4th-BROWNSBORO STATESMAN. Did you set up this shot?
BEST USE OF PHOTOS
1st-THE GOLDEN SPREAD, Follett. Good use of photos featuring children. Thanks for getting down to their level in-stead of shooting from up above. Dominate your inside pages by blowing up photos of one or two pictures, as in your cover shot of 7-12, instead of using five or six smaller shots. I found your photo boxes distracting. You might try using border tape at the edges of the photos themselves. That would still separate them from the articles, but it would make them stronger as well. Stick with your action shots. Try to cut down use.
2nd-INGLESIDE INDEX. Good jobof personalizing your subjects by moving in close and focusing on one or two people only. I especially liked the two different aspects of Carol Cervenka, Lopez and Gonzales at the baseball game and the Nelson brothers. Do not be afraid to enlarge photos to bring dramatic impact Just moving the baseball shot from three tofour columns would have made it jump off the page. Instead of boxing some of your photos with heavy border tape, try using a hairline tape and box the edges of the photos themselves. That would make them stronger and would not compete with the photos for attention. Try to stay away from the group photos and “handing over” shots.
3rd-LAKE CITIES SUN, Lake Dallas. Excellent auto ads. Many good photographs, but give me size to heighten the impact. Officer Ablon taking prints is a good example. Beautiful photo, but make it leap out at me. It is a much better representation of an event in your community, but is much smaller than the principal standing outside the doors. Four columns would have been appropriate. Same with Corinth Pride Day. Don’t try to show everything that went on. Pick two or three shots and blow them up. Same with flooding. Pick one, blow it up. Make Josh fishing dominant photo by placing it at left of story and another photo. With him you have a nice close-up, then show a wide angle shot to show extent of damage. Try to stay away from group shots; action photos tell the story much better.
4th-POTTSBORO PRESS. Too much reliance on posed photos. Don’t try to tell the whole story through photos. And don’t be afraid toenlarge photos tobring impact. I would have enlarged Jennifer Bailey painting tofour columns and bagged the rest. Same with fishing photos. Blow up one and feature it big. Nice job of framing a photo with the hand rails of the Tanglewood Villa. I would have enlarged that photo as well and placed it above the fold. Squirrel shot is nice, but competes for attention. Maybe it should have gone to an inside page, but run just as large.
NEWS WRITING
1st-LAKE CITIES SUN, Lake Dallas. Good, tight leads. Gets tothe point quickly without sacrificing facts. Good use of quotes, though a tendency torely on them a bit too much. Attribution almost always given. Stories told in a smooth, easy-to-read manner. Try and avoid single-source stories.
2nd-WHITE OAK INDEPENDENT. Leads informative and interesting. Stories are generally comprehensive and address obvious issues. Use of quotes is generally good but using too many short quotes leads to a choppy, disjointed feel in some stories. Watch bouncing back and forth between a number of sources.
3rd-MALAKOFF NEWS Good attention to details and facts while also paying attention to quotes and readability. Organization is generally good, but vital information occasionally buried in stories. For example, in “Board votes 4-3 the reason for the board’s dissatisfaction with Bingham isn’t given until deep in the story. Leads generally good if a bit lacking in creativity. The important information is there, though.
4th-CASS COUNTY SUN, Linden. Leads are informative, but a bit too long. Try to limit leads to one sentence and excise extraneous information. Stories are very informative and complete. Quotes are good, but be careful of using too many.
ADVERTISING
1st-CASS COUNTY SUN, Linden. Good layout, good variety. Ads attractive, readable, especially clean and sharp in the Wildflower section. Strong use of directories, sig page. Like special sections.
2nd-POTTSBORO PRESS. Goodvariety of ads. Generally good layout. Like your “Who’s Who, Who’s New” in business. Good idea. Use of pictures in football page good. Like your business directory. Good use of color on Hilltop Ford.
3rd-INGLESIDE INDEX. I particularly liked the fact that you seem to pay more attention to the classified than other entries. There are dollars there and a large reader following. Your ROP ads have good illustration use, good layout and variety.
4th-THE GOLDEN SPREAD, Follett. Good variety of ads. Good use of dominant illustrations. Ads seem balanced and consistent Ads adapted to customer. Would like to see more classified.
SPORTS COVERAGE
1st-MALAKOFF NEWS. Good pagelayout. Plenty of statistical information. I would encourage a couple more photos on your sports pages. Maybe cross country, or other fall sports. Plus it would probably make sports pages better by writing about more than just football.
2nd-INGLESIDE INDEX. Well rounded sports coverage. I would suggest advertising off of lead sports page, even if it means only one sports page. Photos could focus in on action of fewer athletes, so it would be easier to identify them.
3rd-CELINA RECORD. Interestingway to build lead sports page. I would suggest that lead sports page be all news and photos, not advertising. Also try to increase sports coverage (other than football).
4th-BROWNSBORO STATESMAN. Good sports photos. Get advertising off lead snorts nare. Expand coverage to other sports besides football.
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