Wick Communications' Louisiana newspapers win numerous awards
St. Tammany News, Covington, won 30 awards, including Newspaper of the Year in its division for the second straight year.
St. Tammany News won the editorial sweepstakes award in Division 5, while the Daily News (Bogalusa) claimed that division’s advertising sweepstakes award and won 29 awards overall.
L’Observateur (LaPlace) also won several awards in Division 5, which includes community newspapers that publish two to four times a week.
The Daily Iberian, competing against medium-sized dailies in the state’s Division 3, captured four first-place awards, among others.
Here’s how the newspapers fared:
St. Tammany News
St. Tammany News won 11 first-place awards, including:
• Best news story - Matthew Penix
• Most effective use of a graphic design on a single page - Kristi Cullen
• Best Sports Photo – Chris Kinkaid
• Best Photo Package – Anne Lautzenheiser, Chad Ruiz and Matthew Penix
• Best Editorial Cartoon –Roy Robinson
• Best Classified Section or Page
• Best Lifestyle Coverage
• Best News Coverage
• Best Web site
• Staff Generated Color ½ page or under ad – Caleb Lunt
• In Paper Promotion (black and white) – Kristi Cullen
Other awards were:
• Best front page – second place
• Best editorial page – third place
• Best single editorial – honorable mention, Tom Lindley
• Best feature story – second place, Matthew Penix; third place, Andrea Daniel
• Best continuing coverage of a governmental issue – third place, Erik Sanzenbach
• Best News Photo – second place, Matthew Penix; third place, Erik Sanzenbach
• Best Feature Photo – second place, Matthew Penix
• Best Sports Photo –second place, Mike McCall; honorable mention, Mike Pervel
• Best Photo Package - second place, Mike Pervel and Chris Kinkaid
• Best Classified Humor Ad – second place, staff
• Advertising Idea or Promotion – honorable mention, staff
• Best Editorial Cartoon –third place, Roy Robinson
• Best Sports Story – second place, Mike Pervel
• Best Overall Sports Coverage – second place
• General Excellence – second place
• Staff Generated Color over ½ page ad – second place, Kristi Cullen
The Daily News
In all, The Daily News claimed 14 awards in news, features and photo competition, 14 in advertising and one for its Web site.
In the editorial competition:
• John H. Walker won the Gibbs Adams Award and took first place in investigative reporting. Walker also placed third in community service and earned an honorable mention for best editorial page.
• Jacob Brooks earned a second place for best headline and third places for best news story, investigative reporting and best front page. He also earned an honorable mention for best photo package.
• Bob Ann Breland earned a second for best regular column and a third place for best lifestyle coverage.
• Chrissy Smith earned a second for best sports column and an honorable mention in best special section.
• Kristi Cullen, former paginator, earned a second in most effective use of graphic design on a single page.
• Danny Hanemann, former staff photographer, earned a third-place award.
In the advertising competition, Kim Gerald won all individual awards:
• Staff generated - black and white ad — first, second and third.
• Best services ad – non-retail — first, third and honorable mention.
• Best retailer ad — first
• Best ad campaign — second
• Multiple advertiser page — first and honorable mention.
The advertising staff also claimed a second for best classified and a third in best advertising idea or promotion.
L’Observateur
L’Observateur won five first-place awards and 10 awards overall.
They were:
• Best Feature Story – first place and honorable mention, Ben Lundin
• Best Continuing Coverage of a Governmental Issue – first place, Kevin Chiri
• Best Investigative Reporting – second place, Kyle Barnett
• Best News Photo – first place, Kevin Chiri
• Best Feature Photo – first place and honorable mention, Gail Chiri
• Best Photo Package – third place, Gail Chiri
• Best News Coverage – honorable mention
• Community Service – first place.
The Daily Iberian
Sports Editor Chris Landry earned first place for best sports story, while the overall lifestyle coverage of The Daily Iberian also earned a first-place recognition.
Other top honors went to in-paper promotion and best advertising campaign.
Staff writer Jeff Moore was recognized with a second-place honor in the best continuing coverage of a single new event category, while other second-place nods went to best front page, best special section and best staff generated black and white advertisement.
Moore was given an honorable mention for best continuing coverage of a governmental issue.
Photographer Lee Ball took a third-place honor for best news photo, while the advertising department finished third in the in-paper color promotion category.
The Daily Iberian’s other honorable mentions included best editorial page, best sports story, best overall sports coverage and best retailer advertisement.