30 jumps the other way, with a big, splashy design, and the doubletruck car design had lots of entry points with type size large enough to survive white on black treatment. Second Award - Wausau Daily Herald: (“It’s a blast!; Big summer lineup; Makin’ a splash” - Elissa Holtmeier, Amy Kimmes): More newspapers should really step out the way Gateway to the North does. A magazine-style cover jumps out from other entries, as I’m sure it jumps out from other sections of the newspaper. Integrating text better into the photos would help make these pages really pop. Third Award - The Janesville Gazette: (“Much ado about Marx; Let the haunting begin; Drum roll, please.” - Ann Fiore): The designer took two subjects everyone has to do at some point; Halloween and a seasonal entertainment list; found attractive ways to illustrate them. Division C First Award - Portage Daily Register: (“Barn raising; Screaming good time; Your ticket ...” - Craig Spychalla): The runaway hit of this category. In Sync pages show great creativity with great respect and understanding of the content’s design with a purpose. The common film reel, a Halloween knife comes alive in new ways. Great work. Second Award - The Daily Reporter, Milwaukee: (“Focus on Commercial Real Estate: Retail/Hospitality” - Jayne Laste): Designs are clean and competent. There’s nothing flashy here appropriate for the content but concepts such as hierarchy and white space are used well.
Page Design - Sports Division A First Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton: (Mike Sherry). Second Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette: (Julie Larson, Daniel Higgins). Third Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette: (Julie Larson). Division B First Award - Wausau Daily Herald: (Jared Macarin): Love the bold page design and the use of the left rail. Second Award - Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire: (Joe Ziemer): Page design draws in the reader, as well as the pullouts with schedules.
Editorial: Daily Division Third Award - The Freeman, Waukesha: (Lee Fensin). Division C First Award - Portage Daily Register: (Dan Larson). Second Award - The Monroe Times: (Mark Nesbitt). Third Award - Daily Jefferson County Union, Fort Atkinson: (Jeff Seisser).
Reporting on Local Government Division A First Award - La Crosse Tribune: (“Mayor Harter brushes aside criticism, says he kept his promise on property taxes; Image problem, La Crosse planners’ biggest challenge: Reversing blight near downtown; How should we govern?” - Betsy Bloom, Chris Hubbuch): Excellent reporting and writing. Loved the profile of the mayor. The blight story was good. The city administrator story was a strong setup for a vote. A valuable service to voters. Wonderful voices throughout. Sometimes it’s hard to keep governmental coverage from becoming too bureaucratic or inside baseball. These stories showed the right way to cover government. Second Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette: (“City of Green Bay” - Scott Williams): Good package of stories. The developer story was by far my favorite. Great quote from the mayor about a dreamer with no money. The competition between Appleton and Green Bay convention centers also was strong. An important issue, well covered. Good information for taxpayers. Homeless story should have had a voice of a homeless person. Third Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton: (“Private domain; Bartender applicant arrested at meeting; Neenah explores ˜pay as you throw” - Duke Behnke): The bartender arrest story and the pay as you throw story were both lively, interesting, well done stories. I wasn’t sure about the fire story. What was the point exactly? That fire departments should be able to come in to private homes? General Comments: The first-place winner definitely shows how governmental coverage should be done. The stories were fun to read and still had the context needed to understand what was going on. Some of the entries would have benefited from talking to people affected by the decisions being made.
Division B First Award - The Sheboygan Press: (“Casino plan goes public; Casino opponents speak out; Casino project stalls” - Josh Lintereur): Strong and comprehensive coverage of the casino issue. I particularly liked the email reporting and the Wells Fargo lawsuit reporting. Smart context to do the how the process works box. The only thing this lacked were voices from regular citizens of the community. Second Award - The Janesville Gazette: (“We don’t have the resources:” Communities struggle with the monetary, emotional costs of picking up strays; These are our ancestors: Abandoned cemeteries challenge communities to provide care; What’s old is new again Economic support system change” - Catherine W. Idzerda): The cemetery story and the stray animal story were both good choices of topics in the face of budget issues, and both were well told with good quotes and context. The what’s old is new story was a little hard to get through. It seemed bureaucratic. Third Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc: (“Car Versus Pedestrian Showdowns / Manitowoc City Shakeup / The Right Thing For The Community” - Charlie Mathews): The budget issues obviously are incredibly important and I thought you did a good job with the roundup showing changes in city employment because of the shortfalls. A very helpful story for citizens. All three of these stories provided excellent context, from the comparison of pedestrian/vehicle tickets and warnings to the fire department comparisons to other communities. Good job. General Comments: Another strong category. Local citizens have very good sources of information during these turbulent times. Strong local government reporting all around. Division C First Award - The Daily Reporter, Milwaukee: (“Franklin’s Ryan Creek Interceptor” Kirsten Klahn): Infrastructure is important, expensive and often boring to the public. These stories brought life to important news, and clarity to issues not so easy to explain. I especially liked the honesty in explaining things that were not known, rather than trying to write around it. Second Award - Daily Tribune, Wisconsin Rapids: (“City Council weighs utility oversight; City rejects park location for stage; Panel to tackle safety ideas” - Nathaniel Shuda): Well-done explanations in each case. I especially liked use of meaningful factoids in utility and pedestrian safety stories.
Third Award - The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls: (Rod Stetzer): Good breadth of reporting, from “City’s Vision” with a great lede and property-by-property details, to a deft handling of the fire chief controversy. General Comments: These entries speak to the importance of local news and the good fortune of communities lucky enough to have aggressive, honest reporting at the grassroots level.
Reporting on Local Education Division A First Award - The Capital Times, Madison: (“Campus Connection” - Todd Finkelmeyer): Excellent explanations of complex material. Second Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton: (“Modern Learning; A Big Boost; Neenah wants grades to reflect knowledge” - Duke Behnke): Interesting, unique story topics. Third Award - La Crosse Tribune: (“After the cuts: Students aren’t learning like they used to in Tomah; After the cuts: Not enough desks, textbooks in some Bangor classrooms; After the cuts: Fewer teachers, fewer sections, bigger classes” - Patrick Anderson): Great detail. Division B First Award - The Janesville Gazette: (“Special tech; Students behaving badly: Is it worse?; Bee-ing there” - Frank Schultz): Interesting topics; great writing-especially spelling bee story. Second Award - Oshkosh Northwestern: (“Too much room?; Road to Oaklawn vote took turns; Mom on a mission” - Adam Rodewald): Great investigative work. Third Award - The Janesville Gazette: (“A new take on discipline; Behavioral data; Staying in the loop; Building relationships to bring parents back (side); Love made from steel and fire” - Catherine W. Idzerda): Great writing style. Division C First Award - Marshfield News-Herald: (“Student poverty on rise in area; Exploring their dreams; Records requester unsatisfied with district’s response” - Liz Welter): Great story on Exploring their Dreams. Timely. Nice to see it on the front page. Love that they used the kids photos. Strong writing.