6 in layout. Deck structure needs some work. Nice incorporation of logos. Layout is clear. Overall, solid work on pages. General Comments: Really hard to not give The Dunn County paper an award for their issue featuring “Drew Otto.” But contest was for 3 sports pages. The top 3 chosen were solid. Division F First Award - Sauk Prairie Eagle, Sauk City: (Adam Crowson): By far the best of the bunch. Beautiful looking pages excellent layout and design. Stories are well written, photography is excellent. Good coverage of a variety of sports. Obvious a lot of time and effort went into layout process. Second Award - De Pere Journal: (Staff): Pages are attractive and the photography is well done. Stories are clear and concise of a large variety of sports. Excellent coverage of state championship. Third Award - Crawford County Independent & The Kickapoo Scout, Gays Mills: (“Trojans remain in first” - Charley Preusser): Biggest complaint is that there is a lot of white and wasted space. Good looking crisp clear pictures make up a lackluster layout. Good coverage of multiple schools and multiple events. General Comments: You have some great newspapers up there and it was neat to read about sports we don’t have here. (Hockey and black bear hunting) and the snow in a football pictures, something we do not see down here during the high school season.
Sports News Story Division D First Award - News Graphic, Cedarburg: (“Pro race delivers late drama” - Gary Achterberg): Pointed, well-written, and interesting. Creates a sense of the race for the reader, and builds the tension of the scene with great aplomb. Very nice job. Second Award - Muskego-New Berlin NOW: (“Warrior duo strikes gold once again” John Rech): Clean, well-written story. Got a sense for the athletes and did a good job placing pertinent details throughout the story. Good work. Third Award - The Portage County Gazette, Stevens Point: (“Miech reminisces on career with UW-SP football” - John Kemmeter): Touching stuff about the much adored head coach. Strong quotes, clear vision. Well done.
Editorial: Weekly Division Division E First Award - Ripon Commonwealth Press: (“Shooting for Gold” - Jonathan Bailey): Great story, great lede, nice stuff overall. It was an inspiring subject matter, and the writer did a solid job with the wealth of information he was given. Second Award - Ripon Commonwealth Press: (“Driver interception puts Ripon youth in worldwide spotlight” - Ian Stepleton): Real neat story. Lots of quotes, strong storytelling ability. Obviously took some research and some follow-up, which strengthened the piece as a whole. Solid journalism. Third Award - The Dunn County News, Menomonie: (“Franseen pushes Boyceville to sectional finals” - Zach Kruse): Nice game story, good strong lede to get the reader drawn in. Division F First Award - De Pere Journal: (“Tollefson stands out as Wisconsin’s best” - Todd McMahon): Enjoyable story about a hard working athlete that deserves the ink. Very well written and would even be appreciated by those that aren’t sports fans. Second Award - Living Kettle Moraine Index, Dousman: (“KM wins wild finale, clinches C8 crown” - JR Radcliffe): Paints a clear story of what read like an exciting game. Easy to ready and you do not have to be a baseball expert to understand. Third Award - The Brillion News: (“Brillion boys squad wins first-ever state hoops title” - Andrew Pantzlaff): The story is great. A lot of information was covered and tells a complete story but there is almost too much information for one story.
Local Sports Column Division D First Award - North Shore NOW: (“Balloons and Baseball: Brown Deer’s Shaun Wild honored in touching ceremony” - Steven L. Tietz): Well-written column on a young man sacrificing his life. Multiple perspectives from different people give reader good idea of his character. Second Award - Living Lake Country Reporter, Hartland: (“Sports Scene” - Chuck Delsman): Nice piece on a successful high school athlete turned member of the military. Third Award - Door County Advocate,
Sturgeon Bay: (“A special win for Clippers; Couple has their hearts in officiating; Girls game has changed since 1976” - Jon Gast): Good column in a competitive group earns third. General Comments: A number of wellwritten columns. Shame only three can place. Division E First Award - Ripon Commonwealth Press: (“Wurtz puts the student in student athlete; Team’s growth is quite impressive; Legacy of RC graduate lives on with Tom Brady’s success” - Jonathan Bailey). Great layout and feature quality to the sports coverage. Local athletes, coaches, parents and the community should be proud of this paper’s efforts to cover sports.
General Comments: Difficult to select a top three out of a number of solid entries. The top three just had that something extra to separate them from the rest. Division E First Award - The Waunakee Tribune: (“Quack attack” - Ryan Dostalek): Creative design helps reader want to read story with it. Second Award - Ripon Commonwealth Press: (“Driver interception puts Ripon youth in worldwide spotlight” - Ian Stepleton): Good piece about an NFL player giving back. Not seen very often anymore in today’s society.
Second Award - Living Oconomowoc Focus: (Chris Schuck). Solid, positive, effective coverage of local athletes. Good layout and professional writing.
Third Award - The Oregon Observer: (“The Other Side of the Whistle” - Anthony Iozzo): Nice story on a side of sports seldom reported on. Interesting to see the life of an official on and off the court. General Comments: Good entries all around. Very tough to pick just three.
Third Award - County Post East, New London: (“Full Throttle” - Bert Lehman). Division F First Award - Sauk Prairie Eagle, Sauk City: (Adam Crowson). Solid, consistent writing, thorough sports coverage, great photos and good layout.
Division F First Award - The Brillion News: (“300: Coach Kittel reaches milestone victory mark” - Andrew Pantzlaff): Timely feature of a landmark accomplishment that readership was surely interested in. Best use of quotes and facts. Also kudos on the layout on the front page putting the story over the picture.
Second Award - Voice of Wisconsin Rapids: (“Hectic football weekend, Raiders show judgement should stop at individuals, Rivalries fade during Rafters run” - Jeff Williams). Solid sports reporting.
Second Award - Westby Times: (“The passion for pulling runs deep” - Dorothy Robson): A very interesting story. Even if a reader was not part of the cult following of tractor pulling they would definitely appreciate and read. Well written.
Sports Feature Division D First Award - Dodge County Pionier, Mayville: (“Three times a leader” - Katie Leb): Well-written piece about basketballplaying sisters. Good use of photos, text wrap and graphic information to help the story. Second Award - Germantown-Menomonee Falls NOW: (“Falls’ soccer player Woodson thanks woman who helped her out of China” - Steven L. Tietz): Nice heartwarming story on soccer play adopted from China. Very close second. Third Award - Greenfield-West Allis NOW: (“Course corrections” - JR Radcliffe): Cancer survivors coming back to compete in tough competition are few and far between. Nice piece on one of those athletes.
Third Award - Crawford County Independent & The Kickapoo Scout, Gays Mills: (“Seneca basketball coach started playing on school’s first girls team” - Charley Preusser): A good piece that combines a story of then and now. Quotes are short but good job of working what you had.
Enterprise/Interpretive Reporting Division D First Award - The Chronotype, Rice Lake: (“Frac sand offers economic boom, but there’s a price” - Sam Finazzo, Gene Prigge, Eileen Nimm, Ryan Urban, Peter Davidson): Excellent use of maps and art to illustrate the depth of reporting, pulling readers in, engaging them and informing them seamlessly.