Paper wins at annual awards banquet

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Published on Monday, 11 June 2012 15:26

INDEPENDENT JUDGES AWARD FOUR FIRST-PLACE PRIZES TO DAILY ELK CITIAN

The Daily Elk Citian was recently honored at an awards banquet, snagging several first-place prizes for news articles, advertising promotions and other items published last year.

The Oklahoma Press Association convention and banquet was held in Midwest City on Friday. OPA is a professional organization representing Oklahoma newspapers. Their Better Newspaper Contest recognizes the best the state has to offer.

The Daily Elk Citian placed first in four categories: News content, sales promotion, in-depth enterprise and personal columns.

Out-of-state judges awarded TDEC with five second-place nominations for layout and design, advertising, news writing, feature writing and photography.

The paper's two third-place awards were for editorial submissions and in the community leadership category.

With 11 awards given, the paper strongly competed for the OPA's highest contest honor, the Sequoyah Award, which is given to just one newspaper in each circulation size.

An Oklahoma City-based business and legal newspaper, The Journal Record, won the sweepstakes. The Daily Elk Citian took second place, just a few points behind the eventual winner.

Publisher D.W. Manning said he was proud that the newspaper and its staff was so highly honored by their peers. One award in particular, he said, shows the value of The Daily Elk Citian. 

The first-place award for news content, more than any other category, personifies the paper's effort to bring local, up-to-date and relevant news content in a way that is presented with the reader in mind, he said.

"Out of all the awards that we won in this competition, we are most proud of the award for 'News Content,' he said. "That category looks at the main elements that drive this newspaper, when it's all said and done. The judging criteria for that category are based on such things as an emphasis on staff-written, locally generated news stories. The criteria also require that our coverage be balanced with a good mix of stories in all subject areas, including local government, schools, human interest features and breaking news."

Manning said that the judges also look at how well the paper is organized and how easy it is for readers to find information within the paper.

"So this award, more than any other, speaks to the efforts of our entire staff, from writers and editors to the design team," he said.

TDEC staff sent the submissions off earlier this year. They were judged, along with 937 entries from 98 Oklahoma newspapers, by members of the Nevada Press Association.

The following newspapers in TDEC's circulation group won awards Friday night. They are listed here in their rank toward winning the Sequoyah Award: (1) The Journal Record; (2) The Daily Elk Citian; (3) The Clinton Daily News; (4) The Miami News-Record; (5) Woodward News; (6) Elk City Daily News; (7) Poteau Daily News; (8) Vinita Daily Journal.

"The staff that makes this newspaper happen for Elk City and the surrounding communities every day is outstanding. I would match them against the staff of any newspaper in Oklahoma, and I am very excited to see them receive the recognition they deserve," said Manning. "Obviously, we're always happy to be recognized by our peers, but the best compliment we can receive is for our readers to continue picking up the paper every single day because they depend on us for their news. That's our goal with every paper we publish -- to provide readers and advertisers with the best product possible."