Tribune named best small daily newspaper in Ohio
Published 12:00 am Monday, May 24, 2004
COLUMBUS - The Ironton Tribune was named the best small daily newspaper in Ohio Sunday by the Associated Press Society of Ohio.
The Tribune won the General Excellence award for 2003 along with nine other awards in the Division 1 (small daily) category, consisting of 35 newspapers.
"We are thrilled by the recognition," Tribune publisher and editor Kevin Cooper said. "Winning contests is not the reason our staff works so hard everyday. They do so for our readers, but being recognized by our peers certainly makes us proud."
Managing editor Shawn Doyle was equally impressed.
"This is very humbling," he said. "Our division, by far, had the most newspapers competing. To be recognized as the cream of the crop among 35 newspapers is definitely an honor of which we are extremely proud."
The division with the second most newspapers competing was Division 3, which had 22 newspapers competing. Division 2 had 16,
Division 4 10 and Division 5 - the large newspaper division - had 6.
Entries consisted of several different editions, including some chosen by the contest creators and some chosen by the newspaper.
"This newspaper looks sharp and seems to have a staff that can execute the paper's philosophy of design very well," wrote the judges as they described The Tribune's entry. "… The Ironton Tribune was a standout in this group."
Staff writer Teresa Moore and news editor Michael Caldwell earned second- and third-place honors, respectively, in the Best News Writer category.
Sports editor Jim Walker's work was awarded second place in the Sports Breaking News category.
Cooper won second place in the Best Columnist category and third place in the Best Editorial Writer category.
Former photographer Howie McCormick won third-place and honorable mention awards for his photographs.
"I am extremely proud of our news staff," Doyle said. "Few newspapers took home as many awards as we did. I think this exemplifies something that I have known all along - we have a great staff here at The Tribune.
Awards for Best Page One Layout and Best Special Section were also awarded to The Tribune's staff. Profile 2003 earned the Best Special Section honor.
"I am so proud of our staff for the recognition their work earned," Cooper said. "Although this is a news competition, the award is really shared by our entire staff. Without each of them, working together, we could not produce a quality community newspaper each day."
Other General Excellence award winning newspapers included: The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, The Cincinnati Post, The (Hamilton) Journal News and the Troy Daily News. Journalists from the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times judged the General Excellence entries. Judges from the Daily Messenger in Canandaigua, N.Y., chose the other winners in the small daily division.
Seventy-six daily newspapers submitted 3,451 entries in the contest. The Associated Press is a not-for-profit news cooperative 1,500 newspapers and 5,000 broadcast stations in the United States. Members of AP include 88 daily newspapers in Ohio.
The Winners
COLUMBUS (AP) - A partial list of winners in Division I (newspapers with daily circulation up to 7,999) in Sunday's annual Associated Press Society of Ohio news competition.
€General Excellence: 1, The Ironton Tribune; 2, Coshocton Tribune; 3, Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum.
€Best News Writer: 1, Rick Neale, Port Clinton News Herald; 2, Teresa Moore, The Ironton Tribune 3, Michael Caldwell, The Ironton Tribune; HM, Mike Redelson, Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum.
€Best Editorial Writer: 1, Cynthia L. Jacoby, Port Clinton News Herald; 2, Brenda Burns, Urbana Daily Citizen; 3, Kevin Cooper, The Ironton Tribune.
€Best Columnist: 1, Bob Robinson, Greenville Daily Advocate; 2, Kevin Cooper, The Ironton Tribune; 3, Charma Messer Schifer, Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum; HM, Lisa Gagnon, Greenville Daily Advocate.
€Best Sports Breaking News: 1, J. Kasper Herbstreit, The Xenia Daily Gazette, ''Nazarene retires jersey of fallen athlete''; 2, Jim Walker, The Ironton Tribune, ''White's jump shot lands at UC''; 3, Jim Barstow, Coshocton Tribune, ''CHS's Carter earns top honor''; HM, Steve Stout, Urbana Daily Citizen, ''Tressel pays visit to UU.''
€Best General News Photo: 1, Brad Avery, Wapakoneta Daily News, ''Words and images''; 2, Trevor Jones, Coshocton Tribune, ''Protest''; 3, Patrick Dundr, Marysville Journal-Tribune, ''Fire damages''; HM, Howie McCormick, The Ironton Tribune, ''Evidence.''
€Best Feature Photo: 1, James E. Mahan, Urbana Daily Citizen, ''Bouncing shadows''; 2, Gary Carnes, Piqua Daily Call, ''Butterflies for loved ones''; 3, Howie McCormick, The Ironton Tribune, ''Here it comes''; HM, Patrick Dundr, Marysville Journal-Tribune, ''Ouch!''
€Best Special Section: 1, Staff, Van Wert Times-Bulletin, ''A Day of Destruction A Year of Rebuilding''; 2, Staff, The (St. Marys) Evening Leader, ''Remember When: Military History September 2003''; 3, Staff, The Ironton Tribune, ''Profile 2003''; HM, Darla Pittman & Greta Swarts, Piqua Daily Call, ''Columbia gone but not forgotten.''
€Best Page One Layout: 1, Staff, Coshocton Tribune; 2, Staff, The Ironton Tribune; 3, Gere Goble, Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum; HM, Tom Millhouse, Piqua Daily Call.