2010 Better Newspaper Contest tabloid

The 2010 Better Newspaper & Advertising Contest

Results and judges’ comments INSIDE

Special thanks to Gannett Company, Inc. and The Post Crescent for printing the 2010 BNC results tab.

Table of contents Weekly Editorial.....................................................3 Daily Editoral.......................................................14 Awards listing by newspper...............................23 Weekly Advertising.............................................30 Daily Advertiing..................................................33 Collegiate winners...............................................37

The 2010 Better Newspaper Contest garnered 2,787 total entries.

On the cover:

Congratulations to all winners!

Bottom left photo taken by Dorothy Jasperson-Robson of the Westby Times: First Award, Feature Photo, Group F, Weekly Division.

Branen Scholarship awards high school papers $1,000 William E. Branen, former publisher of the Burlington Standard Press and a past president of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, died in 1988 but his legacy lives on. One way is through an annual scholarship presented by his wife, Nan, through the family foundation.

•The King’s Page, Rufus King High School, Milwaukee: First place, General Excellence Group B (fewer than 500 students).

•The Prowler, Chilton High School, First place, General Excellence Group A In-class activity (more than 500 students).

• The Increscent, Beloit Memorial High School, First place, General Excellence Group A Extra-curricular activity (more than 500 students).

Bottom right photo taken by Corey Wilson of the Green Bay Press-Gazette: First Award, Sports Photo, Group A, Daily Division.

Need duplicate plaques or award certificates?

Initially awarded to a Burlington High School student, the Branen scholarships took a new focus in 1999. Since that time the scholarship has honored each school earning first place for General Excellence in the WNA Foundation High School Better Newspaper Contest.

The William E. Branen Scholarships honoring excellence in high school journalism will be presented to three Wisconsin student newspapers for 2008. School newspapers receiving a $1,000 Branen Scholarship are:

Top right photo taken by Shu-Ling Zhou of the Oshkosh Northwestern: First Award, Spot News Photo, Group B, Daily Division.

Sample front pages from the three high school newspapers winning Branen Scholarships, are, clockwise from top left: The King’s Page, Rufus King High School, Milwaukee; The Prowler, Chilton High School; and The Increscent, Beloit Memorial High School.

Additional plaques and certificates are available for purchase from the WNA Foundation. Plaques are $80 each and certificates are available for $6 each. Tax, postage and handling are included in the price.

Deadline to order is Monday, February 28, 2011. Order forms are available at the convention registration desk or online at www.

WNAnews.com.

Contest Edition

General Excellence Group D First Award - Hudson Star-Observer Very clean layout and writing. Nice use of white space. Attractive front pages. Clean and clear pictures. Attention-grabbing pictures and headlines. Numerous above fold items show something for everyone.

Simple, quick news briefs are easy reads.

Strong classified section.

Second Award - New Richmond News Strong front page using numerous pictures, but some headlines get lost — bumping heads. Clean ads. Great opinion page. Good variety of stories and sections.

Third Award - Vilas County News-Review, Eagle River: Excellent feature photo on front page. Strong location and clear print.

Good use of anchors on pages ­— Inside this Issue, police report, etc. Concise writing.

Group E First Award - Burlington Standard Press White space is handled beautifully. Changing picture around nameplate keeps it fresh. Big bold headlines throughout clearly tell reader what the most important stories. Little League page was unique and a great tribute. Clean copy throughout.

Bylines get a little lost in the layout.

Second Award - Wisconsin Dells Events Attractive flags. Clean layout for calendars, reports, brief items. Pages could use large, dominate photos, especially front page.

Third Award - The Dunn County News, Menomonie: Nice layout throughout.

Great use of rulers to separate stories. Nice action shots on top of front page. Story leads get wordy. Keep short and to the point.

Group F First Award - Sauk Prairie Eagle, Sauk City Attractive overall package. Nice use of break out boxes. Quick, catchy headlines.

Nice packaging of front page stories (hunting). Strong writing, especially on sports pages. Clear photos with a lot of action.

Second Award - DeForest Times-Tribune Great use of refers (windows) at top of page 1. Bold headlines on front page draw reader. Back to school section was very informative. Leads in almost all stories were unique and drew the reader in for more.

Third Award - Jackson County Chronicle, Black River Falls: Strong front page pic-

Editorial: Weekly Division tures are attention-grabbers. Would like to see more art above the fold -- refers (especially at the top).

Special Project OPEN First Award - The Valders Journal (“100th Anniversary” - Brian Thomsen): At first I was thinking this was just going to be another series of stories about the building and some memories, but you have greatly exceeded those expectations. I am amazed at the depth of research that was done for the special section as well as the overall project. Work began way in advance by the looks of it with the story running nearly nine months before the event. I absolutely loved the touch with the Model A story.

Another exceptional piece is the special section. This will be something that town will be able to hold onto forever. The advertising even comes into play keeping with the theme. I congratulate you on a great project. It truly is award-winning and you should be proud.

Second Award - Vilas County News-Review, Eagle River (“AMSOIL World Championship”): It is evident that this event is something everyone looks forward to year round. I am very impressed with the photography for one thing. What fun to photograph snowmobiles. It provides numeous opportunities for great photos and you have definitely captured that. You have done a great job covering this event beginning many weeks in advance with great coverage. I like how you incorporated the past winners, predictions and even editorial about the event. Not knowing anything about the area or event, I feel like I attended after looking through all of your coverage.

Congrats on a nice project. Your hard work paid off as you put together an impressive piece of work.

Third Award - The Star News, Medford (“Wall That Heals”): This event was covered very well by your newspaper. You didn’t miss one element. I can tell this was something very near and dear to the community.

I could also tell the anticipation was great before the actual event. The photo of people lined up to see the wall come to town only clarified that. The section you put together is very nicely done. Mark did a great job with his writing. The timeline piece in the middle is also a great touch. I also like the two-page spread of photos of the coverage. What a great idea for the town, and your newspaper did an excellent job to help them out.

3

Editorial Award

Editorial Page(s)

Group D First Award - River Falls Journal (“Jail Lawsuits indicate lack of leadership,” “Plenty of your money to burn,” “For the athletes, this organization needs to lose its authoritarian grip” - Phil Pfuehler and Journal News Staff): Straight to the point, good facts, no ambiguity. The taxpayers should be proud of their local paper.

Group D First Award - Hudson Star-Observer (Douglas Stohlberg): Good mix of content, with something for everyone and a very strong reader presence. I like the way you label the editorial “Our View.” Suggestions for improvement: Add a shirttail to your columns so readers can identify whether the writer is local or syndicated. Also reconsider placing non-opinion content on those pages. Readers benefit from a clear boundary between opinion and news.

Second Award - The Country Today, Eau Claire (“Last-minute legislative antics unacceptable,” “Big-farm criticisms hurt small-scale farmers too,” “PETA’s attack on 4-H programs goes too far” - Jim Massey): The PETA editorial moved you up a notch.

Superb point about learning about life and death.

Third Award - Lake Geneva Regional News (“Typically Newspapers don’t make news,” “Open Government woes: Magic” - Lisa Seiser): Keep after them. They’d like you to give up and go away, but it seems you realize you’re there to represent the public, not public officials.

Second Award - The Star News, Medford (Opinion January 7, Opinion May 27, Opinion August 19 - Brian Wilson): Strong editorials and columns, lots of local content, good reader participation.

Third Award - Vilas County News-Review, Eagle River: Plenty of content. I like the publisher’s roundup.

Group E First Award - The Ripon Commonwealth Press (“School Board admits defeat in attempts to nurture strong minds with fit bodies,” “Chew on this: Little things matter …,” “Redirect U.S. dollars to security needs,” - Tim Lyke): Taking driver’s ed from a computer. Priceless. Good mix of sarcasm and good sense. Well-written.

Second Award - The Tribune-Phonograph, Abbotsford (“Mascots,” “Ill-prepared,” “Costly mistakes” - Kevin O’Brien , Ben Schultz).

Third Award - The Record-Review, Edgar (“Can you cut your raise and have it too?”

- Peter Weinschenk): Sometimes the best (and easiest) way to skewer errant public officials is to simply do the math for them.

And so you did.

Group F First Award - Jackson County Chronicle, Black River Falls (“Editorial: BRF School District trying to supress freedom of speech” - Matthew Perenchio): I particularly liked the “public apathy” column. I went to a public meeting about Forest Service plans, and there were six government officials and me at the meeting. Good luck firing ‘em up.

The Hudson Star-Observer, First Award, Group D, General Excellence.

4 Group E First Award - The Dunn County News, Menomonie (“The Importance of being connected,” “Wanted: Police Chief ” - Barbara Lyon): Good mix of content. I like the Web-comments feature.

Second Award - The Richland Observer, Richland Center (Ryan Billingham): Goodlooking page, with varied content. I would like to have seen a staff editorial.

Third Award - Lake Mills Leader (Randy Radtke): Good content. Suggestion for improvement: Don’t devote such valuable space to the USPS box. Feature a “letter of the week” or other content there.

Group F First Award - Sauk Prairie Eagle, Sauk City, Sauk City (Heidi Breunig): Nice looking page with good local and broader content.

I’d like to see a staff editorial.

Second Award - Sauk Prairie Eagle, Sauk City (Heidi Breunig).

Special Section Editorial Group D First Award - The Star, Sun Prairie Staff (“A new beginning”): Great work by the staff on what obviously is a one-time special edition. Interesting stories accompanied by good photos. Nice layout and great support from advertisers. A winner all around.

Second Award - Hudson Star-Observer (“Daybreak Rotary Club,” - Douglas Stohlberg): A sharply focused effort recognizing an important community organization.

Interesting articles and sidebars; nice layout and reproduction work. The Rotary Club had to be pleased.

Third Award - Vilas County News-Review, Eagle River (“Action Tracks”): Attractive, well written and nicely layed out. No doubt a useful tool to winter visitors as well as residents. A traditional topic for special editions to be sure, but very well done.

General Comments: Lots of interesting topics and all well done. It was a tough choice!

Group E First Award - Republican Journal, Darlington (“Honoring LaFayette County’s

Editorial: Weekly Division Cheese Industry”): A winner all around!

Staff obviously put in lots of effort to honor what’s clearly an important local industry.

Ms. Dickerson captured great photos to accompany her text which not only shows her understanding of the topic but which is well written and puts snappy angles on what could be mundane. Good layout, well designed ads and good support from your advertisers. Well done, well focused and no doubt a popular edition for your readers.

Ms. Dickerson deserves a raise!

Second Award - Grant County Herald Independent, Lancaster (“She - Women of Southwest Wisconsin”): Though special editions about women in a community can be common, this one stands out for the interesting topics, good use of photos and pleasing layout and headlines. The cover is nicely done and draws the reader in. Good job by the ad dept. in sales and design.

Obviously one of those editions that people hang on to!

Third Award - Burlington Standard Press Staff (“Our Town Burlington”): An excellent reflection of your community. Good job by writers, photographers, ad and layout staff in creating a piece surely popular with readers.

General Comments: Excellent entries from all.

Group F First Award - Westby Times (“Westby Syttende Mai” - Dorothy Jasperson-Robson): An edition that clearly has lots of support among advertisers and must appeal to readers. Staff has clearly put in extra effort, and the combination of attractive photos, interesting stories and complementary ads make it a winner. It makes me want to come to next year’s festival! Good job all around.

Second Award - Jackson County Chronicle, Black River Falls (“Fair Preview”): Good job by the staff in featuring the many aspects of your county fair. Nice job with layout and photo use, though the page 1 reproduction was just a tad weak. Nonetheless, it’s an edition that’s obviously a keeper among your hometown kids and fair participants. Good support from advertisers demonstrates your importance to your community!

Third Award - County Line, Ontario (“Dairy Breakfast 2010” - Karen Parker): Nice job in bringing together history and current topical stories about an important area industry. Nice layout and cover shot.

Support from advertisers obviously makes

Contest Edition

General Comments: All three winners did an excellent job of what smalltown papers are expected to do: Highlight the important good work of local residents and of the fairs and festivals that are so meaningful. Good job all around.

Second Award - Muskego-New Berlin NOW (“Tornado leaves stamp on Muskego” - Jane Ford): The only reason this was chosen for second place is another paper “flooded the zone” with a variety of coverage of the storm in their area. Still, for a weekly and one reporter on deadline, this work stands out.

Freedom of Information Award

Third Award - Oconomowoc Enterprise (“Murder suspect escapes during prisoner transport” - Jeff Rumage): Good job covering a breaking local story when the “news” was taking place states away.

it a nice addition to your regular publication.

OPEN First Award -The Lakeland Times, Minocqua (“Times denied copies if emails from county employee’s computer” - Joe VanDeLaarschot): The Lakeland Times could teach much larger newspapers a thing or two about aggressive government reporting. The paper served its community well by digging aggressively for information on government. Of course, a sex scandal is always a nice touch, too.

Second Award - Juneau County Star-Times, Mauston (“Haske hearing’s hefty price tag,” “Final bill in Haske dispute could top $200k,” “Newspaper sues county for records,” “County denies records request” - Peter Rebhahn): The Star-Times provided detailed coverage of hefty payments to a suspended sheriff ’s deputy, and went to court to force government records into the sunlight.

Third Award - Lake Geneva Regional News (“Open Records”): The Regional News went to court to gain access to an alderwoman’s emails about controversial local development proposals. The nation would be better off if more newspapers showed the commitment of the Regional News.

General Comments: Great efforts by weekly newspapers in Wisconsin to uphold important open government principles.

Breaking News Coverage Group D First Award - Living Mukwonago Chief (“Eagle Tornado” - Debi Eimer, Amy Nixon, Carol Spaeth- Bauer, Jim Stevens, Erin Lamb , Jill Rick , Donna Frake, Scott Peterson): Awesome coverage. The entire staff of the newspaper really pulled together to bring a variety of angles of stories and information to the reader in the day(s) after the storm. Hiring a plane Tuesday morning was a great idea. Everyone should be proud.

Group E First Award - Burlington Standard Press (“Black Monday” - Jennifer Eisenbart): Good lead to main story, noting the log book entry. Always a hard type of story to cover in a small community. You did well and should be proud of your effort.

Second Award - The Ripon Commonwealth Press (“Scout’s death stuns Green Lake,” “Student’s fall was ‘almost identical’ to mid90s death at same location” - Aaron Becker): Nice angle with the previous accident. Always tough stories to cover. Done well.

Third Award - Lake Mills Leader (Fire Destroys...” - Randy Radtke): Truly a good example of catching a breaking story and getting it into that week’s paper. Only reason this was given third rather than first or second was because of the “human factor” involved in the other two winning stories.

They had more time, but had to navigate that circumstance. Still, great job getting this on the front page the day it happened.

Group F First Award - Reedsburg Times-Press (“Search Ends” - Ken Leiviska): Good straight-forward reporting on deadline.

Second Award - De Pere Journal (“Longing for home” - Todd McMahon): Good local angle to a international story. Loved the lead.

Third Award - Lodi Enterprise (“Lodi soldier survives Fort Hood” - Jennifer Fetterly): Good local reporting on a national story.

Contest Edition

Local Column Group D First Award - New Richmond News (“Stay and Play” - Julia Ybarra-Young): I liked how she wrote on creative things that you could do or activities that can be done with friends and family and was detailed very well.

Second Award - Door County Advocate, Sturgeon Bay (“Mixed Feelings; Online Political” - Peter J Devlin): This column I liked a lot because it was good reading, had good imagery and readers can relate to what he is saying.

Third Award - Door County Advocate, Sturgeon Bay (“Time really does fly by,” “Return of Cancer” - Heidi Hodges): Her columns were good because when I read it I felt like she was talking to the reader as a friend that made it more interesting to read.

Group E First Award - Middleton Times-Tribune (“The Geiger Counter” - Matt Geiger): I really liked the sense of humor along with his own personal experiences that towards the end of the story relate to a serious topic that was occurring at the time plus the imagery used.

Second Award - The Valders Journal (“What the Parrot Saw” - Gregg Novachek): I enjoyed his short stories about the trips he went on. I also enjoyed his talks about the outdoors along with great family fun and memorable moments that he describes in great detail.

Third Award - The Valders Journal (“How Bout it” - Mary Thomsen): Had great columns that mainly related to her and her family. They would remind you of your own family experiences, which just pulls you in to read more of it.

Group F First Award - Jackson County Chronicle, Black River Falls (“From Small Town Roots” - Cassandra Colson): The topics were interesting and they were things that you can relate to.

Second Award - The Brillion News (“Making sense of a child’s death isn’t easy,” “Police deserve praise for work in homicide case,” “New bridge should mirror village’s concept” - Ed Byrne).

Editorial: Weekly Division Third Award - Jackson County Chronicle, Black River Falls (“Feeling out Loud “ - Diane Skoug): This writer had good material that kept my attention and was pleasant reading.

Local Outdoor Column OPEN First Award - The Chronotype, Rice Lake (“Taking the hills by trail,” “Like so many summer fields,” “Hunting the shrinking land” - Dave Greschner): The diversity of writing in these columns was impressive and creative. Dave Greschner obviously knows what he is writing about and takes time to make his work interesting and relatable for readers. I especially liked the “Like so many summer fields” column.

Second Award - The Dunn County News, Menomonie (“Scatology,” “Who Are We?” “Appearing now: The Great Squirrelini” - Kenton Whitman, Rebecca Whitman): Good column topics and creative. The “Scatology” column was especially interesting and disturbing. Thanks for making my morning coffee less mundane.

Third Award - The Sun, Osceola (“A big tom turkey run-and-gun” - Jim Bennett): I enjoyed the casual tone in this column and the writer’s ability to make turkey hunting something even the most novice hunter could understand.

Sports Page(s) Group D First Award - Living Lake Country Reporter, Hartland (“Lake Country Sports” - Sports Staff): Layout and pictures are excellent!

Second Award - County Post West, Waupaca (Greg Seubert): Local coverage is excellent, goes deeper than just a typical sports story.

Third Award - Dodge County Pionier, Mayville (Dawn Krueger): Cross Country Coverage A+. Full page celebrations are great!

Group E First Award - Middleton Times-Tribune (“Area sports” - Rob Reischel): Great job on bringing out the human element. The color photos bring life to pages.

Second Award - The Valders Journal (Brian Thomsen): Local coverage is excellent and strong.

Third Award - Lake Mills Leader (Nate Burrow): All sports get equal coverage. Great writing.

Group F First Award - Jackson County Chronicle, Black River Falls: The layout of the section flows great. Easy reading.

Second Award - Sauk Prairie Eagle, Sauk City: The commentary is a nice addition.

Lots of stats provide quick facts.

Third Award - The Cambridge News (Nate Burrow): Well researched articles. Clear, clean writing.

Sports News Story Group D First Award - Germantown-Menomonee Falls NOW (“Back-to-back-to-back State Champion” - Steven Tietz): Comments: Couldn’t help notice the wrestling photos before reading, then a lead about boys basketball? What’s going on here? Oh, a comparison, and a nice way to get into the guts of the story of a playoff, as it turned out. Nice use of subheads to keep the story in portions a reader can handle instead of long, gray paragraphs that never seem to end with some stories.

Second Award - Vernon County Broadcaster, Viroqua (“McCann pole vaults to state championship” - Jennifer Wieman): Nice lead, but some details were missed later in the story. McCann used a pole rated for 160 pounds. How much did he weigh? Also, stating he broke his own record, you didn’t have to report in the next paragraph that the old record was held by McCann.

Third Award - County Post West, Waupaca (“Comets to dominate” - Greg Seubert): Good story, but in using quotes split them up a little. Perner broke a big play, then was held back the rest of the game. State that, then use another supporting quote.

Group E First Award - The Valders Journal (“Golden dreams end with Gold” - Brian Thomsen): Very good story. Lots of times, much of the drama about wrestling takes place off the mat. Lots of imagry of Figueroa getting silver instead of gold. Good transition in story about mentioning a move made in both the final and semifinal to report on what happened leading up to the ultimate match.

A story well worth putting into Figueroa’s scrap book.

5 Second Award - The Platteville Journal, Platteville (“Football alive and Well” - Jason Nihles): Story gave me a real sense of where the team had been, its chances of being successful, and being successful all in the first few paragraphs! Attention to details, however squad was misspelled in the fifth paragraph. (Weittenhiller is a much more difficult word to keep spelling). Nevertheless, a good sports news story with a lot of feature material.

Third Award - Living Oconomowoc Focus (“The Old Ballgame” - J.R. Radcliffe): Not your typical sports feature. Athletes advanced in age still competing at a high level.

Nice tie-in with the television commercial that acknowledges the team and now the TV ad came to be. You mention there’s still fire in competitiveness going on, and an example of that would have provided some action for this story. Then there could’ve been a comparison to how active other 75-year-olds are not. And one question: Will the Raleigh tournament title ever be decided? And is there time enough in these guys lives to play the championship game that never was?

Group F First Award - Living Kettle Moraine Index, Dousman (“Lake Country’s Hot Shot” Chris Schuck): A darn good lead, and a good way to report on her effort by letting her coach and a teammate speak first. Two problems, though: 1) who held the old record and what was it? Where’s the proof?

Ahh, the graphic, provides the proof. Still, it should be mentioned in the story. 2) Spellcheck would’ve let this pass, but rereading or having a second set of eyes go over the story before it prints is suggested.

Fourth paragraph: “Emily would rather score 2 points then 44 if...” It should be than rather than then (as it’s used right here in this comment). Nevertheless, a strong feature story probably went straight in her scrapbook.

Second Award - Sauk Prairie Eagle, Sauk City (“Eagle Savor” - Dan Larson): Fiveparagraph lead up to get the score, then I thought that was the end of the story.

Oh yes, the story continued and it was good. I got into the rhythm of reading the story, until stumbling over rhythm being misspelled. Later in the story, splitting a sentence to insert a long quote just doesn’t work. If you split a sentence to mention something, make it few words; not 17.

Cool story about the coach’s dad coming to watch. It’s always a father’s hope that his son exceeds his own accomplishments.

6 And another good story about community support. The writer did a lot of covering the event besides sitting at the media table.

A pretty remarkable feat to reach the state semis after starting the season 4-5. A nice package, and nice to have that much coverage.

Third Award - Jackson County Chronicle, Black River Falls (“Brawn and Body” - Cassandra Colson): Wordy lead wasn’t easy to read. Maybe this way: “Warren Rosin, former head football coach at Black River Falls, isn’t surprised one of his former players is now making a name for himself in bodybuilding. After all, Darren Hagg, now 34, always had...”Still, it kept me reading and finishing a good story. Made me want to get out there and pump some iron! Also, taking Haag’s quote about not taking more than week off in 18 years could’ve been used earlier in the story to support Rosin’s quote, “He started lifting casually and it just continued, and it paid off with Haag winning a championship.” A long story should have subheads break up the copy to make it easier for your reader to continue reading.

Good instinct to get another point of view from someone other than Haag mentors.

But I didn’t understand the hesitation in Finch’s quote about Haag being “the most knowledgeable.”

Local Sports Column OPEN First Award - The Ripon Commonwealth Press (“Ripon athletes show heart in all-star upset,” “The right two is better than the wrong one for RHS football team,” “Inclement weather may have benefitted young team” - Wes Lungwitz): Clear writing and interesting stories combine to make for good reading! An excellent entry.

Second Award - Superior Telegram (“Grizzly’s gala takes on hunger,” “Beth LeQue named area Sportswoman of the Year,” “Happy 4th Birthday Rita Ronchi” - Don Leighton): Excellent profile of an athlete who had a disability and kept going. This writer goes beyond the usual sports cliches to find other aspects of sports that make these columns interesting to other readers.

Third Award - Burlington Standard Press (“From out in right field” - Jennifer Eisenbart): Good writing. Excellent column on a bureaucratic bungle ending the season for the softball team. Would have been nice to talk to a player, but that’s not always possible on deadline.

Editorial: Weekly Division General Comments: Some “columns” really should have been submitted as sports stories - they were blow-by-blow descriptions of the games. Of the columns actually submitted, most were very good, and the place winners stood out for their writing and subject matter.

Sports Feature Group D First Award - The Country Today, Eau Claire (“Vintage baseball game at a farm allows young, old to relive sports history and ... Swing for the fences” - Heidi Clausen): Well done - an enjoyable read.

Second Award - River Falls Journal (“From Olympian to stay at home mom” - Bob Burrows): Good personal story, got to know the subject intimately Third Award - The Star, Sun Prairie (“Jimmys Ancestral Home?” - Karl Raymond): I like humor.

Group E First Award - The Platteville Journal (“A Blast From the Past” - Jason Nihles): Great subject, well-executed.

Second Award - Freedom Pursuit, Freedom (“New Irish logo finally replaces banned leprechaun” - Angie Griepentrog): Good background info to make the story relevant and current.

Third Award - Grant County Herald Independent, Lancaster (“One Fan’s Dying Wish: Brinkman finds joy following team while battling deadly diagnosis” - A.J. Gates): Very touching, well done.

Group F First Award - Westby Times (“Snowflake” Dorothy Jasperson-Robson): Insane. Love it.

Second Award - Sauk Prairie Eagle, Sauk City (“Grueling side job” - Dan Larson): Inspiring story, well-written.

Third Award - De Pere Journal (“Coaching legacy to a ‘T’” - Todd McMahon): Good personal interest story on a man who obviously means a lot to his community.

Enterprise/Interpretive Reporting Group D

Contest Edition

First Award - GermantownMenomonee Falls NOW (“Growing Pains” - Katie Klein): An excellent look at how a school board’s decision to move 9th graders to the high school has affected a school’s psyche. Solid reporting and writing was aided by an excellent online component and graphics. Nice detail, statistics and students’ comments.

Second Award - BrookfieldElm Grove NOW (“On the Endangered List?” - Isral DeBruin, Julie Ann Marra): Nice online and interactive components; illustration and graphics. The story shined a light on the growing problem as the town grows.

Third Award - Living Mukwonago Chief (“Behind the mask/Depression and learning/One Mom speaks The Country Today, Eau Claire; First Award, out on suicide/Feeling overGroup D, Sports Feature whlemed?” - Amy Nixon): A sad story filled with excellent breakouts, places to go for these days but the writer found an unusual help and warning signs. An excellent public angle that brought the cuts home. Nicely service with strong writing and heartbreak- done. ing stories.

General Comments: It was tough to choose the top three entries from a fairly strong field. The top three could have all easily finished first.

Group E First Award - The Ripon Commonwealth Press (“City obtains more assurances …,” “Boca Grande FAQ,” “City may start lending …,” “Agreement with Boca …,” “So, what’s in the agreement?” “City reveals developers …,” “City, Boca sign …,” “City releases agreement …,” “One-third of dollars ...” - Ian Stepleton): Tough decision to choose the first place winner from among the top three. This entry stands out because of the continuing coverage and the depth of information enhanced by strong FAQs that answer the most pressing community questions. This is an excellent example of public service by the newspaper.

Second Award - Burlington Standard Press (“Challenges or Opportunities?” - Ed Nadolski, Jennifer Eisenbart): This entry stands out because of the quality of the writing.

School budget cut stories are commonplace

Third Award - The Verona Press (“Outside influences” - Jim Ferolie): Interesting look at a dilemma facing a town as it grows. The story included good details about which administrators live where and the impact it has on the community.

Group F First Award - Jackson County Chronicle, Black River Falls (“Llama Mafia” - Matthew Perenchio, Cassandra Colson): An ambitious project for a small weekly paper. The third part of the interview with the founding member of Llama Mafia would have made a stronger first part for the series.

But otherwise, a very strong, well-written package.

Business Coverage OPEN First Award - The Valders Journal (“Farm Work Suits many Immigrant’s” - Todd Bergmann): Excellent story choice. During the country’s ethical battle over the ethics of immigration this year, few bothered to talk

Contest Edition to immigrants about their lives in America.

Good research - the hard numbers about how many farms rely on migrant workers provides perspective about our changing nation, whether in the metropolis of Los Angeles or quiet small towns that are the fiber of America. Nice work.

Second Award - The Waunakee Tribune (“Teachers, Students” - Roberta Baumann): Good range of timely news coverage and local impact. The newspaper seems to truly have its finger on the pulse of the community.

Feature Group D First Award - Lake Geneva Regional News (“Making a delivery” - Lisa Seiser): Writer used good visual images with details and brought the reader quickly into the story.

Action was well-described: “held the mail in his mouth, swung his other leg off the boat ...” Nice beginning and finish. A good feature.

Second Award - Kewaunee County News, Algoma (“History Lessons” - Leigh Ann Wagner Kroening ): Writer captured the human element very well. Good material to work with here, and the writer didn’t disappoint. Easily readable all the way through.

Third Award - Door County Advocate, Sturgeon Bay (Series about Adoption Pamela Parks): This one gets third for the effort involved in this series about adoption. Lots of good information here, lots of work involved. Nicely done.

General Comments: There were so many entries. Apologies to those who deserve some credit. A few honorable mentions: Julia Ybarra-Young at New Richmond News, Margaret Ontl at Hudson Star-Observer, Country Today story about porcupines and River Falls Journal story about Woodstock (try to get into the meat of the story a little sooner).

Editorial: Weekly Division students’ challenge into focus.

Third Award - The Ripon Commonwealth Press (“When life gives you lemons ... Sell more lemonade!” - Tim Lyke): A short but fun read (take note, other contestants).

Good lead with a nice ending that made me chuckle.

General Comments: Some good entries.

Judge wishes some writers would try to start with a bang instead of leaving good material toward middle or end. And try using more than one source. Others that deserve mention are The Sun’s “Commute Across St. Croix,” and Platteville Journal’s excellent story on the Holocaust survivor.

Group F First Award - Jackson County Chronicle, Black River Falls (“Missing In Action, Remembered at Home” - Cassandra Colson): From “the tapping of a typewriter’s keys” to the end, this story kept the reader interested. Nice job mixing past and present. A good story, well told.

Second Award - The Fennimore Times (“Standing among Vietnam Vets” - Matt Johnson): Nice job bringing out the details of the horrors of Vietnam, showing how the soldier survived the war and got something positive out of the gathering in Green Bay. A little long, and a bit choppy in places, but a good read.

Third Award - Lodi Enterprise (“Through the darkness” - Rachelle Blair): A good story with nice details. Local boy makes good and returns home. Gotta like that.

Well done.

General Comments: Some of the stories seemed a bit long, and took awhile to get rolling and get the reader involved. Overall, good efforts.

Lifestyle Page(s)

Group E First Award - The Ripon Commonwealth Press (“I can make a difference with his voice” - Ian Stepleton): Nicely done. You captured Shawn’s story well. Very impactful. I think this story can make a difference.

Pretty clear winner in this category.

OPEN First Award - Burlington Standard Press: The graphics and photos spoke to me, even the one posed picture I saw. The writing is quick, clean and clear. The inside offered tons of information, but in a reader friendly format that made finding information easy.

Nice job at looking and sounding great.

Second Award - Burnett County Sentinel, Grantsburg (“‘A taste of real life’” - Todd Beckmann): A potentially dry subject made interesting. The writer quickly brought the

Second Award - The Dunn County News, Menomonie (“Close at Heart,” “Everything by the Book,” “Haiti in Local Headlines,” - Deb Anderson): Good job of bringing

national, state and life issues home to your readers and giving many angles on each of the issues. Writing clarity is good, but could use minor editing. Clean layout throughout.

7 interesting stories on a broad range of subjects. It’s nice to see such a great body of work being produced by a diverse group of hard-working journalists.

All-Around Newspaper Photography

Third Award - Living Lake Country Reporter, Hartland (“Life & Leisure”): A small but mighty fine newspaper. It’s great to see a community newspaper focus on its youth; they’re our future readers. The writing is clear and lively, but watch cliches like “under his belt.” There are a great variety of viewpoints in your stories. I love the “Meet Your Neighbor” idea. I may steal it.

Group D First Award - Vilas County News-Review, Eagle River: Vilas County stood out with the number of pics, size and quality. The good use of pictures really grabs the reader.

General Comments: This was great working online. Wisconsin puts out some good newspapers. It was not easy getting it down to three.

Second Award - Kewaunee County News, Algoma (Tina Gohr): Kewaunee had good, clean looking pages with nice photos. An easy choice for second.

Environmental Reporting

Third Award - Hudson Star-Observer: It was a tough choice between the Hudson Star and the News Graphic. The sheer number of pictures on the inside pages finally swayed the judges to choose Hudson.

OPEN First Award - Door County Advocate, Sturgeon Bay (“The Air we Breathe” - Leigh Ann Wagner Kroening, Samantha Hernandez): This series has a great focus on a very specific environmental issue, exploring the history, finances and geographic factors in play. The reporting is comprehensive and the writing is done so that the reader is not inundated with jargon or scientific minute.

Second Award - Grant County Herald Independent, Lancaster (“Jury awards $5M in stray voltage case,” “Individuals react to stray voltage case” - David Timmerman): The reporter found the narrative and avoided the temptation to merely do a transcriptive retelling of the proceedings. The stories put the case into context, showed the human face of it, while exploring its broader significance.

Third Award - County Post West, Waupaca (“Debates Nuclear Power” - Robert Cloud): Interesting recounting of historical events with some nice storytelling, but could have included more current reporting and the nut graf - “why we care” - is buried in the fifth to last graf of the first story. The second article sheds more light on why we care. In all, the articles offer an important public service and further the debate on an issue with the potential to have a significant impact on residents’ lives.

General Comments: I had a tough time narrowing it down as there were a lot of

General Comments: Overall a lot to choose from and a good category to judge.

Group E First Award - The Ripon Commonwealth Press: The extra wide size made it easier to run pics larger and Ripon took good advantage of this. Front sections had especially good use of pics.

Second Award - The Waunakee Tribune (Roger Hamilton): Nice use of mini-layouts with a lot of pictures. Person doing layouts had a good sense of which pictures could be run smaller and cropped tight and what needed to run larger.

Third Award - The Valders Journal (Brian Thomsen): Tab size papers sometimes run pics extra small, but Valders did a good job with the sizing and use of their pics.

Group F First Award - Jackson County Chronicle, Black River Falls: The judges liked the cranberry layout and the good use of pictures on the sports pages. All the front sections worked well with the picture usage.

Second Award - Sauk Prairie Eagle, Sauk City: The above the banner photos were better than most papers and the rest of the picture usage made it a tough choice between first and second. The final choice boiled down to too many grip and grins on the inside pages.

8 Third Award - Westby Times (Dorothy Jasperson Robson): Too many cookie-cut pictures and montages giving the overall picture usage an old fashioned look.

General News Photo Group D First Award - Germantown-Menomonee Falls NOW (“The Walls Came Tumbling Down” - C.T. Kruger): This is a photo about the beauty that can be claimed from chaos and destruction. The clean, stark, dramatic lines and colors are the key to its success, as is the perfect placement of the worker at the lower left-hand corner of the frame.

Second Award - Kewaunee County News, Algoma (“Marks sentenced” - Tina Gohr): Here is a man who is absorbed by his shame. The simplicity of the frame adds to its power. Nice choice to shoot the subject in profile. The clean lines and expansive, uncluttered foreground and background offer room for the viewer to take in the full emotional impact of the image. The repeating diagonal lines of the microphone stands leaning in toward the subject add an element of visual interest and drama. It is as if the microphones themselves become accusatory characters.

Third Award - Vilas County News-Review, Eagle River (“Fun at the Fair” - Gary Ridderbusch): A moment of pure glee caught within the whirlwind of life. Great colors and composition. All three subjects have

Editorial: Weekly Division such lively expressions on their faces.

This photo has a light-hearted quality and demonstrates considerable skill on the part of the photographer to capture the shot in sharp focus as the subjects whirled by.

of joy that is timeless. In spite of everything else that is happening in the frame, my eye goes straight to the uninhibitedly gleeful expression on the boy’s face in the top right corner.

General Comments: There were many outstanding photos in this contest that were deserving of a prize. I eliminated some because they would have been more appropriate to enter in the sports photo or feature photo category. For the winners, I chose the images that not only demonstrated excellent photography skill, but also told the most compelling stories.

General Comments: It was tough to decide; there were a lot of great candidates in this field! There were two outstanding sports photos which I felt were simply entered in the wrong category. Honorable mentions go to “Homeward Bound” (just wish I could have seen the soldier’s face) and “High Voltage”; I love the bad-ass attitude on the guy’s face and the strong, dramatic subject matter and composition. There was a very sweet quality to “Santa?” - I loved the way Santa’s arm and hand sort of scooped around the baby’s bottom.

Group E First Award - County Post East, Waupaca (“Ready, aim, fire” - Tim Beimal): A brilliantly composed action photo charged with color and humor.

Second Award - The Dunn County News, Menomonie (“Saddles of Sorrows” - Brett Hart): This photo is poetic. Its cropping is what makes it work, drawing the eye to the photo of the deceased woman at the center. The powerfully muscled bodies of the horses in the background and their muzzles with wide-open nostrils appear to be holding back for just a moment, so that we can take in what has been lost before they charge forward, since life can and must go on.

Third Award - The Valders Journal (Brian Thomsen): Composition, action and emotion come together to make this an outstanding and delightful photo, with a sense

Germantown-Menomonee Falls NOW, First Award, Group D, General News Photo.

Group F First Award - Jackson County Chronicle, Black River Falls (“Pucker UP” - Matthew Perenchio): I love this photo for its humor and the priceless expressions on both the pig’s and the woman’s face. It also has strong compositional elements with the repeating “V” motif. I probably would have cropped below the woman’s elbow (if it was included in the original frame) to make this motif even stronger. Kudos to the photographer for being in just the right place at just the right time.

Second Award - Jackson County Chronicle, Black River Falls (“Splash Splash” - Cassandra Colson): Beautiful colors and subject matter, strong composition and a sense of delightful freshness make this photo really stand out. Sometimes it’s hard to catch a child in a moment like this without it seeming posed or contrived. I like how the photographer has gotten right down on the child’s level and photographed the entire length of her body, framed against that lovely light blue color of the water behind her. In reading the contest guidelines, this photo probably would have been more appropriate to enter in the feature photo category, though.

Third Award - Sauk Prairie Eagle, Sauk City (“Fire on the river draws thousands” - Todd Krysiak): This photo has a dreamy quality that draws you in. Having the silhouetted couple in the foreground adds an element of story-telling to what would otherwise be just another pretty fireworks photo. It’s as if we’re seeing the view through their eyes. I also enjoy the sense of depth in the photo, with all that is going on in the foreground, background and up above. Would have liked it even better if the foreground hadn’t

Contest Edition been cluttered with parts of other people (better cropping could have solved this), and the tree branch that intrudes above.

General Comments: Honorable mention to “Hog Wild.” Nice shot! I thought it was interesting that two photos in which pigs are the subject matter rose to the top of the crop.

Spot News Photo Group D First Award - New Richmond News (“Fire” - Jeff Holmquist): The proximity of the photographer to the action makes this image worthy of recognition. A fresh look at spot news is necessary to elevate an image above the rest, especially in regards to a commonplace incident like a fire. The leading line created by the use of the hose and water stream in the photograph draw a viewer to the small patch of flames and smoke in the background.

Second Award - Vernon County Broadcaster, Viroqua (“Posture of defendent” Matt Johnson): The posture of the defendant grabs a viewer’s attention right away.

Though, at first I thought this image to be a bit misleading, upon further consideration, the image does tell the story accurately.

The explanatory cutline is commendable because it gives readers a fair understanding of the situation. The wooden partition that intrudes on the lower part of the image is a detracting element.

Third Award - County Post East, Waupaca (“Storm Rips New London” - John Faucher): We’ve all seen cars crushed by fallen trees before, but the vibrant colors of the vehicles in the image make this photograph eye-grabbing.

Group E First Award - The Tribune-Phonograph, Abbotsford (“Tragedy in Mayville” - Ben Schultz): While not much care was taken in composing this photograph, the elements combine to show the severity of the fire.

The decision to split the image in two, and to show the barn, flames and smoke equally was a good one. The brown square with the X painted inside it on the side of the barn solidly anchors the image by providing a strong center point for the eye. The image is well balanced by the tree on the right side and the two figures on the left. The size of the fire is explained well by the two figures who stand different distances from the blaze.

Contest Edition

Editorial: Weekly Division

Second Award - The Waunakee Tribune (“18-month-old locked in vehicle” - Roger Hamilton): A soft look at hard news. An infant locked in a vehicle is no joke, but this photograph manages to juxtapose the seriousness of the situation (represented by the rescue worker with his iron tool) with the elation of the outcome in which the community can revel. The photographer should be commended for his chosen proximity to the subjects and his excellent job using the reflection to his advantage.

Vanessa Lenz): Captured the emotion of the situation and the quality is great.

Third Award - Jackson County Chronicle, Black River Falls (“Kids and Kernels” - Scott Carey): The color is bright, captivatingg and drew interest.

General Comments: Tough category, all good entries!

Photo Essay

Third Award - Living Sussex Sun (“Still falling” - Scott Ash): A nice look at a spot news event and an accurate way to tell the story. While the storm could look and sound devastating, the photographer put it in perspective by showing people enjoying the rainfall. The distance from the subjects allows a viewer to appreciate the magnitude of the pond that was formed.

Group F First Award - Campbellsport News (“Cherry Street Fire” - Andrea Hansen Abler): The photographer provided a nice perspective on this house fire. Far enough away to appreciate the entire scene and understand immediately the story. The flames bursting out of one window of the home make this image interesting.

Second Award - Clintonville Chronicle (“Suspicious Fire” - Greg Rose): The aspects of this photo I most appreciate are the attention to showing the entire scene and the inclusion of the firefighters in the foreground to give viewers a sense of the size of the blaze.

Sports Photo Group D First Award - County Post West, Waupaca (“One on One” - Greg Seubert): When laying all the photos out that photo just stood out. Even though it was a practice and those are a little easier to get, it still stood out as a good photo. Nice job!

Second Award - County Post East, Waupaca (“He did It” - John Faucher).

Third Award - Door County Advocate, Sturgeon Bay (“Nearly pinned” - Christine Nesheim ): Very good photo, and wrestling is a tough sport to photograph. It just stood out. I liked how it captures the emotion and struggle involved in wrestling.

9

Group D First Award - Vilas County News-Review, Eagle River (“Wild Show” - Kurt L. Krueger): Absolutely stunning photography, and we’re suckers for animals!

Nice print quality; the simple and clean layout attracts the eye. This was a tough category, but it caught our eye again and again.

The Tribune-Phonorgraph, Abbotsford; First Award, Group E, Spot News Photo.

Group E First Award - The Dunn County News, Menomonie (“Shining Light” - Brett Hart).

ity, color and angle are awesome. Way to capture the summer fun.

Second Award - Grant County Herald Independent, Lancaster (“Potosi pitcher Rockie Reuter delivers a strike” - A.J. Gates).

Second Award - Vilas County NewsReview, Eagle River (“No Escape” - Kurt L. Krueger): Beautiful, just at the right moment.

Third Award - The Tribune-Phonograph, Abbotsford (“A record in the vault” - Ben Schultz).

Third Award - The Chronotype, Rice Lake (“A migrating robin picks mountain ash berries” - Dave Greschner).

Group F First Award - County Line, Ontario (“Leap Forward” - Nathan Beier): Great shot.

Excellent job of capturing the sand and his facial reaction.

Group E First Award - The Record-Review, Edgar (“Early one morning” - Kristen Marie Winter): Great quality along with color and angle make this a standout.

Second Award - Crawford County Independent & The Kickapoo Scout, Gays Mills (“Riding the bull to victory” - Charley Preusser): Good, crisp and clear action shot.

Second Award - The Ripon Commonwealth Press (“Fighting cancer, day and night” Aaron Becker): Captures the moment and the eye, tells a story of its own.

Third Award - The Brillion News (“Record- Breaker” - Andew Pantzlaff): The photo tells the whole story. I like how you captured him setting the record with the height in the photo.

Third Award - Living Oconomowoc Focus (“Sparkling Silhouette” - Scott Ash).

Feature Photo Group D First Award - The Star News, Medford (“Splash down” - Mark Berglund): Qual-

Group F First Award - Westby Times (“Towering inferno” - Dorothy Jasperson-Robson): Captured the moment and is very attention getting. The picture tells it all. The color is great too.

Second Award - Elkhorn Independent (“Year in Review (Hundreds of mourners...)” -

Second Award - Living Lake Country Reporter, Hartland (“Hard at Work/ Iron Man” - Todd Ponath): A true photo essay - the photos tell the story. Good photo quality and composition. Our only “problem” was the lack of color, but part of that was the subject matter. Good layout - nice dominant photos.

Third Award - Vernon County Broadcaster, Viroqua (“A Midsummers day in Vernon County” - Dena Harris): Beautiful photographs, nice subject matter, not an “event,” but a good picture of a summer day in Wisconsin. Good layout, not too crowded.

Excellent variety of photo shapes, sizes and colors. Our artist on staff was impressed.

General Comments: Some of these entries were a waste of time. If it’s just snapshots from an event, don’t submit them. Also, some were special sections, not photo essays. Several pages had good photos, but WAY too cluttered layout. One page had 13 photos - no way a reader could sort all of that out. Some entries were good only if you knew the people who were in them. We believe a photo essay should tell a story.

Group E First Award - Living Sussex Sun, Sussex (“Wee!/ Lions Daze 2010/Fun day at the park” - Todd Ponath): Really nice photos, we loved the layout of the strong vertical on the left of the ride. Excellent variation of photo sizes, shapes. Good color. Makes you want to visit Wisconsin!

10 Second Award - The Valders Journal (Brian Thomsen): A good photo essay - telling the story with the images. Good layout - nice mix of dominant photos and detail shots.

Good combination of photo shapes and subjects.

Third Award - Living Oconomowoc Focus (“A Breath of Fresh Air” - Todd Ponath): This piece was a good start for an essay, but needed to show a piece of finished work.

Nice details with the paint palette. Could have used a few more photos.

General Comments: A lot of these entries were VERY cluttered and seemed to be efforts to jam as many photos on the page as possible. Some subjects and layouts weren’t interesting.

Group F First Award - Crawford County Independent & The Kickapoo Scout, Gays Mills (“Crawford County Fair” - Emily Schendel, Suzy Oppriecht, Charley Preusser): We just loved the photo of the muddy girls and the pig. This clinched the category for us. The layout was pretty cluttered - fewer photos would have been better. Still, it was a good photo essay of a county fair.

Second Award - Jackson County Chronicle, Black River Falls (“the magic of christkindl” - Cassandra Colson): Good, clean layout.

Nice animal photos and eye-catching color.

Good variation of photo sizes and shapes.

Third Award - Sauk Prairie Eagle, Sauk City (“In pursuit of a championship” - Dan Larson, Kevin Morales): Really good photos of a tough season. It tells this wrestler’s story well. Clean layout again, good variation of photo size.

General Comments: Pretty crowded layouts - hard to see the focal point. Where were the turtles in the turtle fest? The church fire pictures were excellent, but they seemed better suited to a news photo entry, not a photo essay.

Headlines OPEN First Award - News Graphic, Cedarburg (“Cedarburg’s Eric Larson reaches South Pole,” “Paws-ing to break ground look out below” - Jan Rockley): Wonderful creativity shown in a variety of ways. The headlines clearly attract the reader to the stories, and the subheads are excellent accompaniment, as are the photos. The meaning of the head-

Editorial: Weekly Division lines are crystal clear. Very fine job. Keep up the good work.

showcase these stories. Consistent use of headline font.

Second Award - News Graphic, Cedarburg (“Riders in the Storm,” “Corps Values,” “Kicking Brass” - Kay Dahlke): Excellent headlines that, along with the photos, grab readers’ attention immediately. I especially liked the “Kicking Brass” head--I could feel the beat!

Group F First Award - Sauk Prairie Eagle, Sauk City (Todd Krysiak): Professional layout that is clean, consistent and makes sense to readers.

Third Award - Jackson County Chronicle, Black River Falls (“American pi,” “Eyes of the Tigers,” “Diamonds are forever” - Matthew Perenchio): Headlines are clear lead into stories, with a nice creative touch. I especially liked “Eyes of the Tigers.” Heads were nicely accompanied by photos, as well.

General Comments: There were top-notch entries in this category, making it hard to choose winners. Great job. I would give an Honorable Mention to: The Country Today --”Giddy up and goal,” “If moose could fly,” “Lunch n’ Lures.”

Front Page OPEN First Award - Kewaunee County News, Algoma (Amanda Luebke): Newspaper makes centerpiece stories clean and prominent.

Photos showcased well, especially above the fold, to lend to the content of the story.

Second Award - Hudson Star-Observer (Becki Lamar): Good use of white space and clean headlines. Consistent headline fonts used that draw readers into stories.

Third Award - News Graphic, Cedarburg (Jan Rockley): Compelling and creative layout that makes good use of design elements. Clean, too.

Group E First Award - The Richland Observer, Richland Center (“H1N1 in Richland County,” “Maintaining a budget; protecting a county,” “Welcome home 829th” - Ryan Billingham): Good use of photos and graphics to accompany stories and draw in readers. Clean and consistent headline font/ usage.

Second Award - The Platteville Journal (Dan Wackershauser): Nice designs of centerpiece stories -- showing readers which are the main entry points into page.

Third Award - The Verona Press (Jim Ferolie): Centerpiece stories are well-supported with visuals. Makes good use of space to

Second Award - Jackson County Chronicle, Black River Falls (“Red, Round and Ready”): Use of large photos complements stories and breaks up gray space on pages.

Third Award - De Pere Journal.

Overall Page Design Group D First Award - Oak Creek NOW (“Path to the Title,” “Blue Moments,” “Home Defense” - Chris Johnson): Good use of negative and positive space, very nice clarity. Good balance with info and front page ad. Nice rhythm of text and photo. Good use of graphic items.

Second Award - Wauwatosa NOW (“Offroading” - Scott Rieser): Good use of graphics, nice use of positive and negative space. Clear, clean layout, easy to read, attractive.

Third Award - News Graphic, Cedarburg (“Corps Values,” “Kicking Brass,” “Architectural Treasures” - Kay Dahlke): Nice use of line and typography to break up space and photos. Sharp and clear layout.

Group E First Award - The Ripon Commonwealth Press (Ian Stepleton): Gorgeous layouts.

Great use of space, graphics, typography.

Clean, clear, easy to read.

Second Award - Grant County Herald Independent, Lancaster (David Timmerman): Nice use of graphics. Good balance of articles. Good rhythm, a sense of excitement comes through. Nice sense of balance between photo and text.

Third Award - The Dunn County News, Menomonie (“One of a Kind,” “Mayor defends Veto decision,” “Police liaison post still in limbo” - Brett Hart): Clean layout.

Good use of typography. Overall a nice layout.

Group F First Award - Sauk Prairie Eagle, Sauk City (Heidi Breunig): Nice balance of photos

Contest Edition and text. Attractive use of typography.

Great use of graphic items. Good use of space.

Second Award - The Brillion News (Andew Pantzlaff): Good use of layout. Good use of typography. Balance between photos and text body, a bit uneven, a bit tight.

Third Award - Jackson County Chronicle, Black River Falls (Matthew Perenchio): Nice, typography. I would like to see more variation in height, and consistency. I loved the outline feature story layout. More consistency in negative and positive spaces, some areas are crowed.

Page Design - Feature Group D First Award - Hudson Star-Observer (“Mapping Antarctica one point at a time,” “Replicas Visit Hudson,” “From Sam’s Tavern to Season’s Tavern” - Becki Lamar): Nice, clean and legible. Very good use of typography.

The pages are easy to follow and readers understand what the reporter is trying to convey in the story. Good eye for balance.

Very nice!

Second Award - Living Lake Country Reporter, Hartland (“Artful bras support the cause/Freedom isn’t free,” “Making their Mark” - Lisa Leonard): The pages are easy to read, with pull quotes well placed to add entry points to the page. I liked the contrast in type on the ‘Making their Mark’ page.

Thoughtfully put together. Nice!

Third Award - The Star News, Medford (“Telling a story of humanity, holocaust,” “Rock the Word,” “Set the Tone to build a strong core” - Brian Wilson): I really liked the treatment on the ‘Rock the World’ page.

Sometimes reverse type isn’t legible but this worked.

Group E First Award - Burlington Standard Press (“Can you Hear the Thunder?” - Ed Nadolski, Sherry Gordon): Nicely balanced pages and overall easily followed by the reader.

Liked the unique pull quotes!

Second Award - The Dunn County News, Menomonie (“Kasey Kruse,” “Blood Sport” - Brett Hart): Well executed and very good use of photography.

Group F First Award - Sauk Prairie Eagle, Sauk City (“Pioneer starts recycling,” “Town struggles

Contest Edition to recover,” “Meteor sighting” - Heidi Breunig): Very nicely designed! Consistent typography make the pages very legible.

Nice use of photos too! I like the shadowed ‘more info’ box.

Second Award - Jackson County Chronicle, Black River Falls (“Green, Green, Green,” “Written in the Wall” - Matthew Perenchio): Very nice use of photos, also well placed. I like your typography.

Third Award - Westby Times (Dorothy Jasperson-Robson): A lot happening on these pages! The designer obviously put a great deal of time and thought on the pages and it shows.

Page Design - Sports Group D First Award - Superior Telegram (“Spartans Fumble away Opener” - Ken Olson): I guess I’m old school; nice layout, very attractive, tight and neat, easy to read and look at.

Second Award - Living Lake Country Reporter, Hartland (“All-area baseball team,” “Title Wave,” “Getting carried away” - Matt Colby): I loved the “Title Wave” page cause it had a story on it. Baseball page just was too much clutter.

Editorial: Weekly Division

Reporting on Local Government

Group D First Award - Lake Geneva Regional News (Lisa Seiser): Great reporting. I appreciated the use of sidebars and multiple stories to show all the angles. This was a fascinating look at how local government works, or in this case doesn’t work. Extremely well written.

Second Award - River Falls Journal (“St. Croix Jail claims...,” “Woman sues, claiming sexual assault,” “Opportunity? Or waste of tax dollars?” - Judy Wiff): Wow! What an interesting case at St. Croix jail. Good indepth reporting and surely of local concern.

The reporter did a very good job at detailing what went on.

Third Award - Greenfield-West Allis NOW (“Their Domain” - Mark Schaaf): Good lead; it really made me want to read further.

A story that could occur anyplace in the country, valuable insight. Well researched.

Group E First Award - The Oregon Observer (“Liquor license revisited” - Bill Livick): Well documented reporting and interesting reading.

The reporter did his homework and residents of the area are fortunate to have such a well balanced account in front of them.

Second Award - The Verona Press (“Outside influences,” “Another walkout over fire service,” “City sticks with proposed budget” - Jim Ferolie): “Outside Influences” was a good enterprise piece and the reporter is correct in saying that the problem affects many other communities. Well written stories with good local angles.

Third Award - Juneau County Star-Times, Mauston (“Haske: I didn’t do it,” “Haske hearing’s hefty price tag,” “Haske fired, appeal promised” - Peter Rebhahn): What a big story for a small community, and certainly well reported even down to the purported costs. Surely these accounts were followed closely by readers in the community. Well done without over-sensationalizing.

Group F First Award - Sauk Prairie Eagle, Sauk City (“School board members asked to resign,” “‘Save Sauk’ looks for redevelopment options,” “Sauk City approves downtown ‘Vision’” - Todd Krysiak): Good reporting on an issue obviously of great local con-

Third Award - The Chronotype, Rice Lake (“Testing deals with Sport concussions,” “Another Pitch for Madison” - Dave Greschner).

Group E First Award - Grant County Herald Independent, Lancaster (“Flying Arrows place fourth,” “Sister Act Shines,” “Bradley Shines at Darlington” - A.J. Gates): Nice layout, easy to read. I like the extra white on the pages; it makes for an attractive and clean look.

Second Award - The Ripon Commonwealth Press (“Ripon All Stars” - Wes Lungwitz).

Third Award - The Dunn County News, Menomonie (“Kasey Kruse,” “Double Duty” - Brett Hart).

Group F First Award - Jackson County Chronicle, Black River Falls (“Icing on the Cake,” “Eyes of the Tiger,” “Clearing all Hurdles” - Matthew Perenchio).

Second Award - Sauk Prairie Eagle, Sauk City (Dan Larson).

Oak Creek NOW, First Award, Group D, Overall Page Design.

11 cern. I’m impressed the reporter brought in reaction of board members.I would have preferred for “one resident and business owner” to be identified by name instead of a generic term but still a good job.

Second Award - Sauk Prairie Eagle, Sauk City (“Family seeks removal of town assessor,” “Merrimac shoulders heavy burden,” “Tempers flare on cusp of mediation” Jeremiah Tucker): I liked the historical perspective and acknowledgment that personal biases had played a role in this controversy.

I also thought it was good to alert readers of some of the changes that were made. Seems like a fair and balanced account.

Reporting on Local Education Group D First Award - Brookfield-Elm Grove NOW (“On the Endangered List?” - Isral DeBruin): The clear winner; a combination of balanced, straight-forward reporting, supplemented with sidebars, graphs and breakouts. Well organized with subheads, easy to read and digest.

12 Second Award - Living Lake Country Reporter, Hartland (“Consolidation Conundrum” - Erin Lamb): Though all three stories dealt with the same issue, all combined to comprehensively examine the topic. Good ledes. Sidebars and graphs were great.

Third Award - The Star News, Medford (“Student health top issue in school closing,” “851 meals down, 365,149 to go,” “Residents speak out against proposed school cuts” - Mark Berglund): First-person account from the school lunch room was thorough and interesting. Good reporting, detail on budget cut piece.

General Comments: All entries were nothing less than solid journalism. Good to see newspapers with aggressive reporting on arguably the most important facet in the community, education.

Group E First Award - The Verona Press (“Verona Schools” - Seth Jovaag): Thorough and comprehensive stories that examined their topics with depth. Used examples to explain impact of the issues at hand. Breakouts, sidebars and tables supported text.

Second Award - Middleton Times-Tribune (“Negotiations falter,” “District accused on retaliation,” “Nine more MCPASD staff members named in email investigation” - Matt Geiger): Complex, sensitive topics handled in a balanced and thorough manner.

Third Award - The Ripon Commonwealth Press (“School Board OKs tax increase// Sunnyside DOWN (sidebar); School aims for April referendum//Voters, don’t make

Editorial: Weekly Division a knee-jerk decision (sidebar); School staff scaled back” - Aaron Becker): Breaking out the numbers and lists helped keep stories clear and concise. Covered all the bases with solid reporting.

General Comments: From top to bottom, there was solid reporting here, and most papers went long with in-depth stories.

Some might say too long, but in small communities, you can’t write enough about the complexities of the local public school system.

Group F First Award - Jackson County Chronicle, Black River Falls (“Hitting the right note,” “Keen on green,” “Pedal to the medal” - Cassandra Colson): A trio of strong features, spiced with good quotes, and very thorough. Enjoyed profile on student musician, where writer got to the core of his motivation.

Second Award - Sauk Prairie Eagle, Sauk City (“SPHS Club gay students,” “Grand Avenue has new take,” “Is sexting an issue among teens?” - Jeremiah Tucker): Stories were fully fleshed out, and with plenty of well-used direct quotes. Topics were timely on today’s educational realities.

Third Award - Lodi Enterprise (“Board renews district administrator’s contract,” “State aid cut projected for Lodi schools,” “The sex education laws in school” - Jennifer Fetterly): Good in-depth analysis on new state sex ed. impact. Solid reporting on educational finance issues.

Most Improved Newspaper OPEN First Award - County Post West, Waupaca: The County Post West appears to be a significantly improved reincarnation of the Waupaca County Post. The broadsheet format and clean design give the paper a more modern, reader-friendly publication.

The publication also appears to be reaching out to regional readers more with datelines and designated sections for specific communities.

Second Award - Jackson County Chronicle, Black River Falls: The Jackson County Chronicle’s redesign gives readers a cleaner, sharper newspaper to enjoy. The new design makes the paper appear less cluttered and easier to follow. It also gives the paper more of a professional look - the look of a paper designed on computers as opposed to the old-fashioned look of a paper designed by people puzzling strips of hand-cut columns of text onto flats.

Third Award - DeForest Times-Tribune: The DeForest Times-Tribune’s design changes from the flag, to color kickers, to color breakout boxes, to centerpieces on the cover make the publication more reader friendly. The paper has a design appearance of a publication that would be in a much larger circulation category.

Special Pages OPEN First Award - The Chronotype, Rice Lake (“Outdoors” - Dave Greschner): Nice outdoors page! Clean layout, nice photos - it would be interesting for even a nonoutdoorsy reader. Good feature on the dog kennel.

Second Award - Burnett County Sentinel, Grantsburg (“Breast Cancer Awareness” Todd Beckmann): Good way to look at an important topic that otherwise could be overlooked. Featuring local women with breast cancer was an excellent idea.

Third Award - Vilas County News-Review, Eagle River (“Outdoors” - Kurt L. Krueger, Gary Ridderbusch): Good entries, could have used some color photos. Also, column shouldn’t always be in the banner position on the top. Writing is clear and concise.

Contest Edition

Investigative Reporting Group D First Award - Dodge County Pionier, Mayville (“Suicide” - Sally Kahlhamer): Relevant topic for your state. A lot of work went into this. You covered the religious question, how to get help, what to look for and the perspective of those left behind. Avoid slipping into “you” sentences. This will make your writing more smooth -- easy to read.

Second Award - County Post West, Waupaca (“Canidate has Long court Record” - Robert Cloud): Good investigative piece showing the public who not to vote for without coming right out and telling them.

This is one of the great purposes of the news -- to expose corrupt politicians.

Third Award - Vernon County Broadcaster, Viroqua (“Bailjumping Smack Dead In to Mexico” - Matt Johnson): Good headline.

Timeline breakout was a great feature.

Group E First Award - Living Oconomowoc Focus (“‘I have nightmares over this,’” “Welch escape saga ends well,” “Extraditions cost-effective with private transport” - Donna Frake): Very well done. Great writing and research.

Second Award - Lake Mills Leader (“The Kordus Matters” - Randy Radtke): Good investigation, very well written.

Group F First Award - Jackson County Chronicle, Black River Falls (“Llama Mafia speakes out: We’re not bad” - Matthew Perenchio): Good work. I like the interplay between the “gang” member and the officer. It was interesting to read two perspectives.

Second Award - The Courier, Waterloo (“In Focus: Fallout from perry” - Tyler Lamb): Good explanations to a very pertinent topic affecting municipalities all over the country.

Layout on first page is too distracting, however.

Entertainment Pages OPEN First Award - The Star News, Medford (“Ask Ed” - Brian Wilson): Lots of info, nice layout, lots to look at.

Second Award - Hudson Star-Observer: Plenty of info, but a bit antiseptic - not a lot of color in the writing.

Contest Edition

Graphics OPEN First Award - County Post East and County Post West, Waupaca (“All-Stars,” “On Fire,” “Polar Bear Express” - Cody Popp): I have judged newspaper contests for over two decades, and I’ve never seen such wonderful, fun, and (pardon me) out of this world graphics. What a pleasure. Let me start by saying it’s obvious the graphic artist is very talented. The use of color, the selection of the backgrounds all suggests talent and planning. A lot of discussion must have occurred between the editor and the artist. It really shows. I think this is really something to be proud of. It should be an example of how much fun you can have with informational graphics. It also illustrates that you don’t have to be the largest newspaper to create something wonderful and exciting.

I’d be willing to bet this was quite a hit with the readers. Great work, great execution.

Second Award - The Dunn County News, Menomonie (“Schyler’s Throwing Success Stems from Local Roots,” “Kasey Kruse BRC Offensive Player of the Year,” “MHS Girls Win Back-To-Back” - Brett Hart): I really enjoyed the effort that went into the track cutouts used in the masthead. They are eye-catching and, therefore, effective in grabbing the reader’s attention. It’s a great point of entry. I really liked the track girls who appear to be leaping out of the D in Dunn. It gives the page a very active and exciting feel. As a side note, the use of color in the masthead is done very well. Some might say the masthead is a bit busy with so many items; however, I really enjoyed it. I can see where this type of attention is likely to enhance the reader to go there each day to not only see what’s in the paper but what new and different element will be tried.

Good work on trying to make your paper more exciting and relevant to the reader.

Third Award - The Portage County Gazette, Portage “Point School Board has forgotten its role,” “7th District doesn’t belong to either party,” “Campaign commercials tell voters nothing” - Brett Hiorns): I’m not clear how the system works here. I assume the editorial is written and then given to the cartoonist to illustrate. Whatever the system, it works. I like the graphic style of the cartoonist. It appears that the writer and cartoonist also talk about the topic before the cartoon is written. That’s good. The only suggestion I would make is if you can use color on your editorial cartoon, even it it’s just one color, it makes a big difference. We

Editorial: Weekly Division started using color a few weeks ago and our readers are really noticing. We’re getting more comments on our editorial cartoons than ever before. Keep up your good work.

It’s outstanding and well coordinated.

General Web Excellence OPEN First Award - Living Lake Country Reporter, Hartland (“LivingLakeCounty.com”): A visually appealing website with lots of content yet easy to navigate. The designs for the staff blogs on the front page of the site were eye-catching and more frequent use of that technique would probably be favorable to readers. Extensive use of photos and color was impressive but would like to see photo above the fold on the front page of the site.

Overall, the site is excellent.

Second Award - New Richmond News: A simple, yet effective design that provides readers a comfortable visit to the front page of the website and beyond. There is an impressive use of photos and photo gallery areas. This is a quality site that possesses good content and is easy to navigate.

Third Award - Wauwatosa NOW (“WauwatosaNOW.com”): Many strong features are part of this website, including ease of navigation and particularly strong content for this category. Readers surely love having “Your Stories” prominently displayed on the front page of the site, along with extensive photo galleries and links to other papers and stories from the chain’s sister publications. A photo, or more, above the fold on the front page of the site would be an improvement.

included photos and videos to enhance the experience.

Third Award - Oak Creek NOW (“Prep Football Preview” - Matt Newman): Jam-packed with information, photos and videos, this prep preview is thoroughly entertaining.

Web Special Project OPEN First Award - Wauwatosa NOW (“Resolve: Triumph and Strength in a Tough Year” C.T. Kruger, Mark Maley, Matt Newman): A unique end-of-year project that reflects a connection with the community during trying times, giving readers a voice and sense of unity.

Second Award - The Star News, Medford (“The Wall That Heals” - Brian Wilson, Mark Berglund): This quiet presentation of daily photo galleries serves well to echo the emotion evoked by the memorial on its visitors.

Third Award - New Richmond News (“Dude Rescue” - Jeff Holmquist): Adorable sequence of photos that let the ducks speak for themselves.

13

Continuing Web Coverage OPEN First Award - Brookfield-Elm Grove NOW (“Brookfield Mayor’s Race” - Mark Maley, Matt Newman): Excellent and innovative use of ever-changing technology was employed to bring the mayoral race to the voters. Videos, live blogs and the photo of the mayor-elect’s daughter showing supporters the YouTube video on her iPad was priceless. Everyone involved should be commended for their efforts.

Second Award - The Ripon Commonwealth Press (“Coverage of Milwaukee developer Boca Grande’s rehabilitation work in Ripon, Wis.): Solid reporting and overall coverage are to be commended. Good photos and videos helped tell the story to citizens, who were apparently divided on the development project. Nice touch to allow the download of the developer’s agreement.

Third Award - Vernon County Broadcaster, Viroqua (“Jared Molner competency determination and trial” - Matt Johnson): Terrific job by reporter Matt Johnson, who provided readers a stylish yet clear picture of the trial and the deceptive defendant.

More photos or other use of multimedia options would’ve enhanced the coverage, but Johnson’s stories still told the tale well.

Creative use of Multimedia OPEN First Award - Living Lake Country Reporter, Hartland (“LivingLakeCounty.com”): Very comprehensive coverage of a community school’s journey to win the state basketball title. Live blogs, video and photo galleries bring the excitement alive.

Second Award - Brookfield-Elm Grove NOW (“Live Election Night Blog”):A vibrant addition to election night coverage where readers can communicate live with reporters with their questions as the night unfolds. Updates from reporters in the field

Living Lake Country Reporter, Hartland, First Award, Open, General Web Excellence.

14

General Excellence Group A First Award - Wisconsin State Journal, Madison: Strong use of photos, good mix in layout.

Good local reporting and graphic elements.

Nice comprehensive coverage and easy to read.

Second Award - La Crosse Tribune: Strong writing, lots of local coverage. Good paper overall.

Third Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette: News stories had effective ledes and ads were welldone. Good news feel with clear layout and lots of local content.

Group B First Award - Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire: Good approach to stories. There is much to read in this paper and everything is very well done throughout.

Second Award - Wausau Daily Herald: Nice design. Newspaper has balance between paid ads, news, and promotional ads. It’s a paper you would want to subscribe to.

Editorial: Daily Division Third Award - The Sheboygan Press: Great stories with thorough reporting. Great use of photos. Nice read.

Group C First Award - Portage Daily Register: There is a good treatment of local news. Nice typography and production. Overall well done.

Second Award - Daily Tribune, Wisconsin Rapids: Layout is clean and easy to follow.

Good use of photos.

Third Award - Marshfield News-Herald: Strong interesting leads, good localization.

Clean layout and good use of photography.

Special Project OPEN First Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Do It! Community Challenges”): The PostCrescent’s ongoing commitment to its community through the “Do It!” Community Challenges campaigns is impressive both for its successes and longevity. It’s precisely this type of work that newspapers must do if they are to remain relevant in the lives of their readers.

Regardless, the Post-Crescent’s tremendous financial, editorial and advertising commitment to the annual Community Challenges is to be applauded. The fact that Gannett’s other Wisconsin newspapers are following the PostCrescent’s model is testament enough to the positive impact the newspaper is having. Kudos to the Post-Crescent for leveraging its assets to do good in its community, particularly in these difficult economic times.

Second Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Kids Count”): The Press-Gazette’s ongoing “Kids Count” initiative has first-place written all over it -- but most likely for the 2011 contest year. We were very impressed with the paper’s initiative and ability to effectively engage the greater Green Bay community. It’s clear that childhood obesity is a serious issue in Wisconsin; the Press-Gazette’s strong reporting brings the issue into focus. We also were impressed with the multimedia components of the “Kids Count” initiative and the newspapers’ use of its website to gather input from readers. We’ll be interested to see where this project ends up, and how it changes children’s health and fitness in Green Bay.

Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire; First Award, Group B, General Excellence.

Third Award - Kenosha News (“Path Home Series”): “Path Home” seeks to tackle an important and timely issue for Kenosha News readers. In many ways, it’s effective at doing so. However, we felt some of the stories lacked the depth and context to really put the housing issue into prespective for readers. We also would have liked to have seen the newspaper

Contest Edition

use its editorial page to drive home the importance of the issue to the community. The “Do You Need Help?” boxes referring readers to relevant local assistance agencies was a valuable addition to each story.

and evenly balanced. The sensitive issue of a proposed mosque, a situation confronted elsewhere in Wisconsin and the nation, was to the point. And a sheriff was chastised for being against tax relief.

Editorial Award

General Comments: This category was a tough one, with excellent entries from all involved. The margin between the winners was narrow. Congratulations to all.

Group A First Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette: The Press-Gazette’s editorial work was excellent-maybe outstanding--in exposing city expenditures on outside attorneys and fighting to keep it secret from the public. Very good work, including good background, was done on the Brown County board’s secret balloting.

Finally, the editorial on a proposed mosque was well reasoned. A statement “thought to be Green Bay’s first” left the judge wondering why that could not be confirmed. Could have used a quote from someone in the Muslim community on the need and the size of the Muslim community. Overall, first class editorial writing.

Second Award - Wisconsin State Journal, Madison (Scott Milfred): Who is “Bucky” mentioned in an editorial headline and twice in the editorial? Perhaps Madison folks know, but the judge had no idea. These days people all over the country and world access newspapers electronically. An explanation was needed. Crunch time on county board size was clearly written, including an excellent comparison that the board is larger than the state senate. The editorial on Obamacare had excellent points which Congress fully ignored in its vote.

Group B First Award - Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire (Don Huebscher): The Leader-Telegram’s editorial entries were well written, informative and cogent. The editorial on Obama’s budget with a huge deficit was almost prescient. The editorial on prison officials being duped and then covering up was first class. And the arguments for a downtown jail were constructed.

Overall, a first calss job.

Second Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc (“Our View” - Steve Reed, Pat Pankratz): These were hard-hitting editorials, including a fine piece on the Manitowoc County relationship with a Green Bay concrete company. An accusation by the Herald Times of cowardice by Wisconsin lawmakers in handling drunken driving legislation was right on. And a sensitively-written editorial on a gay teen was well written.

Third Award - The Sheboygan Press: Sheboygan’s entries showed solid writing on provocative topics and were well done. A local priest’s efforts to tackle clergy abuse was nicely done

Group C First Award - The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls (Rod Stetzer): The Chippewa Herald’s entries were a good cross section of pertinent commentary. Two focused on subjects important to the community and the third was important in pointing out how newspapers reach into the TV world. The focus on jobs laid out the stark facts of unemployment. And the commentary on how the agricultural landscape is changing may have been tough for some to digest, but nontheless, showed a fact of life.

Second Award - Baraboo News Republic (George Althoff): The Baraboo News Republic showed no fear in tackling touchy local subjects. The editorial on the growing costs of the jail had good, pertinent cost quotes and asked good questions. The other entries centered on a maverick school board member and a Republican in Name Only, both well written.

General Comments: Judges had a tough time selecting a winner in this category. Chippewa and Baraboo readers are fortunate to have dailies that care about local events and do such a fine job of analyzing them.

Editorial Page(s) Group A First Award - Wisconsin State Journal, Madison (Scott Milfred, Kris Crary, Jonathan Kleinow, Phil Hands): Page designs are simple, consistent, appealing and avoid overwhelming the reader. The effort to offer balanced perspectives with columnists is immediately obvious, with a three-column presentation that sometimes features a progressive, libertarian and conservative perspective and often by local writers. All writing in the section is clear and concise. The weekly “You Toon” contest is something every editorial page editor should attempt with an in-house or local freelance cartoonist.

Second Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette: The simple and consistent page design makes this section an easy part of a reader’s daily routine.

The strong local cartoon, and it’s bold presence on the page, is something readers must look forward to. The page does a good job of promoting online discussion and the graphic presentation of the online poll is extraordinary.

Contest Edition Third Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (Larry Gallup): This is an excellent section, with an abundance of engaging and thoughtprovoking perspectives. The design seems a bit chaotic and intimidating at first with a lot of bold type, but the section does its job by facilitating a broad base of community discussion.

General Comments: Our board was impressed with the overall quality and commitment to local, regional, state and national public policy shown by all entrants. Wisconsin seems to have a healthy competitive spirit among the editorial boards of the state’s largest newspapers.

Group B First Award - Wausau Daily Herald (“We’ve had enough. Have you?,” “2009 Person of the Year,” “School violated students’ rights,” - Robert Mentzer, Brian Otten, Cathy Emerson): This is the rare editorial section that must be the talk of the town. It cannot be ignored or marginalized. The section boldly grabs the reader’s attention with compelling content, and good honest headlines such as: “We’ve had enough. Have you?” The “Person of the Year” is a must-read, must-talk-about feature.

It should also be apparent to any reader that the board and the opinion editor are not afraid to take a position and defend it with passion, as was done with the fight for student First Amendment rights.

Second Award - The Janesville Gazette (Greg Peck): This section, like the first-place winner, is a refreshing departure from the old, gray lady, ivory tower, top-down approach to editorializing. The house editorials are well written and thought provoking, and at the same time entertaining. The section clearly invites community participation online and in print, and the readers respond. It is a section that will compete nicely in the age of digital, interactive media.

Third Award - The Sheboygan Press: Strong, well-written house editorials.

Group C First Award - The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls (Ross Evavold, Mark Gunderman): The page is characterized by strong, well-written editorials that focus on local matters of public policy. The design is simple and easy to understand, and most of the content is produced locally to grapple with issues important to the community.

Second Award - Daily Jefferson County Union, Fort Atkinson (“The few, the proud ...,” “Not going far enough,” “Little big man” - Christine Spangler): The section stands out because of well-written, impassioned editorials about local people. The editorial about Lance Cpl. Ja-

Editorial: Daily Division cob Meinert, and the oldest surviving Wizard of Oz munchkin epitomize good community journalism. Page design is nothing special or enticing, but it gets the job done.

Third Award - Portage Daily Register (Jason Maddux): The strength of this section rests entirely in locally produced guest columns.

The section would be more competitive if the editor could find a way to feature more inhouse editorials, though it’s an understandable challenge in these difficult financial times. The three contest submissions each contained a borrowed editorial, titled “Another View,” in place of the newspaper’s voice.

Special Section Editorial Group A First Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Packers Final”): Fact-packed, easy-to-read section.

Possibly the most thorough live coverage special section anywhere. What a tremendous weekly effort.

Second Award - Wisconsin State Journal, Madison (“Rural Health series” - David Wahlberg, Craig Schreiner, Jonathan Kleinow): What an important project. Congratulations on the fellowship. Nice combination of easy-to-read facts (as on the “Risk factors” page) and showing the human side.

Third Award - Wisconsin State Journal, Madison (“Presidential Visit”).

Group B First Award - The Reporter, Fond du Lac (“A Measure of Success”): Section stood out as a nice blend of storytelling and magazine-style design to showcase residents of all ages (although it would have been great to have another one or two younger people). Every story inspired.

Second Award - Wausau Daily Herald (“People of the Decade” - Robert Mentzer): This section offers the need-to-know information to get a lot of local people in the supplement.

Third Award - The Sheboygan Press (“PGA Championship:): Course profile pages were nicely done.

Group C First Award - Stevens Point Journal (“Back from Iraq: Voices of the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team” - Ashley Smith, Nate Vine, Nicole Strittmater, Keith Uhlig, Nathaniel Shuda, Adam Wise, Laura Schmitt, Corey Schojoth, Tom Loucks, Linda Taylor, Mark Treinan, Pete Wasson, Amy Kimmes, Jon Gneiser, Al-

len Hicks, Sirena Mankins): This is a great way to honor the men and women who have served our country and promote a community event with the same goal. Each story was just enough to offer insight.

Second Award - Shawano Leader (“Packer Pregame” - Cory Dellenbach): What a great regular effort. Nice comparisons of teams and “Around the League” doesn’t leave fans of other teams out.

Freedom of Information Award

OPEN First Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc: The people of Wisconsin are the real winners in this category. The state’s print media is aggressive about using open records laws to shed light on government, going to court if necessary. The Herald Times Reporter is the winner in this very competitive category because of its persistent efforts to inform its readers about important government issues.

Second Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Legal Fees”): The Press-Gazette did a unique analysis to allow readers to compare what local governments were paying for legal services. The paper went to court to force a reluctant city government to provide the records -- a show of courage by the paper’s publisher and editor in a time of tight budgets.

Third Award - Wisconsin State Journal, Madison (“City Salaries: Cashing In, A State Journal Special Report,” “Workers’ extra earnings cost $15 million in ‘09” - Dean Mosiman, Nick Heynen, Laura Sparks): The State Journal provided a valuable public service to its readers, exposing heavy use of overtime and other questionable payments to government employees at a time of tight government resources.

General Comments: This was a very difficult category to judge because there is a lot of excellent FOI work going on in Wisconsin. Congratulations to all!

Breaking News Coverage Group A First Award - La Crosse Tribune (“Koula Homicide Coverage” - Anne Jungen): Thorough, well written throughout. Liked the initiative shown on tracking down probate filings, interviews with neighbors, family members. Good detail.

15 Second Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Hit-and-run driver” - Jim Collar, Michael King, John Lee): Good coverage from outset.

The wrap on how their lives crossed paths was nice work, but could have done without so many “what ifs” - you get the point quickly.

Lots of good detail.

Third Award - La Crosse Tribune (“College Student Missing” - Anne Junsen , Chris Hubbuch, KJ Lang, Chris Hardie): Nice work getting family, friends early on. Good background perspective on other deaths and sider on river patrols was particularly interesting to someone from outside the area. One nit: little confusion on where dropped in relation to friend’s house – would’ve been nice to include on the map.

General Comments: Would suggest a limit on the number of stories per entry -- usually breaking or spot news competitions are a single day coverage, which makes it a little easier to pinpoint response efforts to news. Most of the entries showed good reporting and clear writing, but the ones that showed a little enterprise beyond basic coverage quickly rose to the top. There were a couple other entries -- Journal Times standoff/St. george bomber; Green Bay Press coaching search. Also wanted to single out the awesome lede on Journal Times Prison for Becker mainbar.

Group B First Award - Wausau Daily Herald (“Time to go”): Excellent staff effort, well reported, written and presented. Easily stood out in this competition. I liked that it honored Obey’s longevity and service and looked ahead to what’s next. Great day’s work!

Second Award - The Reporter, Fond du Lac (“Company Union talking again”): Intense and constant coverage of shifting sands. Reporting made this a first-place contender, but the writing suffered for lack of nut graphs and some basic background (including what this company manufactures).

Third Award - The Sheboygan Press (“Girl 9, missing in Lake Michigan” - Dan Benson): Good coverage of tragedy; great that you interviewed man who tried to rescue her and family members.

General Comments: Other notable entries include snowed under by Herald Times, then the worst by Herald Times and home again by Janesville Gazette.

Group C First Award - Portage Daily Register (“Armed Robbery” - Shannon Green , Michael Thompson): Great first-day coverage, well written.

Good that you got the teens’ family on first day. Follows were strong too.

16 Second Award - Baraboo News Republic (“10 Hurt” - Todd Krysiak): Fine deadline work for a late in the day incident. Great description of scene and plenty of quotes. Nice work.

Third Award - The Daily News, West Bend (“Good Friday Fire” - Daniel Muckelbauer): Strong first-day coverage and follows that showed how the community rallied. One nit: what happened with the missing cats? If you’re going to do a sider on the need for traps, would be nice to follow up. Also could have used a box with tally of damages, minor injuries, missing animals, etc.

General Comments: Toughest category to pick winners the top five, while quite different, were pretty close in contention. Runners up were Boy 13 charged by Baraboo News and For Obey by Chippewa Herald.

Local Column Group A First Award - The Capital Times, Madison (“Madison 360” - Paul Fanlund): There is a lot of local knowledge here, great institutional memory. There are interviews here, the columnist is doing some reporting, not just pontificating. His style is to let the sources do his talking for him. This category is supposed to take note of “local,” and I sure see a lot of that here. Nice work.

Second Award - Wisconsin State Journal, Madison (“Wisconsin Politics” - Scott Milfred): I loved the Cheesehead piece. In a succinct way, we learn quite a bit about this guy. The author unabashedly takes his side, which I liked. Here too is a good bit of evidence the author knows his ground -- politics.

Third Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Students recall last moments,” “He was nothing but hard work,” “True love” - Tony Walter): The piece about the retired janitor was great.

It is very easy to get sappy with stories such as these, so I appreciated the tone here. In all the pieces this columnist entered there are multiple voices. I know how hard it is to distill all the interviews down to fit the space at times.

General Comments: Only wanted to add that the “Viewfinder” pieces in the Post-Crescent are a nice vehicle, but they read like news features, not columns. I felt they should have been entered in a different category. I liked a few of them a lot, just not as columns.

Group B First Award - The Reporter, Fond du Lac (“Voice of reason,” “Big Oak silent history,” “God, Geeks and The Vagaries of PR” - Michael Mentzer): There is good storytelling and there are local voices throughout this work.

Editorial: Daily Division The writer is not mean, but also not reluctant to make a call, a judgment, about the story and the people in it. This was especially true in “Gods, Geeks,....etc.” as well as in the column about the local union vote.

Second Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Time Out” - Ken Veloskey): Loved the story/column about the cancer survivor in the Iron Man competition. This delivered the goods. You know her a bit by the end. The writer doesn’t weep uncontrollably, he allows the story to come out -- courage, willpower, a life welllived.

Third Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Between the Lines” - Anna Marie Lux): The story about the local Vietnam vet concerned about PTSD issues and the piece about the woman who reacted so positively to the tragedy in her own family were quite solid. Local stories, plenty of reporting going on here. There is a point of view, but no pontificating.

Group C First Award - Portage Daily Register (“IRS,” “Council,” “Turner” - Jason Maddux): There is good local background here, historical context. A nice plea for people to step forward to public service; we can never have too many of them.

Second Award - Daily Tribune, Wisconsin Rapids (“Infomercials often offer entertainment, but little help,” “Fishing outing comes up with no bites,” “Barber hangs up clippers, holds on to memories – again” - Deb Cleworth): That was a nice take on Joe the barber. A modest career to some, but the business loomed large for lots of people.

Local Outdoor Column Group A First Award - Wisconsin State Journal, Madison (“Kids had field day,” “Field trip-Hunting for a mentor?” “Hunters left at lost after deer theft” - John Nolan): The entries read more like news stories than personal columns, which is how the category was presented. Surely the author has some opinions to express, which is what I would have enjoyed reading. That said, the writing and reporting are solid and the photographs supplied by the author add to the substance of the stories. Also, a good collection of different subjects, illustrating the author’s knowledge of his field. Mr. Nolan also does an admirable job of emphasizing the local angle, something that always pleases and attracts readers.

Group B First Award - The Reporter, Fond du Lac (“Savoring an autumn,” “Young People,” “Let your voice be heard” - Michael Mentzer): Columns are well-crafted with a deft feel for the outdoors and humanity’s role in it. Entries are pleasurable to read and often cause a reader to pause and reflect on the author’s words and sentiment. Nicely done.

Contest Edition ing, done well. Devoting resources to “REC/ YOUTH” sports and outdoor page commendable. More wire copy on the section fronts is a detraction. Overall design is good with compelling dominant photos and great use of cut outs. Promotional boxes along the bottom of section fronts appealing.

Second Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Between the Lines” - Anna Marie Lux): The Midwest is rich in wildlife and outdoor activitives and it’s refreshing to see outdoor columns on the nonc-onsumptive side of the endeavor.

The author covers a lot of territory in her writing and does it comfortably, adding her personal touch to nature.

Third Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette: Local copy on section front dictates immediate hometown newspaper connection. Impressed with dedicated page and space to “Outdoors” and “Youth Sports” respectively. Especially liked seeing all the “Youth Sports” photos.

Good mix of typography but sky boxes at top begin to run together with no distinguishing elements to set them apart. (Perhaps more logos or photo cutout.) Overall design is solid.

Third Award - Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire (“Knight Life” - Joe Knight): Columns are fun to read and offer insights on the author’s personal philosophy about his relationship to the outdoors. Nice variety of topics attracts a diverse readership and shows author’s versatility in the outdoors.

General Comments: All entries had solid reporting and a good offering of local, college and professional news. Agate pages were more than adequate and the briefs columns had a good mix. Clearly the La Crosse Tribune was head and shoulders above the rest, but the readers in these areas are all well served.

General Comments: There were four excellent entries in this category but unfortunately only three places were awarded. The Midwest fosters many excellent outdoors writers and these four columnists are typical of the quality of writing and insight offered to readers.

Group B First Award - Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire: An abundance of well-written local copy.

Daily centerpieces done well. Features, such as a story about tennis star Sprecher, was told clearly with a lot of background. Good mix of not only sports topics but prep, college and pro coverage. Agate page very informative. Good overall design with excellent variety of typography, easy to read body text and great use of mugs.

Group C First Award - Portage Daily Register (“In The Cross Hairs” - Travis Houslet): Interesting stories, but two of the entries were more news side reading instead of personal column writing, which is how the category is presented.

Author’s sentence structure, punctuation needs improvement, better editing would have solved that. Stories need to be tightened a bit to improve the overall reading. Readers enjoy the local angle and Mr. Houslet does a good job of writing in a conversational tone, which is key to successful column writing.

Sports Page(s) Group A First Award - La Crosse Tribune (“Haupert flows on any surface” - Jeff Brown): Section fronts contain all local copy. Leads are both creative and engaging. Good treatment of local high school information with “Trib Preps.”

A balanced offering of college and professional news. Excellent use of large dominant photos.

Great typography that utilizes appropriate font sizes to create hierarchy and body text is easy to read. Use of white space done well, allowing the stories “breathing room”.

Second Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton: Feature treatment of low-profile sporting activities, such as “Penny Pinchers” about bowl-

Second Award - The Sheboygan Press (Pete Barth): Good leads that introduce human element early in story. Hefty amount of local copy. “My 2 cents worth” column done well.

But “2-minute drill” would be presented better under “My 2 cents worth.” Good diversity of prep, college and pro coverage. Photos are very compelling. “Outdoor” and “Youth” sections commendable. Overall design is clean with reader-friendly body font.

Third Award - The Janesville Gazette: Lack of enough local bylines and feature/centerpiece stories hurt this entry. “Out of Bounds” and “Outdoors” sections impressive. Agate page very informative. The masthead, typography and overall design is good.

General Comments: The Leader-Telegram clearly stood out in this competition, scoring well in all elements that comprise a good sports section. Unfortunately, most newspapers fail to come up with informative cutlines/ captions as the majority state the obvious.

Group C First Award - The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa

Contest Edition Falls (David Bossick, Paul Huset): Abundance of local stories played prominently. Comprehensive “sports briefs” and agate pays attention to locals with bowling results. Nice feature article. “Blast from the Past” - Clean and concise summary rail at the bottom noting national events. Hunting coverage well done. Overall page design very good with effective use of white space. Good typography with great mix that clearly indicates story hierarchy and body copy easy to read.

Second Award - The Daily News, West Bend (Nick Dettmann): Writing style of most reporters clear and engaging with overall, plenty of local copy. Nice non-traditional feature stories (Driver of the Week). Very comprehensive agate page. The outlined “day” in the masthead too light. Why bother. Rules around blue “Storylines” boxes are overkill. Blue box is enough.

Headline font on “Owls succumb to run” very awkward. Grey subheads above headlines works well.

Third Award - Shawano Leader (Cory Dellenbach): Good story leads that prompts one to read on. Great use of quotes. Agate is weak. No sign of feature/enterprise pieces. Cutlines state the obvious. Headline, cutline font too bold and detract from photos and overall design.

Good, clean, strong masthead.

General Comments: Not too much distance between first place and third place. All papers feature a bevy of local coverage and the look of the three papers are clean as well as being creative.

Sports News Story Group A First Award - The Journal Times, Racine (“Weighing in at 41.14 lbs: a fish” - Peter Jackel): Way to find an interesting story in what is a brief in many newspapers. The lead was great, but what separated this story from others were the details the reporter asked to make it an entertaining read...name of the boat? why did the fisherman feel lucky?

Editorial: Daily Division but this young girl’s play was the story. Nice, short game story.

General Comments: This was a great field.

Honestly, it was a tough call, particularly for third place. I thought Green Bay did a fantastic job making Brett Favre’s return to Lambeau pretty comprehensive, particularly the crimerelated stories. I loved other Brett Favre-related stories simply because the quotes were so interesting. Same goes with the story from Greg on the Brewers. Ultimately, picking third came down to mistakes I found or reading the best parts late in stories.

Group B First Award - The Sheboygan Press (PGA coverage): Wow. Well done, but I’m guessing the entire staff of The Sheboygan Press knew that.

This coverage was thorough, in-depth, wonderfully executed about a big national event that came to their backyard. Bravo. I thought this was just wonderful work by a group of people who obviously cared about bringing a lot of stories to the readers.

Second Award - Oshkosh Northwestern (“An Annual Rite” - Rob Ebert): Fantastic lead in what was overall a fantastic story. The information was interesting. The topic was probably ho-hum for Wisconsin but the story took the event to another level. Great job.

Third Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc (“Track meet must go on” - Matt Wellens): Spring weather and its affect on prep sports is such a common occurrence across the country, but this story was informative across the board. It was well-sourced and interesting for readers in what was probably an non-interesting event to attend or participate in.

General Comments: I would like to complement the staff of The Reporter for its work on the FVA issues across several months. It was great, and it was tough to not award third for that. It was close. Going forward, some entries had typos and editorializing or were heavy on non-interesting or insightful quotes.

Second Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Hometown Pride; Gone to state” - Tim Froberg): Going to state is a highlight in the lives of many high school athletes, but I thought it was neat - and telling - to read about what a highlight it was in the lives of townspeople and former athletes. Great quotes and great use of that information. An interesting read to an annual story.

Group C First Award - Watertown Daily Times (“Sweet Revenge for the Eagles” - Adam Burdsall): Easily, the best story. The lead was fantastic.

The second sentence was better, and he set it all up to that first quote. the rest of the story was about the game, which is great, but that boy’s story was the hook to pull from that game. Well done!

Third Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“A winning touch: Eiden’s hustle play lifts wolves” - Ricardo Arguello): Great lead. The reporter found the story and just focused on it instead of rehashing the entire game from beginning to end. There may have been other highlights,

Second Award - Watertown Daily Times (“Lincks is Golden Again” - Kevin Wilson): Good lead in, as well, with great wrestling information. Wrestling is a difficult sport for some to follow, but this story was well sourced and put together.

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Third Award - Shawano Leader (“Big Plays for little left fielder” - Cory Dellenbach): G r e a t lead in and good game story. One question, the reporter talked to the girl featured in the event story, but why did he not ask her how tall she was? Still, it was a good story with a nice finish to tie in to the lead.

Gries,” “Season will remain memorable” - Pete Barth): Pete Barth did a very nice job with pulling off three tearjerkers about cancer and other illnesses. They told the story well and got you emotionally involved. I would suggest turning in at least one column on a different topic next time.

General Comments: I hope the well-written and inspiring story, entitled, “Perfectly Capable,” was entered as a feature because this was not the right category for it. It was a great story, but it was not an event story, as our sports editor pointed out when I asked.

Third Award - The Sheboygan Press (“I find comfort in those kids,” “A special award for a special kid,” “Not just athletes prosper from Special Olympics event” - Adam Thompson): Adam Thompson’s column topics were also similar - about people facing challenges presented by cancer, cerebral palsy and those competing in Special Olympics - but they were each good, providing good insight into the people.

Local Sports Column Group A First Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Packers ill-equipped,” “Why is search taking so long,” “Phoenix men need support” - Mike Vandermause): Mike had three strong columns (Packers evaluation, Wis-GB hoop coach search and the same team needing more financial support), all with good ledes, substance and content, and good closes. He takes strong positions in each column, which put him over the top.

Second Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“4-Sale? Distraught Vikings van,” “Eyes in team: Blind runner,” “W-Stevens Point’s Saeger will go from tournament to tour of duty” - Brett Christopherson): Brett had very grabby ledes and excellent use of words and language.

His columns on a change of fan allegiance, a blind runner and a baseball player going into the military were all excellent reads as well as supplying good context.

Third Award - The Journal Times, Racine (Peter Jackel): Peter Jackel’s work was strong on a forfeit that went well beyond the news, a good obituary that had lots of personalization and anecdotes, and a very good column on a disabled equipment manager with great quotes.

General Comments: The field was strong throughout. I looked for strong ledes, solid substance, good closers, and variety in column subjects and syles.

Group B First Award - Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire (“Expectations,” “Favre Shines,” “Packers’ identity” - Justin Harings): Justin Harings’ writing style was very enjoyable to read with good use of language mixed with solid context. His stories were all Packers related but this is Wisconsin after all. You might try submitting at least one of a different topic next time but keep up the good work.

Second Award - The Sheboygan Press (“Salzbrenners miss mom,” “Mom’s memory guides

General Comments: This was probably the most even competition. I went largely by quality since some of the top columnists tended to submit entries on the same or similar subjects.

One who did not was judged to be next in line, Brian Gaynor, who used an interesting technique not naming the subject of one column until the very end, and had a strong call for a Hall of Fame and made bowling interesting to someone not in the heart of bowling country.

Keep up the good work Brian.

Group C First Award - Daily Tribune, Wisconsin Rapids (“Mazzy’s Miracle,” “Triumph of Life,” “It’s time to blow off the world cup” - Mark Massoglia): Mark’s columns were all pretty personal, even the World Cup one had a lot of “I” in there, but after the year he had, personal was the way to go on these columns and he pulled them off well. They certainly grab you.

Second Award - The Chippewa Herald (Paul Huset): Paul’s columns were all solid across the board, on baseball, football and a school enjoying a remarkable fall season Third Award - Portage Daily Register (“Soccer,” “Milwaukee,” “Veterans” - Travis Houslet): Travis did a nice job on the World Cup with decent offerings on Andrew Bogut and prep cross country. I wonder a little about the column sig saying “A Fan in the Stands.” I realize this may not be Travis’ call but a sportswriter should be a little more than a fan and use access to ask questions and give insight.

General Comments: One competitor sent in just one column, so quality over several columns couldn’t be ascertained; and another had the wrong jump page in the electronic submission so I couldn’t see the jump. I would make sure my entries are complete.

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Sports Feature Group A First Award - The Journal Times, Racine (“Great Crusader” - Peter Jackel): Very nice story, good storytelling to get the reader into the story. Comments from teammates would have been good.

Second Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Life Lost” - Pete Dougherty): High impact story. I’d like to have seen more details. Details from his life in prison, more vivid details from his drug use, etc.

Third Award - La Crosse Tribune (“Recovered, Refocused” - Todd Sommerfeldt): Nice story with good quotes. I thought it lacked details that would have made the story’s impact more powerful for the reader - details like the pain and determination of physical therapy and details about how her life has changed since the accident.

Group B First Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Carry on, son” - John Barry): Good story but lacked the powerful impact such as details on how he’s coped and how it’s effected his life now. I thought more about his life now and how the town has supported him would have made for more of an impact.

Second Award - The Reporter, Fond du Lac (“Expo Center hosts championship” - Russell Plummer): Story was good and workman like, but I would have liked to know more details.

Things like her training techniques, how she celebrated the win, what does her boyfriend or friends think of her fighting, what does she eat, and lastly, a glimpse of who she is outside the ring.

Third Award - The Sheboygan Press (“From hoopsburg to Hopesburg” - Janet Ortegon): Nice play on words with Hopesburg. Story was good but I felt that something was missing. Mainly comments from players and how her illness has impacted the team from their perspective.

General Comments: Nothing in this division was truly outstanding. Lots of emotional-impact stories but none of the stories really captured the true emotion. They all lacked vivid details.

Group C First Award - The Daily News, West Bend (“Proving his Worth” - Nick Dettmann): Good story and nice storytelling getting the reader into the story. I think more details about his teasing would have increased the impact, plus comments from teammates about how he’s accepted as their teammate.

Editorial: Daily Division Second Award - Shawano Leader (“Gillett man runs across America” - Cory Dellenbach): Nice story, good lead. You had all the information that the reader needs and wants; however, details would have really made the story pop.

Things like how he built back his stamina and strength; what his teammates think, etc.

Third Award - Watertown Daily Times (“Road Well Traveled” - Adam Burdsall): Good story with good information. I would have liked to see more storytelling and details and less facts about his career. A breakout info box could have handled the achievement info and let you get into the story quicker. Good quotes but too many and too long. Examples of special games would have added to the story.

Enterprise/Interpretive Reporting Group A First Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Starting Anew: Hmong Resettlement Revisited” - Kathy Walsh Nufer): Tracking a community’s resettlement for five years cannot be an easy task, but Post-Crescent journalists did a topnotch job of charting five years worth of developments and, most important, unveiling the humanity and spirit of these refugees. The entire package — writing, photographs, page design — was compelling. This is important work in helping readers to shatter stereotypes and truly understand their new neighbors.

Second Award - Wisconsin State Journal, Madison (“Out of Reach: The rural health care gap” - David Wahlberg): Excellent work, told through the tragic stories of real people whose lives were severely affected by the lack of nearby health care. This is a story that many newspapers have tackled, but this is one of the best efforts yet, providing details that help rural residents fully understand which resources are available - and which aren’t.

Third Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Still hurting” - Michael King): One of the best pieces we’ve seen on teen suicide. The quotes from the surviving parents were chilling and drove home the pain they are trying to endure; the advice to other parents was presented in such a plain, straightforward, sensible manner that it surely offered families great help in working to prevent further suicides.

Group B First Award - Wausau Daily Herald (“Biomass fight a matter of trust” - Kathleen Foody, Amy Ryan, Peter J. Wasson, Elissa Holtmeier, Corey Schjoth, Xai Kha): This community’s struggle was dissected thoroughly, objectively and beautifully in a package of stories that not only

gave both sides’ arguments complete, balanced coverage, but also provided a full, detailed, but easy-to-understand explanation of the mysterious science behind biomass. The judges were impressed by the even-handed approach to a clearly contentious community issue and believe the work done here gave readers important enlightenment in a very engaging way.

Second Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Super Soil” - Marcia Nelesen): The SUPER SOIL package carefully chronicled the change in Wisconsin’s world of agriculture, the complexities inherent in balancing the needs for development and farmland, and did so through real characters to whom the reader could relate.

The science piece on how the area’s soil became “super” was an unexpected bonus, and the breakout pieces on four different farm stories underscored the depth of reporting given to this very successful effort. In addition, the writing was excellent.

Third Award - Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire (“Small towns: Fork in the road” - Eric Linquist, Chuck Rupnow, Troy Espe, Don Huebscher): This was an ambitious project, and the journalists clearly did a tremendous amount of work in their efforts to foresee how small-town life may evolve in the years ahead.

The package was thorough and well-written, and it undoubtedly has given the townspeople and leaders some new issues to contemplate.

General Comments: This was an extraordinarily difficult contest to judge. The Reporter’s series on “Sleds, Boats and Alcohol” and The Janesville Gazette’s “On Year Later” on auto workers losing benefits, among other entries, were well-conceived and well-written projects of extreme importance to their communities, and we commend those newspapers for their enterprising spirit in going after the stories that are likely to foment improvements for the people in their communities.

Group C First Award - Baraboo News Republic (“Boy who had troubled family life” - Tim Damos): Rather than simply cover the law enforcement and judicial actions after a young boy gunned down his father, Tim Damos dug deeper into the child’s family life, the details of the custody battle over him, the boy’s fluctuating dislike for his father and his mother, the questions surrounding his autism and other factors that drew a precise portrait of this deeply troubled child. Damos’ enterprising approach to covering this case brings the boy’s and the family’s humanity into clear focus. Beautifully done.

Second Award - Stevens Point Journal (“Schools find savings through partnerships,” “Introducing the iClass,” “The evolution of education” - Nicole Strittmater): Nicole’s innovative approach to education reporting provides

Contest Edition a powerful peek at the high-tech evolution under way in the classroom and dissects the power of partnerships for financially strained schools. The typical reporter relies on handwringing over public schools’ financial constraints. But this reporter actually sought and found real solutions, a most useful approach that enlightens readers and undoubtedly will help the school district and its potential partners to foster even more innovative approaches.

Third Award - EagleHerald, Marinette (“Boy drowns at Red Arrow” - Mike Desotell): A local boy’s drowning drew an unrelenting, persistent examination of all the facts from this reporter, who thoroughly chased every twist and turn in this case. His reports were complete, fact-filled and well-written -- though I wish his editor knew that “drowned” is the past tense of “drown.”

General Comments: I was amazed at the high quality of submissions from such small-circulation newspapers. Rural and small-town Wisconsin journalists clearly comport themselves with extreme professionalism and flex creativity and investigative skills normally found in major urban newsrooms. Very impressive.

Business Coverage Group A First Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Good Deal?,” “An appetite for pizza,” “Make us laugh,” “Front lines” - Larry Avila): The consumer-oriented nature of the story masks the in-depth business reporting that’s going on here. The stories were accessible to anyone who watches the Super Bowl, buys a frozen pizza and more, and in the process educated the public.

Second Award - The Capital Times, Madison (“Business” - Mike Ivey): The writer did a good job of finding the personalities behind the stories and telling their stories in an easyto-read manner.

Third Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Cooking,” “Communication,” “Low jobless rate,” “Tax credit fueled 2nd quarter” - Richard Ryman): The reporter found interesting angles to look at stories that are common throughout the country. Also, he used strong, active writing to keep readers involved in each story.

Group B First Award - The Sheboygan Press (“Thorny Dilemma,” “Cash cows no longer,” “The PGA cup runneth over,” “Laid-off workers head back to school” - Josh Litereur): The reporter gave insight and analysis to special events, such as the PGA Championship’s effects on local businesses, and daily occurrences, such as the use of the railroads through the community.

Contest Edition

Editorial: Daily Division

Second Award - The Janesville Gazette (“General Motor’s retirees” - Jim Leute): The indepth piece looking at General Motors retiree benefits captured the human element to a much larger and more abstract story.

Second Award - Portage Daily Register (“Leader of the Band” - Craig Spychalla).

Third Award - The Reporter, Fond du Lac (“Merc jobs stay,” “Buried in Debt,” “Dairy permit hearing” - Sharon Roznik):The reporter found strong voices in both employer and employee sources. They helped propel her stories throughout.

Lifestyle Page(s)

Group C First Award - Portage Daily Register (“Movies,” “Crawford,” “Bar,” “Gordo’s” - Michael Thompson): The entries focused on the people who were behind the news, not the abstraction of numbers and statistics. The stories told of business developments in the community.

Second Award - Watertown Daily Times (“Main Street Story” - Adam Tobias): The stories were well-written and gave clear, concise information to readers. The Main Street story found other sources to give readers context.

Third Award - The Daily Reporter, Milwaukee (“Lagina Plumbing open despite closure notice,” “City bid preference cuts Milwaukee firm,” “Businesses on hold in sick leave lawsuit,” “Blight declaration could wipe out Oak Creek farm” - Sean Ryan): Several unusual entries dealing with breaking business news and the interaction of business with government. The analysis of Milwaukee’s preferential bid system and its effect on local contractors gave insight to readers who might otherwise not see the down sides of such a policy.

Feature Group A First Award - The Capital Times, Madison (“The Provacateur” - Jessica VanEgeren).

Second Award - The Capital Times, Madison (“Spin City” - Kristin Gzubkowski).

Third Award - The Capital Times, Madison (“Blind Ambition” - Todd Finkelmeyer).

Group B First Award - The Reporter, Fond du Lac (“Freedom” - Justin Connaher).

Second Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Its really Bad” - Ann Marie Lux ).

Third Award - Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire (“Jakes or Jerks” - Eric Lindquist).

Group C First Award - Portage Daily Register (“Not Forgotten” - Shannon Green).

Third Award - Shawano Leader (“Love of skating leads Lewis” - Cory Dellenbach).

Group A First Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Time Out!” - Kendra Meinert): Interesting feature stories. Sections had a good variety of material for readers.

Environmental Reporting OPEN First Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Super Soil” - Marcia Nelesen): This series has a great focus on a very specific environmental issue, exploring the history, finances and geographic factors in play. The reporting is comprehensive and the writing is done so that the reader is not inundated with jargon or scientific minute.

Second Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Summer Vacation”): You almost won first.

It was hard to decide. Good variety of stories, but the Summer Vacation story was a little hard to understand for a non-local.

Second Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Wind Power” - Scott Williams): Very good sustained coverage of an issue that gets beyond the science and finance and makes it relevant for the average reader. At its best, the series keeps public officials accountable for their actions in relation to private developers.

Third Award - The Journal Times, Racine (“Birth Control” - Lee Roberts , Roger Anderson, Ann Walter): Good feature and info graphic on evolution of birth control.

General Comments: This was a close competition. All the entries seem to be nearly equal.

Third Award - The Capital Times, Madison (“The Legacy of Coal” - Mike Ivey): A strong examination of the real sources of power, both electrical and political. Combines legislative influence and everyday energy use.

Group B First Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc (“Medical Illustrator” - Benjamin Wideman): Great layout and interesting stories. The medical illustrator was a good example of how both can come together and get readers to enjoy a subject they otherwise might not.

Second Award - The Reporter, Fond du Lac (“Essence”): You turned in all health stories.

They were interesting, but a little variety might have helped you compete better.

Third Award - Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire (“Chippewa Valley” - Julian Emerson, Bill Foy, Nate Jackson, Joe O’Brien): You had interesting stories. Better layout would help you stand out in this category.

Group C First Award - Portage Daily Register (Craig Spychalla): Good layout. Your stories were interesting, but seem a little long.

Second Award - Shawano Leader: Your section seems to have a good variety for everyone.

Third Award - Watertown Daily Times (“Chris Creates Quitts” - Teresa Stowell): Your stories were interesting, but a little long. Work on your layout to better compete in your category.

All-Around Newspaper Photography Group A First Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette: Nice sports photos. Images played nicely on the pages.

Second Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton: There are some nice photos in these pages, but we were confused by the two papers entered with photo illustrations on the cover. Heavy on the illustrations in those two issues. Very nicely done Haiti photo page and prom section.

Third Award - The Journal Times, Racine (Scott Anderson, Mark Hertzberg, Gregory Shaver): Nice photo of the ex-cop in the courtroom - good front page. Nice front page about the crash. Some of the inside images were much too small to even read what was going on in the photo - would have helped to use just one at a decent size.

Group B First Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc (Sue Pischke, Benjamin Wideman, Doug Sundin): Nice photos throughout. Images were displayed in a straight-forward way. Nice story-telling images. Front pages would be helped by having a clear lead image.

Second Award - The Freeman, Waukesha: Great photos from the tornado on the inside photo page and the main image on the cover.

We would have liked to see a face as the secondary on the front.

19 Third Award - The Reporter, Fond du Lac: We liked the front page from the County Fair.

Some nice images as well in the school section.

Images were used at good sizes and pages were presented in a nice, clean layouts. Got a good feeling for the community from the photos used in the paper.

Group C First Award - Watertown Daily Times: Nice front pages with photos that give a real feel for the community. Great straight-forward presentation of most of the photos. The photo pages in general were a bit crammed. Such great photos on the Riverfest photo page but the judges were disappointed at the scrapbook design - really detracts from some very nice images.

Second Award - Marshfield News-Herald (Laura Schmitt, Dan Young): Two nice front pages with the doctor’s office and the spelling bee.

Judges liked the high school sports photos.

Third Award - The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls: Nice community images presented without much interference.

General News Photo Group A First Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Swarm lake” - Bill Glasheen): Eye-catching photo - nice light, depth of field and use of photo on the page.

Second Award - The Journal Times, Racine (“Honoring the Life of Moe” - Scott Anderson): Great perspective - nice light, great faces.

The photographer wasn’t afraid to get close to the subjects which makes the photo.

Third Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Rained out” - H. Marc Larson): Photographer got the scene quickly and captured the action in the foreground and background.

Group B First Award - The Freeman, Waukesha (“Feingold gets earful on health care” - Kevin Harnack): The photo captures the action we all wish for when having to attend community meetings.

The photographer was ready for the action.

Second Award - The Sheboygan Press (“All for Amy” - Gary C. Klein): Nice emotion, wellframed and focused on some interesting people in the crowd.

Third Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc (“Touching Tribute” - Benjamin Wideman): Photogrpaher waited for the image to unfold in front of him and framed it correctly.

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Editorial: Daily Division Sports Photo Group A First Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Holiday Feast” - Corey Wilson).

Second Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Broken Record” - Evan Siegle).

Group B First Award - The Reporter, Fond du Lac (“Inside the cage” - Patrick Flood).

Second Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc (“Balance Beam” - Benjamin Wideman).

Third Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc (“Prep Wrestling” - Doug Sundin).

Group C First Award - Shawano Leader (“State Champs” - Cory Dellenbach).

Marshfield News-Herald, First Award, Group F, General News Photo.

Group C First Award - Marshfield News-Herald (“Welcome Home” - Laura Schmit): Nice moment and clean composition. Captures the joy of coming home.

Second Award - The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls (“Remembering the life of Kyle Ryba” - Ross Evavold): Good storytelling photo - you get the whole story of the event from that one photo. It should have run larger on the page with the secondary images omitted!

Third Award - Shawano Leader (“Dobry’s funeral” - Cory Dellenbach): Some technical probelms in a tough situation but it captures a nice moment in the foreground and background. This should have been the lead photo on the page!

Spot News Photo Group A First Award - Kenosha News (“Truck spill blocks highway” - Sean Krajacic): Photographer saw the irony of the sign with the truck wreck.

Second Award - Kenosha News (“A dangerous drenching” - Bill Siel): Nice action of the tow truck driver coming up for air.

Group B First Award - Oshkosh Northwestern (“Street Flooding” - Shu-Ling Zhou): The boy was swimming in the middle of the street and it caught the judges eyes right off as the top photo in the group.

Second Award - The Freeman, Waukesha (“Path of destruction” - Katie Derksen): The aerial shot of the fallen trees won this package.

The judges would have liked to have seen a few more pictures edited out.

Third Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc (“Oh, deer!” - Benjamin Wideman): Real unusual to see a deer in the lake and being rescued.

General Comments: This was by far the most difficult of the spot news groups to judge.

Several other shots could have made the final three in the larger categories. The cattle truck was right up there along with the toddler fall.

Group C First Award - Portage Daily Register (“Soldier’s Return” - Jen McCoy): Nice moment of soldier coming home.

Second Award - Daily Jefferson County Union, Fort Atkinson (“Remembering” - Ryan Whisner): Difficult to shoot, but nicely done.

Third Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Three-vehicle crash injures two” - Bill Glasheen): A nice moment with the victim being consoled.

Third Award - Daily Tribune, Wisconsin Rapids (“Dog Rescue” - Tom Loucks): The rescue stood out for third after the two military shots.

General Comments: Several nice fires with flames but lacked any action with firefighters.

General Comments: Tough to decide for the judges between the two military photos.

Second Award - The Daily News, West Bend (“Second half charge” - Andrew Link).

Third Award - Watertown Daily Times (“Touchdown” - John Hart).

Feature Photo Group A First Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“On the mend” - Dan Powers): A heartwarming and heart-wrenching image that was beautifully crafted. The use of light here is excellent and allows a focus on the subjects in what could be a visually cluttered environment. The moment chosen is tender and fits the story well.

Second Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Rolling out clay” - H. Marc Larson): Both a unique look at a commonplace activity and an inherently interesting subject (people) make this photograph compelling. The nice triangular frame is created by the grandmother’s body and the little girl’s expression causes the viewer’s interest to pique. The decision to place the girls’ eye in the center of the frame also shows a strong sense of intentional artistry in the making of this image.

Third Award - Kenosha News (“Slip Slidin’” - Bill Siel): A trite subject done well. The exposure is spot on, and the moment is undeniably excellent. The subject is sharp, and her body creates a great dynamism that makes this photo stand out.

Group B First Award - The Reporter, Fond du Lac (“Prep boys swimming” - Justin Connaher): A strong portrait that was well thought out.

Contest Edition The composition is a strong triangle, which gives the image a sense of structure. Nice use of lighting, and good timing lead to an intense expression from the athlete. The stark contrast of the lit subject to his background gives the photo an immediately eye-catching quality.

Second Award - The Freeman, Waukesha (“Horsing Arround” - Kevin Harnack): A great moment here, and a unique look at a county fair, which can be a tough venue for photographs that haven’t been seen every year for decades. Audiences love to see some humor in the newspaper, and this photograph feeds that desire.

Third Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Triple Whammy” - Dan Lassiter): A strong portrait that was well thought out. The composition is a strong triangle, which gives the image a sense of structure. Nice use of lighting, and good timing lead to an intense expression from the athlete. The stark contrast of the lit subject to his background gives the photo an immediately eye-catching quality.

Group C First Award - The Daily News, West Bend (“Up, Up and Away” - Andrew Link): A beautifully constructed image of an overshot event is still a beautifully constructed image. The use of color, light and shadow and the intelligent, complex composition really make this photograph sing.

Second Award - Marshfield News-Herald (“A True Juggling Act” - Laura Schmitt): All the elements are here and they fit in the frame quite nicely. The use of a slow shutter to exaggerate the motion here is also an added touch that a viewer appreciates. Though I normally prefer images that are composed with the ground level, this composition is dynamic and works with the subjects. The repetition of the bowling pins is a fantastic visual element. The most impressive thing here: the excellent exposure and color achieved with added lighting in a space that was certainly lit poorly to begin with.

Third Award - Watertown Daily Times (“How Many Seeds are in a Pumpkin” - Teresa Stowell): A great feature photo for the Halloween season. The little girl’s expression is priceless and evokes memories of nearly everyone’s first time carving a pumpkin. The inclusion of the amused teacher in the background is essential to this photograph’s success.

Photo Essay Group A First Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“A life changed: Road to recovery is long and painful for Dale toddler badly injured in lawnmower accident” - Dan Powers): The photographer did a great job of relating the struggles

Contest Edition

Editorial: Daily Division

of this family. The love that the family has for the little boy is conveyed through the photos.

Headlines

Interesting ruler-style rail used with the Snowed In package. It gives the page a good texture.

Second Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Starting Anew: Hmong Resettlement Revisited” - Sharon Cekada): The photographer obviously spent a lot of time with this family and one can tell through the photos that he was able to get close to his subject. A nice slice of life of this family’s new life in the U.S.

OPEN First Award - The Reporter, Fond du Lac (“Buried in debt,” “Special Delivery,” “Sisters in law”): The entries make great use of familiar phrases, working with the accompanying art to get the point across in a very direct way. The clever wordplay matches the tone of the stories perfectly. Puns are only effective when they are on point with the story,

Group B First Award - Oshkosh Northwestern (Daniel Higgins): Center packages on all three entries showed an effort not evident in other entries in this category. “Calorie Counters” had great movement, and an good use of the hamburger photo. The graphic with the roundabout story is a great way to tell the story, even the tease about the public information meetings fits with the theme, great attention to detail.

Third Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Honor flight: Fox Valley veterans join in WWII memorial salute” - Sharon Cekada): The photographer did a great job of getting nice moments from an important trip for this group of World War II veterans.

Group B First Award - The Reporter, Fond du Lac (“Hats off” - Patrick Flood): Nice collection of photos. We especially liked the image of the two girls running in the hallway - a very nice moment. Some unexpected photos here.

Second Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc (“Nurturing nature” - Benjamin Wideman): Some beautiful photos here. Nice use of shallow depth of field and a good variety of macro and looser shots. Every image here is unique - six photos and none are repetitive.

Third Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc (“From the Incas to the Amazon” - Sue Pischke): It’s nice to see a photographer writing and shooting their own travel story. The photos are beautiful depictions of life in Peru and Bolivia. The photo of Machu Picchu underlines how important it is to include people in your travel photos - really helps with scale.

Group C First Award - Watertown Daily Times (“Moooving to the Moments” - John Hart): Great visual variety. Wonderful moments. The photographer worked lots of angles - even got down on the ground with the pigs! We really felt the photos gave a feel for the event. We also especially liked the detail photos of the soapy hands on a calf.

Second Award - Watertown Daily Times (“Feeling” - John Hart): These photos played very well together. The photographer really captured the flavor of the festival. Great angle on the lead photo.

Third Award - Marshfield News-Herald (“Welcome Home” - Laura Schmitt): The lead photo on the black and white page was easily our favorite in this group. There are some unexpected moments throughout the story - things we don’t normally see from a homecoming.

Second Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Ted,” “E.T.,” “Broadway” - Shannon Barrington): These entries make use of icons of Americana that immediately connect with readers. With “E.T. phone Rome,” the writer changes one letter of a famous movie line to perfectly summarize the angle of the story.

Each headline lightly amuses the reader without hitting them over the head or sacrificing clarity.

Second Award - Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire (Tom Gunderson): Well crafted center packages, superior attention spent to skyboxes.

Third Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc (Benjamin Wideman): All of the center packages use more than one photo, and the photos have varying shapes and sizes that pull the eye to the page.

21 apart. I found myself wanting to know more.

The clean structure of the surrounding items helped to focus attention on this photo that undoubtedly made many readers take notice of this story.

Second Award - The Sheboygan Press (“The PGA,” “Landmark,” “Now Hiring”): An interesting mix of visual storytelling; photo illustrations and photo essays. Well executed.

Third Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc (Benjamin Wideman): Information-rich with an interesting attention to small details.

Group C First Award - Portage Daily Register (Jason Maddux): An interesting mix of conceptual and breaking news pages. Secondary pieces were treated with the sam thoughtfulness as display packages.

Second Award - Daily Tribune, Wisconsin Rapids (“Building a Legacy,” “Troops return from Iraq,” “Obey: Time to go”): Bold presentations of stories that interest Wisconsin Rapids readers.

Third Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Paramedics,” “Message,” “Suess” - Jason Bailey): The entries tickle the reader’s imagination, and “Seuss” employs the familiar rhyming style of the most beloved and well-known children’s writer in America. “Paramedics” blends metaphor with literal meaning to paint a vivid picture, as does “Cell phones.”

Group C First Award - Daily Tribune, Wisconsin Rapids: Bold colors used in center stories really helped these pages stand out.

General Comments: All the entries deftly use humor and wordplay to draw the attention of the reader. The writers were able to use a light touch that warms the reader, even to serious subjects.

Third Award - Shawano Leader: Well balanced pages. Good effort in skyboxes.

Page Design - Feature

Overall Page Design

Front Page

Group A First Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (Eric Ebert): Highly informative and engaging. I found myself lingering over small details, as well as being impressed by the pages initial impact. Well executed.

Group A First Award - Wisconsin State Journal, Madison (“20 Questions,” “Momshell,” “Simply the Best” - Dean Witter).

Group A First Award - The Journal Times, Racine (Roger Anderson, Bridget Thoreson, Miguel Villarreal, Mark Hertzberg, Gregory Shaver): The use of typography as art for the cover about the mayor’s speech was a great way to illustrate that story - a huge improvement over a typical politician-in-front-of-a-pulpit shot. The front page previewing Obama’s visit had engaging photos, it was nice to see the top photo stretch across the cover, really told the story. Nice design on whole package. Overall engaging skyboxes in the three submitted covers.

Second Award - Wisconsin State Journal, Madison: The submitted layouts all had great color, tying together the pages. Very effective use of maps/graphics as part of the packages to help tell the stories. Engaging skyboxes and reefers to the inside of the paper.

Third Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (Eric Ebert): Bold use of color in the packages about Brett Favre and Karley’s Story. Pulled it off well.

Second Award - Portage Daily Register: Clean, clutter-free design of this paper really helped the pages stand out. Good texture used for headlines.

Second Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“The Force of Words,” “It’s a Horse Race,” “A different Kind of Depression” - Larry Gallup): While all three pages are structurally similar the different storytelling methods used in the display; typography, illustration and photo illustration provided an added dimension and showed and a thoughtfulness to the topics.

Third Award - The Daily News, West Bend (Ken Merrill): A good presentation of photos.

True to news photos but taking chances with feature photography.

Second Award - Kenosha News (“An Alzheimer’s Q&A” - Julie VanderVelden).

Third Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“50 Things to do this Summer” - Ed Berthiaume).

Group B First Award - Oshkosh Northwestern (“Country USA Primer” - Daniel Higgins): Three common back-to-school issues - Solved!

Country USA Primer and Along Comes Alice Cooper are great designs.

Third Award - Wisconsin State Journal, Madison (Jonathan Kleinow): Excellent photography presented boldly. A clean, clutter presentation that allowed the photos and stories to speak clearly to the reader.

Second Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Pony Express” - Andrew Reuter): Well done!

Group B First Award - Wausau Daily Herald (“4th of July” - Elissa Holtmeier): The stunning photo on the 4th of July edition really sets this entry

Group C First Award - Portage Daily Register (“Behind the Mask,” “The River Cowboys,” “Greener Pastures” - Craig Spychalla): Great job!

Third Award - Beloit Daily News (“That’s one sweet ride” - Erika Strebel): Nice work.

GANNETT WISCONSIN EMPLOYEES ARE AWARD-WINNING! Congratulations to the following employees who received first - , second - and third - place honors in the WNA 2010 Better Newspaper and Advertising Contests.

GREEN BAY PRESS-GAZETTE Jason Bailey Shannon Barrington Vicki Brown Pete Dougherty Jessica Gilson Kristy Gnadt Beth Halter Heather Holmes H. Marc Larson Kendra Meinert Heather Nohr Lori O’Connor Adam Ropson Richard Ryman Shawn Scray Evan Siegle Chris Speckhard Paul Srubas Erica Van Boxel Mike Vandermause Gary Vossekuil Tony Walter Scott Williams Corey Wilson DE PERE JOURNAL Todd McMahon DOOR COUNTY ADVOCATE Peter J Devlin Samantha Hernandez Heidi Hodges Melinda Johnson Christine Nesheim Pamela Parks Bill Vandermause HERALD TIMES REPORTER (MANITOWOC) Annette Backhaus Megan Bruckschen Russ Budzisz Pat Dirkman Amy Hanson Cindy Hodgson Sara Kloepping Charlie Matthews Dale Mahloch James Maurer

Jessica Muchowski Lindsey Nelson Pat Pankratz Sue Pischke Josh Salm Jim Schoemer Rochelle Stubbs Doug Sundin Diane Wallander Suzanne Weiss Ben Wideman KEWAUNEE COUNTY NEWS Tina Gohr OSHKOSH NORTHWESTERN Jeff Bollier Mindie Boynton Rob Ebert Daniel Higgins Lisa O’Halloran Stew Rieckman Dave Wasinger Shu Ling Zhou MARSHFIELD NEWS-HERALD Jodi Behling Jonathan Gneiser Mystique Macomber Jake Miller Molly Newman Laura Schmitt Ashley A. Smith Liz Welter Dan Young Jan Zettler THE POST-CRESCENT (APPLETON) Ricardo Arguello Larry Avila Duke Behnke Ed Berthiaume Sharon Cekada Joel Christopher Brett Christopherson Jim Collar Mike Cruse Dan Dahl Stan Feavel

Patrick Ferron Scott Flentje Tim Froberg Larry Gallup Paul Gilbert Bill Glasheen Nicole Glisczinski Kristy Gnadt Elly Heuring Heather Holmes Jim Hoslet Ben Jones Mike King John Lee Kristen Manders Nicole Mertes Jim Olski Naomi Peterson Dan Powers Marie Rayome Mike Sherry Gary Vossekuil Kathy Walsh Nufer Stephen Welcher Jaime Witt THE REPORTER (FOND DU LAC) Justin Connaher Patrick Flood Paul Keup Colleen Kottke Mike Mentzer Russ Plummer Sharon Roznik The Reporter Staff THE SHEBOYGAN PRESS Pete Barth Dan Benson Bob Farina Joe Gulig Bruce Halmo Gary Klein Josh Lintereur Eric Litke Dave Lubach Janet Ortegon Bob Petrie Frank Rigas

Randy Schmahl Jackie Stenson Adam Thompson Nicole Wolff Nhia Yang STEVENS POINT JOURNAL Paul Bahr Jon Gneiser Amy Kimmes Tom Loucks Dave Paulsen Laura Schmitt Corey Schjoth Ashley Smith Nicole Strittmater Linda Taylor Mark Treinan Keith Uhlig Nate Vine Pete Wasson WAUSAU DAILY HERALD Cathy Emerson Kathleen Foody Scott Hehir Elissa Holtmeier Carrie Hutton Xai Kha Robert Mentzer Brian Otten Amy Ryan Corey Schjoth Chris Schulte Steve Sitko Janet Tharaldson Peter J. Wasson WISCONSIN RAPIDS DAILY TRIBUNE Deb Cleworth Allen Hicks Tom Loucks Tara Marcoux Mark Massoglia Jamie Rokus Nathaniel Shuda Adam Wise

Thank you to all of our employees for their dedication to doing great work and making a difference in our readers’ lives.

Contest Edition The Tribune-Phonograph, Abbotsford First Award Spot News Photo First Award Best Use of Art Service Second Award Editorial Award Third Award Sports Photo Kewaunee County News Algoma First Award Front Page Second Award Feature Second Award All-Around Newspaper Photography Second Award General News Photo The Post-Crescent, Appleton First Award Special Project First Award Enterprise/Interpretive Reporting First Award Business Coverage First Award General News Photo First Award Feature Photo First Award Photo Essay First Award Page Design - Sports First Award Reporting on Local Government First Award Special Pages Best Use of Local First Award Photography First Award Best Newspaper Promotion First Award Best Circulation Promotion First Award Innovative Online Advertising Second Award Breaking News Coverage Sports Page(s) Second Award Sports News Story Second Award Local Sports Column Second Award Lifestyle Page(s) Second Award Second Award All-Around Newspaper Photography Photo Essay Second Award Overall Page Design Second Award Page Design - Sports Second Award General Web Excellence Second Award Innovative Online Second Award Advertising Best Adv Idea (Series) Second Award Best Multiple Advertiser Second Award Spread Best Use of Art Service Second Award Best Newspaper Second Award Promotion Online Revenue Builder Second Award Second Award Best Online Advertising

Single Ad- Animated Bill Payne Award Second Award Editorial Page(s) Third Award Sports News Story Third Award Third Award Enterprise/Interpretive Reporting Spot News Photo Third Award Photo Essay Third Award Page Design - Feature Third Award Third Award Reporting on Local Education Third Award Investigative Reporting Creative use of Multimedia Third Award Continuing Web Coverage Third Award Third Award Innovative Online Advertising Third Award Best Use of Art Service Third Award Best Use of Local Photography

Awards listing by newspaper Third Award Best Niche Publication In Paper Third Award Best Niche Publication

Out of Paper Third Award Online Revenue Builder Third Award Best Online Advertising

Single Ad- Static Baraboo News Republic First Award Enterprise/Interpretive Reporting First Award Reporting on Local Government First Award Best Online Advertising

Single Ad- Static Second Award Editorial Award Second Award Breaking News Coverage Second Award Investigative Reporting Second Award Best Use of Art Service Second Award Best Online Advertising

Single Ad- Static Third Award Best Online Advertising

Single Ad- Static Daily Citizen, Beaver Dam Best Online Advertising First Award

Single Ad- Static Second Award Best Use of Color Second Award Best Multiple Advertiser Spread Beloit Daily News Page Design - Feature Third Award Jackson County Chronicle, Black River Falls Editorial Award First Award First Award Local Column Sports Page(s) First Award Enterprise/Interpretive First Award Reporting Feature First Award All-Around Newspaper First Award Photography First Award General News Photo Page Design - Sports First Award Reporting on Local First Award Education Investigative Reporting First Award Special Section-Editorial Second Award General News Photo Second Award Photo Essay Second Award Second Award Front Page Page Design - Feature Second Award Most Improved Newspaper Second Award General Excellence Third Award Local Column Third Award Third Award Sports News Story Third Award Feature Photo Headlines Third Award Overall Page Design Third Award The Brillion News Second Award Local Column Second Award Overall Page Design Sports Photo Third Award Brookfield-Elm Grove NOW First Award Reporting on Local Education First Award Continuing Web Coverage Enterprise/Interpretive Second Award

23

Reporting Second Award Creative use of Multimedia

Third Award

Burlington Standard Press First Award General Excellence First Award Breaking News Coverage First Award Lifestyle Page(s) First Award Page Design - Feature Second Award Enterprise/Interpretive Reporting Third Award Special Section-Editorial

Vilas County News-Review, Eagle River First Award All-Around Newspaper Photography First Award Photo Essay

Burlington Standard Press Third Award Local Sports Column The Cambridge News Third Award Sports Page(s) Campbellsport News First Award Spot News Photo News Graphic First Award Second Award Third Award Third Award

Headlines Headlines Front Page Overall Page Design

The Chippewa Herald First Award Editorial Award First Award Editorial Page(s) Sports Page(s) First Award First Award Page Design - Sports Investigative Reporting First Award Best Use of Color First Award Best Multiple Advertiser First Award Spread First Award Best Use of Local Photography Best Newspaper Promotion First Award Best Niche Publication First Award In Paper Best Niche Publication First Award

Out of Paper First Award Online Revenue Builder Local Sports Column Second Award General News Photo Second Award Second Award Reporting on Local Education Creative use of Multimedia Second Award All-Around Newspaper Third Award Photography Third Award Web Special Project Best Special Section Third Award Best Niche Publication Third Award

Out of Paper Harrison MacDonald Third Award Clintonville Chronicle Second Award Spot News Photo Best Circulation Promotion Second Award Republican Journal, Darlington First Award Special Section-Editorial De Pere Journal Second Award Third Award Third Award

Breaking News Coverage Sports Feature Front Page

DeForest Times-Tribune General Excellence Second Award

Most Improved Newspaper

Living Kettle Moraine Index, Dousman First Award Sports News Story

Vilas County News-Review First Award Best Newspaper Promotion Second Award Best Use of Local Photography Second Award Special Project Second Award Feature Photo Third Award General Excellence Third Award Editorial Page(s) Third Award Special Section-Editorial Third Award General News Photo Third Award Special Pages Third Award Best Use of Local Photography Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire General Excellence First Award First Award Editorial Award First Award Sports Page(s) First Award Local Sports Column Second Award Front Page Local Outdoor Column Third Award Third Award Enterprise/Interpretive Reporting Feature Third Award Lifestyle Page(s) Third Award The Country Today, Eau Claire Sports Feature First Award Editorial Award Second Award The Record-Review, Edgar Feature Photo First Award Best Special Section First Award First Award Best Newspaper Promotion Editorial Award Third Award Best Use of Color Third Award Third Award Best Use of Local Photography Elkhorn Independent Feature Photo Second Award Pierce County Herald, Ellsworth Best Niche Publication First Award

Out of Paper Best Special Section Second Award Third Award Best Adv Idea (Series) Third Award Best Special Section Best Use of Art Service Third Award The Fennimore Times Second Award Feature The Reporter, Fond du Lac Special Section-Editorial First Award Local Column First Award First Award Local Outdoor Column First Award Feature First Award Sports Photo First Award Feature Photo Photo Essay First Award

Awards listing by newspaper

24 First Award Headlines Second Award Breaking News Coverage Second Award Sports Feature Second Award Lifestyle Page(s) Second Award Continuing Web Coverage Third Award Business Coverage Third Award All-Around Newspaper Photography Third Award Page Design - Sports Third Award Reporting on Local Education Daily Jefferson County Union, Fort Atkinson First Award Best Use of Art Service First Award Best Circulation Promotion Second Award Editorial Page(s) Second Award Spot News Photo Second Award General Web Excellence Freedom Pursuit Second Award

Sports Feature

Crawford County Independent & The Kickapoo Scout, Gays Mills First Award Photo Essay Second Award Sports Photo Germantown-Menomonee Falls NOW First Award Sports News Story First Award Enterprise/Interpretive Reporting First Award General News Photo Burnett County Sentinel, Grantsburg Second Award Feature Second Award Special Pages Green Bay Press-Gazette First Award Editorial Award Special Section-Editorial First Award First Award Local Sports Column First Award Lifestyle Page(s) First Award All-Around Newspaper Photography First Award Sports Photo First Award Overall Page Design First Award Graphics First Award General Web Excellence Best Adv Idea (Series) First Award Best Multiple Advertiser First Award Spread Best Use of Art Service First Award Best Niche Publication First Award In Paper Special Project Second Award Second Award Editorial Page(s) Second Award Open Records/FOI Award Second Award Sports Feature Environmental Reporting Second Award Sports Photo Second Award Second Award Feature Photo Second Award Headlines Investigative Reporting Second Award Second Award Creative use of Multimedia Continuing Web Coverage Second Award Third Award General Excellence Third Award Local Column Third Award Sports Page(s) Third Award Business Coverage Third Award General News Photo

Third Award Third Award Third Award Third Award

Headlines Front Page Entertainment Pages Web Special Project

Green Bay Press-Gazette First Award Online Revenue Builder First Award Best Online Advertising

Single Ad- Animated Second Award Best Use of Local Photography Second Award Best Niche Publication In Paper Second Award Best Niche Publication

Out of Paper Second Award Best Online Advertising

Single Ad- Static Third Award Best Adv Idea (Series) Third Award Best Special Section Third Award Best Use of Color Third Award Best Newspaper Promotion Greenfield-West Allis NOW Third Award Reporting on Local Government Living Lake Country Reporter, Hartland First Award Sports Page(s) First Award General Web Excellence First Award Creative use of Multimedia First Award Best Use of Color First Award Best Use of Art Service First Award Best Niche Publication In Paper Second Award Best Use of Color Second Award Best Niche Publication In Paper Second Award Photo Essay Second Award Page Design - Feature Page Design - Sports Second Award Second Award Reporting on Local Education Third Award Lifestyle Page(s) Hudson Star-Observer First Award General Excellence First Award Editorial Page(s) First Award Page Design - Feature Best Online Advertising First Award

Single Ad- Animated Second Award Special Section-Editorial Front Page Second Award Entertainment Pages Second Award All-Around Newspaper Third Award Photography The Janesville Gazette First Award Sports Feature Environmental Reporting First Award Reporting on Local First Award Education First Award Investigative Reporting Continuing Web Coverage First Award First Award Best Special Section Best Use of Color First Award First Award Best Use of Local Photography First Award Best Niche Publication In Paper First Award Best Circulation Promotion

First Award Online Revenue Builder First Award Best Online Advertising

Single Ad- Static Second Award Best Multiple Advertiser Spread Second Award Best Use of Art Service Second Award Best Use of Local Photography Second Award Best Niche Publication

Out of Paper Second Award Online Revenue Builder Second Award Best Online Advertising

Single Ad- Static Second Award Editorial Page(s) Second Award Local Column Second Award Local Outdoor Column Second Award Enterprise/Interpretive Reporting Second Award Business Coverage Second Award Feature Second Award Page Design - Feature Second Award Reporting on Local Government Second Award General Web Excellence Third Award Local Column Third Award Sports Page(s) Third Award Feature Photo Third Award Best Adv Idea (Series) Third Award Best Use of Art Service Third Award Best Newspaper Promotion Third Award Best Online Advertising

Single Ad- Static Kenosha News First Award Spot News Photo First Award Best Use of Color First Award Best Online Advertising

Single Ad- Static Second Award Best Special Section Best Use of Color Second Award Second Award Spot News Photo Second Award Page Design - Feature Second Award Entertainment Pages Third Award Special Project Third Award Feature Photo Third Award Best Multiple Advertiser Spread La Crosse Tribune First Award Breaking News Coverage First Award Sports Page(s) Best Special Section First Award General Excellence Second Award Reporting on Local Second Award Government Third Award reaking News Coverage Third Award Sports Feature Lake Geneva Regional News First Award Feature First Award Reporting on Local Government Editorial Award Third Award Third Award Open Records/FOI Award Best Multiple Advertiser Third Award Spread Lake Mills Leader Second Award Investigative Reporting Third Award Editorial Page(s)

Contest Edition Third Award Third Award

Breaking News Coverage Sports Page(s)

Grant County Herald Independent Lancaster First Award Page Design - Sports First Award Best Adv Idea (Series) First Award Best Use of Color First Award Best Use of Local Photography Second Award Best Use of Local Photography Second Award Special Section-Editorial Second Award Environmental Reporting Second Award Sports Photo Second Award Overall Page Design Third Award Sports Feature Third Award Best Adv Idea (Series) Grant County Herald Independent Third Award Best Multiple Advertiser Spread Third Award Best Niche Publication

Out of Paper Lodi Enterprise First Award Best Niche Publication

Out of Paper Third Award Breaking News Coverage Third Award Feature Third Award Reporting on Local Education Wisconsin State Journal, Madison First Award General Excellence First Award Editorial Page(s) First Award Local Outdoor Column First Award Page Design - Feature First Award Investigative Reporting First Award Web Special Project Continuing Web Coverage First Award First Award Creative use of Multimedia Second Award Editorial Award Second Award Special Section-Editorial Second Award Local Column Second Award Enterprise/Interpretive Reporting Second Award Front Page Second Award Reporting on Local Education Web Special Project Second Award Third Award Open Records/FOI Award Special Section-Editorial Third Award Overall Page Design Third Award Page Design - Sports Third Award The Capital Times, Madison First Award Local Column First Award Feature Reporting on Local First Award Education First Award Entertainment Pages Second Award Business Coverage Feature Second Award Third Award Feature Environmental Reporting Third Award Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc First Award Open Records/FOI Award First Award Lifestyle Page(s)

Contest Edition First Award All-Around Newspaper Photography First Award Page Design - Sports First Award General Web Excellence Second Award Creative use of Multimedia Second Award Editorial Award Second Award Sports Photo Second Award Photo Essay Second Award Special Pages Second Award Entertainment Pages Second Award Web Special Project Third Award Sports News Story Third Award General News Photo Third Award Spot News Photo Third Award Sports Photo Third Award Photo Essay Third Award Front Page Third Award Overall Page Design Third Award Reporting on Local Government Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc First Award Best Multiple Advertiser Spread First Award Best Newspaper Promotion Second Award Best Newspaper Promotion Second Award Best Niche Publication In Paper Second Award Innovative Online Advertising Third Award Best Multiple Advertiser Spread Third Award Best Online Advertising

Single Ad- Animated EagleHerald, Marinette Second Award Reporting on Local Government Third Award Enterprise/Interpretive Reporting Marshfield News-Herald First Award General News Photo First Award Reporting on Local Education First Award General Web Excellence First Award Creative use of Multimedia Second Award All-Around Newspaper Photography Feature Photo Second Award Second Award Web Special Project General Excellence Third Award Photo Essay Third Award Best Adv Idea (Series) Third Award Best Online Advertising Third Award

Single Ad- Animated Juneau County Star-Times, Mauston Second Award Open Records/FOI Award Best Niche Publication Second Award

Out of Paper Third Award Reporting on Local Government Dodge County Pionier, Mayville First Award Investigative Reporting First Award Best Circulation Promotion Third Award Sports Page(s) Third Award Best Newspaper Promotion

Awards listing by newspaper Third Award Best Niche Publication In Paper The Star News, Medford First Award Feature Photo First Award Entertainment Pages First Award Best Adv Idea (Series) First Award Best Use of Local Photography Second Award Best Multiple Advertiser Spread Second Award Best Use of Art Service Second Award Best Circulation Promotion Second Award Editorial Page(s) Second Award Web Special Project Third Award Special Project Third Award Page Design - Feature Third Award Reporting on Local Education Third Award Bill Payne Award The Dunn County News, Menomonie First Award Editorial Page(s) First Award Sports Photo Second Award Local Outdoor Column Second Award Lifestyle Page(s) Second Award General News Photo Second Award Page Design - Feature Second Award Graphics Third Award General Excellence Third Award Overall Page Design Third Award Page Design - Sports Middleton Times-Tribune First Award Local Column First Award Sports Page(s) Second Award Reporting on Local Education The Daily Reporter Milwaukee First Award Web Special Project First Award Continuing Web Coverage Third Award Business Coverage First Award Harrison MacDonald Second Award Best Special Section Second Award Best Use of Art Service The Lakeland Times, Minocqua First Award Open Records/FOI Award The Monroe Times Best Adv Idea (Series) First Award Living Mukwonago Chief Breaking News Coverage First Award Third Award Enterprise/Interpretive Reporting Muskego-New Berlin NOW Second Award Breaking News Coverage New Richmond News First Award Local Column First Award Spot News Photo General Excellence Second Award Second Award General Web Excellence Third Award Web Special Project

25

Oak Creek NOW First Award Overall Page Design Third Award Creative use of Multimedia

Third Award Reporting on Local Education Third Award Creative use of Multimedia

Oconomowoc Enterprise Third Award Breaking News Coverage

County Line, Ontario First Award Sports Photo Third Award Special Section-Editorial

The Journal Times, Racine First Award Sports News Story First Award Sports Feature First Award Front Page Second Award General News Photo Third Award Local Sports Column Third Award Lifestyle Page(s) Third Award All-Around Newspaper Photography Third Award Reporting on Local Government Third Award General Web Excellence

The Oregon Observer First Award Reporting on Local Government

Reedsburg Times-Press First Award Breaking News Coverage

The Sun, Osceola Third Award Local Outdoor Column

The Chronotype, Rice Lake First Award Local Outdoor Column First Award Special Pages Third Award Feature Photo Third Award Page Design - Sports

Living Oconomowoc Focus First Award Investigative Reporting Third Award Sports News Story Third Award Feature Photo Third Award Photo Essay

Oshkosh Northwestern First Award Spot News Photo First Award Front Page First Award Page Design - Feature First Award Reporting on Local Government Second Award Sports News Story Second Award Best Online Advertising

Single Ad- Animated Third Award Best Special Section Third Award Innovative Online Advertising Third Award Online Revenue Builder Third Award Creative use of Multimedia Third Award Web Special Project The Platteville Journal First Award Sports Feature Second Award Sports News Story Second Award Front Page Portage Daily Register First Award General Excellence First Award Breaking News Coverage Local Column First Award Local Outdoor Column First Award First Award Business Coverage Feature First Award Lifestyle Page(s) First Award Spot News Photo First Award Overall Page Design First Award First Award Page Design - Feature First Award Best Special Section Second Award Best Niche Publication In Paper Best Niche Publication Second Award

Out of Paper Second Award Best Online Advertising

Single Ad- Animated Second Award Feature Front Page Second Award Second Award Page Design - Sports Third Award Editorial Page(s) Third Award Local Sports Column Third Award Reporting on Local Government

The Richland Observer, Richland Center First Award Front Page Second Award Editorial Page(s) The Ripon Commonwealth Press First Award Editorial Award First Award Local Sports Column First Award Enterprise/Interpretive Reporting First Award Feature First Award All-Around Newspaper Photography Overall Page Design First Award First Award Best Multiple Advertiser Spread First Award Best Circulation Promotion Second Award Best Adv Idea (Series) Second Award Best Niche Publication In Paper Second Award Harrison MacDonald Second Award Breaking News Coverage Feature Photo Second Award Page Design - Sports Second Award Second Award Continuing Web Coverage Feature Third Award Reporting on Local Third Award Education Best Special Section Third Award Third Award Best Use of Art Service River Falls Journal First Award Editorial Award Sports Feature Second Award Second Award Reporting on Local Government Best Adv Idea (Series) Second Award Sauk Prairie Eagle, Sauk City First Award General Excellence First Award Editorial Page(s) First Award Front Page First Award Overall Page Design First Award Page Design - Feature

Awards listing by newspaper

26 First Award Reporting on Local Government First Award Best Online Advertising

Single Ad- Animated Second Award Best Use of Color Second Award Best Multiple Advertiser Spread Second Award Best Newspaper Promotion Second Award Innovative Online Advertising Second Award Editorial Page(s) Second Award Sports Page(s) Second Award Sports News Story Second Award Sports Feature Second Award All-Around Newspaper Photography Second Award Page Design - Sports Second Award Reporting on Local Government Second Award Reporting on Local Education Third Award General News Photo Third Award Photo Essay Shawano Leader First Award Second Award Second Award Second Award Third Award Third Award Third Award

Sports Photo Special Section-Editorial Sports Feature Lifestyle Page(s) Sports Page(s) Sports News Story Feature

Shawano Leader Third Award Third Award Third Award Third Award Third Award

General News Photo Front Page Page Design - Feature Page Design - Sports Special Pages

The Sheboygan Press First Award Sports News Story First Award Business Coverage First Award Entertainment Pages First Award Creative use of Multimedia First Award Best Adv Idea (Series) First Award Best Use of Art Service First Award Innovative Online Advertising Best Adv Idea (Series) Second Award Second Award Best Special Section Best Use of Color Second Award Sports Page(s) Second Award Local Sports Column Second Award General News Photo Second Award Second Award Overall Page Design Second Award Page Design - Sports Second Award Reporting on Local Education Investigative Reporting Second Award Third Award Editorial Award Third Award Editorial Page(s) Special Section-Editorial Third Award Third Award Breaking News Coverage Local Sports Column Third Award Third Award Sports Feature Third Award General Web Excellence Third Award Continuing Web Coverage Third Award General Excellence Third Award Best Use of Color

Third Award Best Use of Local Photography Third Award Best Niche Publication In Paper Third Award Best Niche Publication

Out of Paper

Vernon County Broadcaster, Viroqua Second Award Sports News Story Second Award Spot News Photo Third Award Photo Essay Third Award Investigative Reporting Third Award Continuing Web Coverage

Stevens Point Journal First Award Special Section-Editorial First Award Best Online Advertising

Single Ad- Animated Second Award Enterprise/Interpretive Reporting Second Award Online Revenue Builder Third Award Innovative Online Advertising Third Award Best Online Advertising

Single Ad- Static

The Courier, Waterloo Second Award Investigative Reporting

The Portage County Gazette, Stevens Point First Award Best Special Section Third Award Graphics Door County Advocate, Sturgeon Bay First Award Environmental Reporting Second Award Local Column Second Award Best Niche Publication

Out of Paper Third Award Local Column Third Award Feature Third Award Sports Photo Third Award Best Use of Color The Star, Sun Prairie First Award Special Section-Editorial Third Award Sports Feature Superior Telegram First Award Page Design - Sports Best Multiple Advertiser First Award Spread Second Award Local Sports Column Second Award Best Newspaper Promotion Living Sussex Sun First Award Photo Essay Third Award Spot News Photo The Valders Journal First Award Special Project Sports News Story First Award Business Coverage First Award Local Column Second Award Sports Page(s) Second Award Second Award Photo Essay Third Award Local Column Third Award All-Around Newspaper Photography General News Photo Third Award The Verona Press First Award Reporting on Local Education Reporting on Local Second Award Government Third Award Enterprise/Interpretive Reporting Third Award Front Page

Watertown Daily Times First Award Sports News Story First Award All-Around Newspaper Photography First Award Photo Essay First Award Entertainment Pages Second Award Sports News Story Second Award Business Coverage Second Award Photo Essay Second Award Page Design - Feature Second Award Best Adv Idea (Series) Second Award Best Use of Local Photography Second Award Best Newspaper Promotion Second Award Best Circulation Promotion Third Award Sports Feature Third Award Lifestyle Page(s) Third Award Sports Photo Third Award Feature Photo Third Award Best Use of Color Third Award Best Multiple Advertise Spread Third Award Best Use of Art Service Third Award Best Use of Local Photography The Freeman, Waukesha First Award General News Photo Second Award All-Around Newspaper Photography Second Award Spot News Photo Second Award Feature Photo The Waunakee Tribune Second Award Business Coverage Second Award All-Around Newspaper Photography Second Award Spot News Photo County Post East, Waupaca First Award General News Photo Graphics First Award Best Niche Publication First Award In Paper Sports Photo Second Award Third Award Spot News Photo County Post West, Waupaca First Award Sports Photo Most Improved Newspaper First Award Second Award Sports Page(s) Second Award Investigative Reporting Sports News Story Third Award Third Award Environmental Reporting Best Niche Publication Third Award

Out of Paper Wausau Daily Herald First Award Editorial Page(s) First Award Breaking News Coverage

Contest Edition First Award Enterprise/Interpretive Reporting First Award Overall Page Design First Award Web Special Project First Award Best Niche Publication

Out of Paper First Award Best Online Advertising

Single Ad- Animated First Award Bill Payne Award Second Award General Excellence Second Award Special Section-Editorial Wauwatosa NOW First Award Web Special Project Second Award Overall Page Design Third Award General Web Excellence The Daily News, West Bend First Award Sports Feature First Award Feature Photo Second Award Sports Page(s) Second Award Sports Photo Third Award Breaking News Coverage Third Award Overall Page Design Westby Times First Award Special Section-Editorial First Award Sports Feature First Award Feature Photo Third Award All-Around Newspaper Photography Third Award Page Design - Feature Wisconsin Dells Events First Award Innovative Online Advertising Second Award General Excellence Wisconsin Dells Events Best Special Section Second Award Daily Tribune, Wisconsin Rapids First Award Local Sports Column First Award Front Page Second Award General Excellence Second Award Local Column Second Award Overall Page Design Second Award Entertainment Pages Spot News Photo Third Award Innovative Online First Award Advertising Innovative Online Second Award Advertising Best Online Advertising Second Award

Single Ad- Static

Contest Edition Second Award - Watertown Daily Times (“Holiday Treats” - Heidi Schwoch).

Third Award - Shawano Leader (Kent Tempus).

Page Design - Sports Group A First Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Globe Trotter,” “Game Faces 2009,” “Athletic of Year” - Jim Olski): The game faces presentation was wonderful. What a fun and engaging idea and well executed. The time spent and the care that went into this page is evident.

Second Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Looking ahead to 2010,” “NCAA Division III baseball,” “A day in the life” - Mike Sherry): A unique way to present the traditional look ahead to the coming year. And a very informative preview of the Division II baseball tournament.

Third Award - Wisconsin State Journal, Madison (“All the right moves,” M”ark your calendar,” “Rising to the top” - Laura Nolan): The presentation of the prep athletes of the year was visually dynamic and the mix of action shots and portrait photography worked very well.

Group B First Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc (Border Battles,” “Armed and Dangerous,” “Transition Game” - Benjamin Wideman): A really wonderful and visually rich presentation of the Olympic preview. Well-thought out and executed.

Second Award - The Sheboygan Press (“PGA Championship” - Frank Rigas): Robust coverage of the PGA Championship. Informationrich and visually engaging.

Third Award - The Reporter, Fond du Lac (“Spring Earns 10th State Football Title” - Paul Keup): Excellent visual presentation of all levels of football; preps, college and pro.

Group C First Award - The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls (“Meet the Chippewa Marines,” “Sun Sets on Season” - David Bossick): An intersting mix of design presentation, new photo, photo illustration and illustration. The “Sun Sets on a Season” is a particulalry powerful page.

Second Award - Portage Daily Register (“Portage Connection” - Travis Houslet): Accepted the challenge of designing pages in just black and white and did a very good job of crafting visually compelling pages.

Editorial: Daily Division Third Award - Shawano Leader (“Running to a National Title” - Cory Dellenbach): Bold displays marked this entry. With interesting feature and news presentations.

Reporting on Local Government Group A First Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Burden of community debt,” “Winter prep,” “Grass roots in motion” - Michael King): What sets these entries apart from the others is the clear but comprehensive writing that takes tedious topics - local government debt, budgets, town meetings - and breaks them down into easy-to-understand, how-it-affects-you terms.

I particularly liked the unique approach to the story about town meetings, an annual event that would be easy to cover the same way it’s probably been covered every year. Readers got a snapshot of the hot-button issues in each community.

Second Award - La Crosse Tribune (“Report: Harter violated ethics code,” “Hater: Meeting not a ‘big deal,’” “Mayor’s actions raise ethics questions” - Samantha Marcus): Solid, straightforward reporting on the actions of a mayor that clearly raise ethical and conflict-of-interest concerns. The definition of watchdog reporting on an issue that, absent such reporting, may otherwise have been swept under the rug.

27

Group C First Award - Baraboo News Republic “Jarls burden on taxpayers increases” - Tim Damos): Great reporting on what appears to be a black hole for taxpayer money and some county officials’ reluctance to acknowledge that fact, despite information collected by the newspaper.

Second Award - EagleHerald, Marinette (“Software installation prompts investigation” - Penny Mullins): Good, persistent coverage of a disturbing issue for which no one in the local government appears interested in taking responsibility.

Third Award - Portage Daily Register (“Deputy,” “Packing up their lives,” “Wind Farms” - Lyn Jerde).

Reporting on Local Education Group A First Award - The Capital Times, Madison (“The Bigest Loser: Madison’s schools see a drop in aid unequaled by any other district in the state” - Susan Troller): Excellent coverage of some of the challenges facing education in Wisconsin. Ms. Troller gives readers thorough explanations of the funding crisis, the achievement gap and the issues surrounding linking teacher performance and student performance.

Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc; First Award, Group B, Page Design Second Award - Wisconsin State Journal, - Sports.

Third Award - The Journal Times, Racine Madison (“Vanishing schools” - Barry Adams, (“Bus Passes on Black market” - Stephanie Jones): The reporter did a good job of delving into unique issues that extend beyond the weekly town meeting, explaining how average citizens can be affected by municipal bureaucracy.

Steve Apps, Mike DeVries, Jason Klein, Laura Sparks): Excellent package showing readers the variety of reasons for and solutions to the school funding crisis. Many newspapers report this one school district at a time; this works much better and is more useful.

Group B First Award - Oshkosh Northwestern (“Inspectors check for cleanliness,” “Bar, tavern fee repeal could have benefit,” “Inspectors check for cleanliness” - Jeff Bollier): Comprehensive coverage of a broad range of topics that affect all citizens there. We particularly liked the detailed report on restaurant inspections.

Third Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Addition and subtraction,” Digital fast track,” Neenah debates meaning of ‘everyone’” - Duke Behnke): Behnke had several voices in his stories, and his writing was clear and accessible.

The free passes story was amusing -- just goes to show that the simplest decision isn’t that simple.

Second Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Detention discontent,” “Lawyers have favorite judges,” “Complaints allege sex discrimination, more at Rock County Coroner’s Office” - Ted Sullivan): Great use of open records laws to delve into behind-the-scenes looks.

General comments: This category had a number of strong contenders. It was a pleasure to read such good work.

Third Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc (“Triple P” - Emily Holman): Good job of staying on top of a questionable affiliation between a public entity and a private company.

Group B First Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Turning to taxpayers,” “Collaboration instead of consolidation,” “Open enrollment is a waiting game” - Gina Duwe): Ms. Duwe provides readers with complete, concise explanations of complicated subjects. The consolidation/collaboration story, as well as the stories on ref-

erendums and the enrollment guessing game show that she covers her beat thoroughly.

Second Award - The Sheboygan Press (“Time ticking for district, teachers,” “It’s da-Bomber,” “Cloud computing, not page turning” - Dan Benson): Benson’s cloud computing story covered a difficult topic in an understandable way. The coverage of turmoil over-cutting the budget gives readers insight into the difficult choices facing the school district.

Third Award - The Reporter, Fond du Lac (“Rough choices,” “Area family challenges denial,” “No surrender” - Colleen Kottke): Kottke gave insight into tensions in the Waupan School District after tough choices were made. Her stories all tackle challenging topics.

General Comments: There were several entries that were not complete and therefore were considered. One only had the front pages, not the jumps. Another did not include the front page of a story but had the jump twice.

Another included a jump page but it was the wrong jump.

28 Group C First Award - Marshfield News-Herald (“4K: Improves social skills” - Ashley A. Smith): Smith’s range of coverage from the explanatory story on enrollment to the feature on the tiny fourth grade class was excellent. The stories were clearly written.

Second Award - The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls (“Chippewa Falls schools” - Liz Hochstedler): The reporter knows her school district. The tension in the school board meeting on cost-cutting would be obvious to any reader, and the story about the boy who fought through several tragedies was heartwarming.

Third Award - Portage Daily Register (“River Crossing, Dancing, Speech” - Jen McCoy).

General Comments: The Daily Tribune entry was incomplete (two jumps but no cover page for one story).

Special Pages OPEN First Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Good Neighbors,” “The Buzz,” “P-C Watchdog”): The section does exactly what its name implies -- supply lots of helpful and neighborly information about opportunities, people, fundraisers, businesses, retail and local government in an information-rich section. A clean, uncluttered design with appropriate touches here and there help organization and navagation. This is a well edited, friendly and useful section that commands this category.

Second Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc (“Food, Beliefs, Travel”): The diversity of topics and perspectives elevated this entry into second place. From a coffee aficionado to a photographer traveling through South America to a commentator on religious issues, each day I came across a different and interesting voice. Even on one page, I found a lot to read. Design -- thorough special headline type treatments and running too many photos on the Travel front -- is drawing too much attention to itself.

Third Award - Shawano Leader (“Driver’s Seat” - Cory Dellenbach): Given one page to track all of auto racing, “Driver’s Seat” packs a lot of information into a tight newshole.

And I think that’s the fatal flaw -- at least in this competition. The Q&As are good and the wire report allows some national perspective.

The standings rails, however, take up a bunch of real estate and while the information they carry has a home here, I’m left to believe they could be packaged more efficiently

Editorial: Daily Division Investigative Reporting Group A First Award - Wisconsin State Journal, Madison (“DOT offical profits from DOT purchase” - Dee J. Hall, Mary Spicuzza): An excellent job of digging up a suspicious situation and bringing it to light. People love to profit from government and it’s an important task for newspapers to keep watch. That’s what the WSJ did.

Second Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Expanding Empire” - Tony Walter): Great job uncovering the real estate expansion of the Packers and then tackling all the issues, good and bad, that are raised by the land purchases.

It’s not illegal activity, but will have a profound impact on the city. Now I’m off to see if this is happening in my city.

Third Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“State contract data in the dark” - Ben Jones): These annual efforts, while important to community understanding, rarely result in stunning stories. This one is an exception, however, The Post-Crescent found a shortcoming in the state’s performance and then hammered it - and saw some change in its wake.

Group B First Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Detention discontent,” “Documents: No investigation into misconduct,” “Problems exposed in juvenile division,” “‘It will take time,’” “‘An effort to improve’” - Ted Sullivan): Strong entry that shows the power of documents. The reporters zeroed in on what they wanted, obtained the information and told a story that impacted public safety.

This is the sort of reporting that keeps newspapers integral to their communities. Strong followup throughout the life of the story.

Second Award - The Sheboygan Press (“Lo$t” - Bob Petrie): Excellent job of catching government falling down on the job.

Third Award - The Reporter, Fond du Lac (“Troubled Water” - Colleen Kottke): Good enterprise on a subject that I’m sure is near and dear to the state’s residents. Excellent explanation of an issue that needs addressing.

Group C First Award - The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls (“A dangerous intersection” - Liz Hochstedler, Mark Gunderman): This is what news organizations should do: notice an issue in their community, do the investigation to confirm it and then bring it to the attention of their readers and officials who can fix it. Excellent.

Second Award - Baraboo News Republic (“Record show ski lift had issues” - Tim Damos): Excellent follow through on a high-profile

story. Nice job obtaining the reports that detail the shortcomings in the inspection process.

Entertainment Pages Group A First Award - The Capital Times, Madison: Great art, love inside color, tons of info, good eye-candy features. Very useful.

Second Award - Kenosha News (“Get Out” Brian Sharkey, Bill Robbins, Elizabeth Snyder, Julie VanderVelden).

Third Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Weekend” - Kendra Meinert).

Group B First Award - The Sheboygan Press (“Weekend” - Bob Farina): Great layout, catchy art, lots of info - very well-conceived and executed.

Second Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc (“Weekend” - Benjamin Wideman): I like the magazine-style A&E pullout, could use more inside color.

Group C First Award - Watertown Daily Times (“Screen Scenes” - Adam Tobias): Good movie writing, which is not always easy to do. Also nice layout.

Second Award - Daily Tribune, Wisconsin Rapids (“GO!” - Jamie Rokus): It was difficult to differentiate between the three “Go!” entries - all were very similar, with identical layout.

Not bad at all, just hard to pick a winner when all three are the same

Graphics OPEN First Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Governing the State,” “Expanding Empire,” “Troubled Water” - Eric Ebert): TROUBLED WATER: This graphic has all the elements to make a good graphic. It utilizes the skills of the artist to create a detailed visualization of how the various sources pollute the water supply. Good information and very nice display on the page.

General Web Excellence Group A First Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette: First impression is lots of photos above the fold, which is appealing. Love the photo box on the front page that is constantly changing, giving a “fresh” feeling to the reader. Overall, the site is easy to navigate. Use of photos and color on various pages is outstanding.

Contest Edition Second Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton: Site is user-friendly, attractive in appearance and makes good use of photos on the front page. Would like to see more photos above the fold on section lead pages. In general, a site that must be pleasing to frequent visitors.

Third Award - The Journal Times, Racine (Bridget Thoreson, Greg Giesen, Roger Anderson, Rob Golub, Steve Lovejoy, Brenda Wishau, Jerry Boehme, Dennis Chars, Ann Walter): Well designed and easy to navigate, but would like to see more photos above the fold on front page of the site, or a photo that changes more often. Love the “What’s Your Story” feature, which surely is an attractive opportunity for many readers to take part in the journalistic process.

Group B First Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc: Photo box above the fold continually gives readers a “fresh” look, especially to repeat visitors. The website, and front page, is well-organized and visually pleasing. The multiamedia section on the front page is especially useful and user-friendly.

Second Award - The Janesville Gazette (Jonathan Lindquist, Dave von Falkenstein, Kyle Geissler): A clean look and easy-to-navigate website that surely brings readers back repeatedly. Content is strong and section pages make good use of photos and multi-media options.

Third Award - The Sheboygan Press: A simply designed and effective front page of the website allows readers to easily navigate to their favorite sections. A nice option is the multimedia section on the front page that allows visitors to quickly find photo galleries, blogs, videos and stories. The photo box above the fold on the front page is effective in keeping a fresh look.

Group C First Award - Marshfield News-Herald: Appealing look and easy to navigate. Two links above the fold on the front page of the site seems unnecessary but figure WisconsinOutdoorFun. com is a new website for the paper, and a good one that must be appealing to many readers.

Only problem is that contributes to pushing the day’s top news story and photo below the fold. Effective use of color and photos makes even the busy front page easy to absorb.

Second Award - Daily Jefferson County Union, Fort Atkinson: Use of large photos is good but would like to see many more photos on the front page of the site, and on section pages, especially news. Also like to see more section tabs at the top of the pages, rather than midway down on the left. Overall, the site is good and relatively user-friendly.

Contest Edition

Creative use of Multimedia Group A First Award - Wisconsin State Journal, Madison (“Vilas Zoo Animal Quest” - Matthew DeFour, Chris Drosner, Brandon Raygo, Jason Klein, Laura Sparks): Great use of the digital platform to engage readers in an entertaining learning experience and make them participants in the story.

Second Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Insiders videos”): Clever scripting on amusing opening segments draws the viewer in for the fast-paced, informative reports that follow.

Third Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Video: School picture day at Badger Elementary School, Oct. 2, 2009” - Sharon Cekada): A refreshingly original approach to a classic annual event.

Group B First Award - The Sheboygan Press (“Press Now: News at Noon” - Nhia Yang, Janet Ortegon): This engaging web newscast succeeds by combining conversational scripting, graphic overlays and b-roll to quickly tick off the site’s top current and upcoming content.

Second Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc (“Hunter Jim Skwor” - Doug Sundin): This unique digital presentation of the story of a pair of hunters and their collection is deepened through the use of an interactive world map with photos, embedded info boxes and audio stories combined with the panoramic view of the trophy room.

Third Award - Oshkosh Northwestern (“Focus on Faith” - Dave Wasinger): Tender telling of the story of an historical church through the voices of its community.

Group C First Award - Marshfield News-Herald (“Home Grown” - Laura Schmitt, Dan Young): The digital elements of the Home Grown series complete the comprehensive coverage of the topic by bringing readers inside to see the places where their food is made and to hear from the people behind the operations.

Editorial: Daily Division community lining up to welcome home a disabled soldier.

Web Special Project Group A First Award - Wisconsin State Journal, Madison (“Who’s Watching The Farm?” - Ron Seely, Phil Brinkman, Todd Milewski, Ken Singletary, Jason Klein, Brandon Raygo, Laura Sparks): Elegant, informative presentation with interactive features that clearly illustrate the impact of mega farms. Videos embedded into the graphic add extra detail without taking the reader out of the package.

Second Award - Wisconsin State Journal, Madison (“City Salaries: Cashing In” - Dean Mosiman, Nick Hynen, Mark Pitsch, Laura Sparks, Jason Klein): In-depth watchdog analysis of city worker pay issues is backed up with easy to navigate database and visualizations. An outstanding public affairs presentation.

Third Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Expanding Empire” - Tony Walter, Eric Ebert, Corey Wilson, Chris Speckhard): Comprehensive coverage of Packers expansion plans and their implications that pulls everything together in one place. Interactive map, live blog, videos and a scrollable timeline give the reader control in navigating the issue.

Group B First Award - Wausau Daily Herald (“High School Sports Awards” - Brian Otten, Janet Tharaldson, Chris Schulte, Carrie Hutton): More than just a round-up of top high school athletes, this project connects the community to each student through short video clips along with each bio.

Second Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc (“Healing garden panorama” - Doug Sundin): A beautiful gift to readers to be able to experience a few reflective moments in panoramic views of of a garden.

Jake Miller, Liz Welter, Ashley Smith): The series on home grown food is given an extra dimension by taking readers on a tour of the farms through informative slideshows.

Third Award - The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls (“Air show part 3” - Steve Dayton): This project connects with readers by bringing them along for the ride

Continuing Web Coverage Group A First Award - Wisconsin State Journal, Madison (“Out of reach: The rural health care gap” - David Wahlberg, Craig Schreiner, Beth Williams, Sarah Tews, Laura Sparks, Jason Klein, Brandon Raygo): Insightful, critical, groundbreaking reporting led to tangible results with a hospital tax. Extensive use of videos, photo galleries and stories about the struggles to provide and secure rural health care were exceptional. Stories were particularly well-written.

Second Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Monfils Murder Revisited” - Paul Srubas, Corey Wilson): Exhaustive coverage with multimedia links all found on a page created for the ongoing coverage of a murder committed 17 years earlier was impressive. The story wouldn’t go away due to appeals by those convicted and the book that attempted to clear their names; the paper’s coverage was just as persistent, including trips to four prisons around the state to interview the five convicts still behind bars. Impressive writing and storytelling by everyone involved.

Third Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Scott Schmidt trial”): An impressive use of multimedia tools provided superb coverage of this tragic event. Videos, photo galleries and stories provided exhaustive and in-depth coverage of a murder that shocked and captivated the city.

29 General Comments: This was a particularly difficult category to judge, with many deserving entrants. Those not selected were also impressive and the order of merit for the top three could easily be different. The work submitted by several newspapers, and their groups of contributors was impressive.

Group B First Award - The Janesville Gazette (“The trial of James Koepp” - Ted Sullivan, Kyle Geissler, Dave von Falkenstein, Jonathan Lindquist): Well-presented online with extensive coverage that included photo galleries, podcasts, legal documents pertaining to the case and exhaustive reporting. Ted Sullivan is commended for writing style and reporting as the principal author on this ongoing tragedy.

Second Award - The Reporter, Fond du Lac (“A bridge too far” - Justin Connaher): Compliments all around for The Reporter, for the decision to make the trip and for the coverage provided on this story that had a local hook and worldwide significance. Justin Connaher performed admirably on this assignment.

Third Award - The Sheboygan Press (“Mayor Bob Ryan”): Excellent job by all concerned on reporting, producing the extensive timeline of the scandal, and making use of multimedia tools to tell the ongoing story. Breaking the story of the HR woman’s allegations was another important part of this process. This was impressive coverage of a local event that attracted national attention.

Group C First Award - The Daily Reporter, Milwaukee (“Continuing coverage of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District” - Joe Yovino): Even though this is the lone entrant in this category, the ongoing coverage by The Daily Reporter was impressive and could have easily prevailed had there been a dozen competitors.

In-depth reporting was well-written, concise and complete to keep the citizens informed.

This was a job well done.

Third Award - Oshkosh Northwestern (“AirVenture 2010” - Dave Wasinger): Mesmerizing video of aircraft acrobatics tops off this thorough collection of coverage of an event along with stories, photo galleries and Twitter updates.

Second Award - The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls (“Chippewa Valley Roller Girls” - Steve Dayton): Outstanding editing and interesting camera angles convey the energy and excitement roller derby holds for the women who love to compete in it.

Group C First Award - The Daily Reporter, Milwaukee (“Edgewater Hotel Project Profile Page” - Joe Yovino): This project does an admirable job of compiling coverage, images and details to help explain the twists and turns on the long path of a major redevelopment project.

Third Award - Portage Daily Register (Michael Thompson): This video lets the news moment speak for itself by standing as witness to the

Second Award - Marshfield News-Herald (“Home Grown” - Laura Schmitt, Dan Young,

Wisconsin State Journal, First Award, Group A, Continuing Web Coverage

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Advertising: Weekly Division

Bill Payne Award

Second Award - The Ripon Commonwealth Press (“Fat Bruce’s (Bakery and Eating Kitchen)” - Tami Conlon): Funny campaign with lots of legs. We love the white space - glad you didn’t try to cram things in. This works really well because the layout is simple. Good copy and design. We bet readers look forward to what fat bruce come up each week.

Open First Award - Wausau Daily Herald (“Trigs” - Steve Sitko): Overall layout was superb! The way the graphic broke the page was clever and presented strong reader impact. Great Job. Second Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Tom’s Drive In 50 years in the Valley” Steve Massie, Marie Rayome, Elly Heuring): WOW! Fantastic design and presentation for the client! Strong graphic elements with a unique twist! Great play on words! I am sure the readers of the newspaper enjoyed this advertisement!

Third Award - Grant County Herald Independent, Lancaster (“HI Head Zup Series” - Kevin Kelly, Jessica Brownell): Great way to break a salon away from the others on their anniversary.

We really like the focus on the stylists; that’s why people return, they like the people. We’re sure this got people saying “Hey that’s my stylist!” which is the whole point. a cut above.

Third Award - The Star News, Medford (“The Ford Story” - Pat Durham): Great way to market an automotive dealership! Who would have thought such a clever layout could have such impact and dynamics!

Harrison MacDonald Open First Award - The Daily Reporter, Milwaukee (“Business Slow?” - Ingrid Johansson).

Best Special Section

Second Award - The Ripon Commonwealth Press (“Don’t be shy... Valentine Love Lines” Tami Conlon).

Third Award - The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls (“Tradin Post Extra” - Brian Maki, Mike Wood, Andy Jorsch, Julie Nelson, Joe Webb, Mike Peterson, Kurt Wilcott, Kathy Micheal, Kathy Clark, Barb Mullenberg, Sandy Zutter, Mark Jonely).

Best Adv Idea (Series) Group D First Award - The Star News, Medford (“Just for Kids First Impressions” - Sarah Biermann): Great way to do something different every week and reach the parent/kids market.

The pages are really fun and inviting and the advertiser benefits from the sponsorship.

We can see how readers would keep this fun page around, extending the ad’s life. Very nice series.

Second Award - River Falls Journal (“River Falls Chiropractic” - Melissa Peloquin, Rebecca LaMar, Shelly Hansen): This one really threw us on first glance, but the more we looked, the better we liked it. Incorporating the smallish ad into an editorial space worked very well and made the ad stand out and get read. We bet your advertiser loved it.

Group D

The Portage County Gazette, Stevens Point; First First Award - The Portage County Gazette, Stevens Award, Group D, Best Special Section.

Third Award - Pierce County Herald, Ellsworth (“Harrington’s Greenhouse” - Tracy Webb, Shelly Hanson): Nice use of color, ads are bright and attractive, just like the advertiser. We liked the varying sizes that all kept look and feel. The incorporation of coupons and deals worked inside the template. This one really grew on us!

Group E First Award - Grant County Herald Independent, Lancaster (“HI Making it BOLD to get it SOLD” - Jessica Brownell): These ads really stand out! The design is very good and really helps the message. Nice use of different graphics in a signature style - after you see one, you know what the next one is for. This campaign sold us.

Point (“Fall Football Preview” - Casey Sullivan, Matt Clucas, Paula Okray, Brett Hiorns, Jon Kemmeter, Gene Kemmeter, Scott Steuck, Matthew Brown.): A very vibrant section, filled with information. We liked the schedules on every team page, made it easy to get information. Lots of supportive ads. A real winner.

Second Award - Pierce County Herald, Ellsworth (“127th Pierce County Fair” - Vicky Howe, Tracy Webb): Very fun section, just was a fair section should be! like the hi-brite paper and tab size, makes it easy to read and carry to fair. Good graphic design and layout.

Lots of information and lots of good ads.

Good use of doubletruck and map on back. we give this a blue ribbon!

Third Award - Pierce County Herald, Ellsworth (“Portraits of Pierce County” - Vicky Howe, Tracy Webb): We can see why this was a success. Lots of nice profiles in a very clean, readable layout. we like how most profiles are full page, adds to the readability. Good idea overall.

Contest Edition Group E First Award - The Record-Review, Edgar (“Fall Rural Living” - Kurt Henline, Lori Graff, Phil Greschner, Cathy Morrow, Heather Wiese, Jami Kloth, Karen Gebelein): A well-done section with lots of good content and a mix of ads. We like the various photos and the stories are inviting. Good layout, nicely done!

Second Award - Wisconsin Dells Events (“Summer Fun Guide” - Shena Alexander): This is quite the handy section, filled with lots of information, but also lots of ads - good job! We liked the clean layout and the way the section content was divided. Easy to read and we’re sure readers kept this one around.

Third Award - The Ripon Commonwealth Press (“2009 Holiday Greeting & Cookbook” - Bob Chikowoki, Joe Gruenwold, Tami Conlon, Kathy Nineman): At first we were a little overwhelmed by all the content, but it really works. Lots and lots of fun ads that we’re sure pleased your readership. The recipes make the section a keeper. Looks like it was a lot of work, but it really pays off.

Best Use of Color Group D First Award - Living Lake Country Reporter, Hartland (“Water Fire Pottery” - Michele Flanders): The pastels add to the whimsicalness of this ad.

Second Award - Living Lake Country Reporter, Hartland (“The Gary Murray Team” - Paddy Kieckhefer): A very clean look for a realtor. A nice color transition between the bottom and top half of the ad.

Third Award - Door County Advocate, Sturgeon Bay (“Rusty Tractor Cafe” - Melinda Johnson): Bright color that draws the eye down the page to each event or offer.

Group E First Award - Grant County Herald Independent, Lancaster (“Subway” - Brian Muldoon, Jessica Brownell): This ad looks good enough to be camera ready from the client.

Second Award - Sauk Prairie Eagle, Sauk City (“Pedro’s” - Chad Brewer): Effective use of color in dividing up the ad.

Third Award - The Record-Review, Edgar (“Edgar Fireman’s Celebration” - Cathy Morrow, Kurt Henline): I like how the color was pulled from this graphic to make the ad cohesive.

Contest Edition

Best Multiple Advertiser Spread Group D First Award - Superior Telegram (“2010 Superior Spartans” - Kim Schorr, Barb Into, Rebecca Zunker, Gary Androsky): Nice layout that’s a real keepsake for the team and their friends. We like that all the ads mention the spartans. Advertisers receive a real bonus by being affiliated with the kids and the team.

Good work!

Second Award - The Star News, Medford (“Area Registration Stations” - Sarah Biermann): We thought this was a very good way to highlight advertisers outside of normal ad space. It has a very readable design for so much information. And it looks like many hunters would keep the page to refer to, extending its life - very nice.

Third Award - Lake Geneva Regional News (“Visit Downtown Lake Geneva” - Mike Coolidge, Duane Hove, Jessica Franzene): Clean simple layout works well. Map is nice and readable and modular ads make the whole spread very clean. It’s an inviting piece.

Group E First Award - The Ripon Commonwealth Press (“Newspaper in Education: Check em out!”): This is a real attention-getter. We know that a lot of time was spent organizing the elements for this page and it really paid off. The kids’ ads are great, and we like that each advertiser also got a “real’ strip at the bottom of each one. Good idea, NIE. Second Award - Sauk Prairie Eagle, Sauk City (“School Safety” - Dusty Zajda): We liked both of the school safety entries but this one rose to the top with the clean, useful graphic at top and very readable, modular ads below.

Very nice.

Third Award - Grant County Herald Independent, Lancaster (“HI Potosi Catfish Festival” - Jessica Brownell, Marsha Sisley): We found it hard to believe you got 20 advertisers and a full schedule on one page, but you did it, and you you did it well. Ads are readable and events increase the ad’s shelf-life. Good work.

Best Use of Art Service Group D First Award - Living Lake Country Reporter, Hartland (“Goffs Auto Body” - Michele Flanders): Nice placement of photo right above logo that tells different story. Ties them in nicely.

Advertising: Weekly Division

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Second Award - The Star News, Medford (“The Ford Story” - Pat Durham): Great idea - very original. nicely done!

Third Award - Pierce County Herald, Ellsworth (“Pierce Veterinary Clinic” - Tracy Webb): Cute art - build a brand - with this type art.

Group E First Award - The Tribune-Phonograph, Abbotsford (“Cow Power” - Lori Graff, Jami Kloth): Great work! Concept really drives home green energy.

Second Award - Baraboo News Republic (“Cascade Mountain” - Chad Brewer): Good art - illustrates all types of activities available at customers “store.” Good work!

Third Award - The Ripon Commonwealth Press (“Daddy, Mommy said she wants...,” “Diedrich Jewelers” - Tami Conlon): Original idea - speak the man’s language - Very clever!

Best Use of Local Photography Group D First Award - The Star News, Medford (“Great Job at State Cross Country” - Mandi Ploeckelman): I absolutely love your State Cross Country ad! The idea to cut out the runners was a great way to highlight them, especially since they are the focus of the ad anyway!

The cross country background was a great addition to the ad. But, watch where your background falls against the cutout photos.

Jeffrey stands out much more than Evan just because of the way the background looked behind them. Also, watch the direction of your photos. The eye wants to follow Jeffrey who is running right off the left side of the ad.

Second Award - Vilas County News-Review, Eagle River (“Northernaire Open House” Jason McCrea, Betsy Bleicher): The large shot of the outside of the condos really makes this ad stand out! The smaller photos are also a great virtual tour of what people would get if they bought one of these condos. I wish some of the photos would have been a close-up of something, or consider using shots with people in them to draw the eye into the ad.

Readers want to be able to picture themselves in the setting, to be able to relate to something or someone. I like the green borders, but I wish the middle photo would have had a border too for consistency.

Third Award - Vilas County News-Review, Eagle River (“We Love It” - Kurt Krueger, Betsy Bleicher): This is a really fun way to

Grant County Herald Independent, Lancaster; First Award, Group E, Best Use of Local Photography. show off all your award-winning photos!

The bright colors are great and really make the ad jump off the page. Consider making one of the photos larger than the others. As it is, there’s no focal point in the ad and the eye isn’t sure what to look at because all the photos demand attention.

Group E First Award - Grant County Herald Independent, Lancaster (“Fight Like A Woman” - Jessica Brownell, Brian Muldoon): The Fight like a Woman ad is so creative and attention grabbing!! I love how it has a local connection and how it ties in both the boutique and the cause. The colors are great and definitely say Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The only suggestion I have is to make Jessica larger. I would rather see more of her and less of the boxing ring.

Second Award - Grant County Herald Independent, Lancaster (“Lancaster Chiropractic” - Brian Muldoon, Jessica Brownell): I love the colors and the flow of this ad. It keeps it classy and gives readers an idea of what they can expect at the business. I’m glad there is a variety of close-up and wide angles. The rocks at the left are a great addition and fit well with the idea of awakening your senses. Consider using photos with people in them, giving readers someone to relate to in the photos.

Third Award - The Record-Review, Edgar (“Congratulations to the 2010 Marathon track team” - Heather Wiese, Karen Gebelein, Phil Greschner): This is a great new approach to

the congratulatory ad. I love the cut-outs they definitely help the photos stand out. And of course readers will connect with the bright red school colors. I would suggest adding some sort of a background behind the athletes so they aren’t just floating out in space. I do like the red uniforms, but it looks a bit odd with their black and white skin.

Best Newspaper Promotion Group D First Award - Vilas County News-Review, Eagle River (“We Love It” - Kurt Krueger, Betsy Bleicher): Congratulations on your success in the NNA contest, and congratulations on telling your community of your success.

Nice use of color, photographs and quote from judging to get your message across. By promoting your success, your community and advertisers will gain respect for your work and professionalism as recognized by your peers in the industry.

Second Award - Superior Telegram (“Telegram Advertising Works!” - Barb Into, Gary Androsky): Very nice layout, headline, photo for testimonial. Ad could have benefited from a much stronger quote from customer, such as how many new inquiries they received, but we are limited by what the customer is willing to say! Nice, eye catching ad for promotion of the success of your product.

32 Third Award - Dodge County Pionier, Mayville (“Unbelievable Deal” - Danielle Wiedmeyer, Lana Louden, Tammy Casper, Kathy Dobbratz, Sally Kahlhamer, Joel Nisleit, Dawn Krueger, Becky Lambert, Lana Louden, Andrew Johnson, Laura Johnson, Gail Ketterer, Emily Johnson): Nice, informational piece that clearly explains your merge. The editorial content should answer any questions that may arise. An excellent value package was designed to encourage new subscribers. How could they go wrong with a subscription!

Good, creative thinking in coming up with the promotion, good use of photography.

Overall the piece works.

Group E First Award - The Record-Review, Edgar (“The Record Review Awards & Judges Comments” - Cathy Morrow, In House Sales Staff): Good self promotion, nice use of photographs and layout, good call to action. Ad could benefit from a good, strong headline. Otherwise, great to let the community know of your successes and that your excellence has been recognized by your peers.

Advertising: Weekly Division better layout especially the stats section on pgs. 7-8.

General Comments: Honorable Mention Oconomowoc Visitor Guide with nice use of consistent clean section headers throughout.

Group E First Award - County Post East, Waupaca (“FullThrottle” - Jamie Baumann, Bert Lehman): Targeted to unique market. Nice feature stories. Clean editorial layout. Ads could definitely benefit from being cleaner with LESS text.

Second Award - The Ripon Commonwealth Press (“Ripon Chamber of Commerce”): Nice clean layout on coupons. I like advertiser info on reverse of coupons.

Best Niche PublicationOut of Paper

Second Award - Sauk Prairie Eagle, Sauk City (“The List Promo” - Chad Brewer): Attractive layout. The tabs in the List are a nice touch and fit with the headline of holidays made easier. Nice teaser ad to encourage people to look for and use your product. Good feel to the ad.

Group D First Award - Pierce County Herald, Ellsworth (“Ellsworth Coop Creamery” - Tracy Webb (Kuehn), Becki LaMar): Great way to capitalize on a company’s anniversary. I liked the use of the video and all the retail opportunities.

The B&W inside pages fit will with the 100th anniversary theme. Very unique.

Best Niche PublicationIn Paper

Second Award - Door County Advocate, Sturgeon Bay (“Door County Medical Center” - Melinda Johnson, Bill Vandermause): Easy to read, good look, nice magazine look, good graphics.

Group D First Award - Living Lake Country Reporter, Hartland (“2010 Gridiron Guide”): Nice keepsake publication, breakdown of each team info fun for this age of player and their family. Since this is a supporting piece for football, I’d like to see more of the advertisers with messages geared to football or support of the teams.

Second Award - Living Lake Country Reporter, Hartland (“Delafield Chamber of Commerce”): Nice clean layout of editorial and advertising. Good use of white space.

Like the point of interest section.

Third Award - Dodge County Pionier, Mayville (“Mayville Cardinal’s 500th” - Lana Louden, Becky Lambert, Tammy Casper, Kathy Dobbratz): Nice commemorative piece, many people will likely hold on to this. Good idea, good research, good use of older photos of winning teams. Great stats section. The layout needs lots of work ... all of this work in gathering info should be supported by a

Third Award - County Post West, Waupaca (“Picture Post” - Rebecca Eckhardt, Matt Rice, Jeanne Testin, Craig Lund, Cody Popp): It wasn’t glossy or as flashy as several of the other entries BUT it was LOCAL PICS, LOCAL PICS, LOCAL PICS. You can never go wrong with too many local pics General Comments: There were some great publications in this category and they rivaled what the larger papers are putting out....great work from all. Very creative ideas and again, a tough category to judge.

Group E First Award - Lodi Enterprise (“Wisconsin Splash” - Lynn Anclair, Sue Spahn, Rachelle, Jennifer Fetterly): Well produced, loved the color and lay-out, good ad designs, easy to read and tons of good info. Very good job.

You have a good graphics department.

Second Award - Juneau County Star-Times, Mauston (“Juneau County Visitor’s Guide” - Chad Brewer): Very tough choice between

first and second place in this category. Very good graphics and ad designs. A great looking product.

Third Award - Grant County Herald Independent, Lancaster (“Farm Focus”): It wasn’t glossy and flashy like several other of the entries but out of all the categories I judged it was the ONLY ag related piece. This reminded me of how this is an under-marketed niche and think you did a good job of fostering sales with this piece.

General Comments: The smallest circulation category had some of the best produced publications. Good job from all and very creative ideas.

Best Circulation Promotion Group D First Award - Dodge County Pionier, Mayville (“Unbelievable Deal” - Tammy Casper, Kathy Dobbratz, Sally Kahlhamer, Joel Nislet, Becky Lambert, Dawn Krueger, Andrew Johnson, Laura Johnson, Gail Ketterer, Emily Johnson): There were several strong points to this submission. The history of the paper(s), answering some common questions, and the photos were good points. The collaboration with another local business is great and benefits both.

From the description it sounds like this was a solid, multichannel promotion. However, most of the printed material was hard to read and the color choices are questionable. Green and white on yellow are very hard to read, as is red on blue, and the drop shadows made it even harder to read. I would consider a much simpler and cleaner layout in the future and picking a color and one or two complimentary colors not four very bold colors.

Second Award - The Star News, Medford (“Early Bird Values” - Sarah Biermann): This was a great idea - a way for the newspaper to save time and money on renewals and also a way to make readers believe they are saving.

I wonder if the $1 offer was enough to get most people’s attention and make them hurry - it would depend on the subscription price which was not in the ad. I would have also liked to see a call to action, a way to subscribe by phone, internet, or mail-in, on the bottom of the ad.

Group E First Award - The Ripon Commonwealth Press (“Does dear old Dad need another tie” - Tami Conlon): Full color inserts are a nice way to change up common circulation ads and strategically sending them out in time for gift subscriptions for certain holidays led to

Contest Edition the success of the promotion effort. I believe this would be more effective over time if the pieces had all been designed with common design elements including fonts, tone and graphic style. Branding these through a campaign would be more effective if the person saw it for a third time, recognized it and decided to act rather than a series of one-time promotions designed differently.

Second Award - Clintonville Chronicle (“Milestone Subscriber,” “Milestone Subscriber 2; Milestone Subscriber 3” - Suzanne Wittman, Tricia Rose): This was a smart idea and had good timing to push for 1,000 subscribers.

The artwork and colors of the artwork made the submitted ads very difficult to read. Consider using consistent fonts through the series and fade the artwork that appears behind the text to make it easier to read.

Innovative Online Advertising OPEN First Award - Wisconsin Dells Events (“HoChunk Key” - Melissa King).

Second Award - Sauk Prairie Eagle, Sauk City (“Consumer’s Co-op Automotive” - Chad Brewer).

Best Online Advertising Single Ad- Static OPEN First Award - Baraboo News Republic (“Buds Pizza” - Chad Brewer).

Second Award - Baraboo News Republic (“Old Fashioned Festival” - Chad Brewer).

Third Award - Baraboo News Republic (“Absolute Imprints” - Chad Brewer).

Best Online Advertising -Single Ad- Animated Group D First Award - Hudson Star-Observer (“A Farmer’s Tan Is Sexy. On Farmers...” - Deanna Nelson, Alissa Sanford, Travis Schaefer).

Group E First Award - Sauk Prairie Eagle, Sauk City (“Consumer’s Co-op LP Gas” - Chad Brewer).

Contest Edition

Best Advertising Idea - Series Group A First Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“UWGB-Athletics” - Lori O’Connor): A very good, consistent campaign. The front page strips are clean and to the point, and the larger ads keep the look nicely. messaging is clear and design is good. This one really scores.

Second Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Tom’s Drive In 50 years in the Valley” - Steve Massie, Marie Rayome, Elly Heuring): This one is very fun and makes good use of the advertiser’s anniversary. Good copy and design.

We really like the ‘innovative’ layout included.

Overall a very fun series that we’re sure received very good results for the business.

Third Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Camera Corner Connecting Point” - Lori O’Connor): We liked the innovation of using the masthead ad to drive people to page two (we hope they paid a premium!). The messaging is clear and the page two ads really work.

Though this series is small space, the space is very effectively used.

Group B First Award - The Sheboygan Press (“Miesfeld’s WANTED” - Randy Schmahl): The wanted posters really work well! We like the design and the fun copy. The images are inviting and the mention of the PGA visitors was a good idea. The online also worked well and was very consistent with the print. great job.

Advertising: Daily Division like the way this ties into the safety month and the information included. We can see why both the advertiser and reader benefit. Good idea and it’s great that the business allowed the largest portion of space to be a public service message. It lit us up!

Third Award - Marshfield News-Herald (“V&H” - Jodi Behling): We liked the innovative size that played off the product’s brand. Good design and readability for small space. Overall a good idea that worked well in print.

Best Special Section Group A First Award - La Crosse Tribune (“Best of the River Valley/Menu Guide”): Good layout, front has nice mix of edit and ads. Areas are easy to find, also like the fairs and festivals pages. Menu guide is a good inclusion, and even though it’s all ads, it seems like a greta resource for visitors to the area. nicely done.

Second Award - Kenosha News (“How to Guide” - Francis Perdomo): Very nice resource guide, covers many different businesses and products.

Lots of information - maybe even too much since each category is limited to a page. Could use some sort of introduction at front to explain where the ‘how to’ information came from.

Third Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Why Buy Now?” - Heather Nohr, Deborah Lemen): Effective layout with lots of information broken up into readable categories. Good information for people looking to buy a home, etc. Nice graphic design throughout.

Second Award - The Sheboygan Press (“Bitter Neumann -What can I get my long list of friends for Christmas?” - Jackie Stenson): We really like the innovative ad that kicked this series off. the smaller ads worked very well in a one column space. it’s hard to design that small but you guys did it! Very nice series.

Group B First Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Summer Source”): Accessible layout, inviting cover.

Packed with lots of information that’s well organized. The ongoing calendar gives it shelf-life all summer long. A real keeper.

Third Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Rollin’ Pin Bakery” - Dan Bothun, Donna Hanson): These goofy ads work well for this client. they are attention getting, speak to the customer base and also feature some great values. nice home-spun feel.

Second Award - The Sheboygan Press (“92nd PGA”): Includes everything a golf fan would want to know about the tourney, especially the fans’ guide. Like the hole-by-hole profiles, really makes you appreciate the beauty of the course.

Great section about a big event.

Group C First Award - The Monroe Times (“Monroe Boy Scouts” - Monroe Times Sales Team): This is a really nice cross promotion that works for both BSA and the advertisers. We like the old photos - readers are certainly drawn to them, and the ad below. We would have liked to see a little consistency in the template, but you certainly had to please a lot of different advertisers!

Second Award - Watertown Daily Times (“Hady’s Electric” - Mark Heiden): We really

Third Award - Oshkosh Northwestern (“Why Buy NOW?” - Lisa O’Halloran, Stew Rieckman): Good information for first-time buyers.

Nice layout, makes information easy to find.

Good mix of edit and ads.

Group C First Award - Portage Daily Register (“The List” - Chad Brewer, Dusty Zajda): Great holiday section with lots of assorted advertisers and content. The size is handy and we like the glossy

33

cover. Content covers many gift areas and the middle multi-advertiser pages really get a lot of businesses in one section. It’s a holiday keeper.

The food looks appetizing, the red, white and blue accentuate the Fourth of July theme, and the prices stand out.

Second Award - The Daily Reporter, Milwaukee (“Focus on Southwest Wisconsin” - Ingrid Johansson): Very clean and readable layout.

Relevant content for the readers. Nice hi-brite paper. Good use of photography and we liked the “ongoing project” updates. Ads are clean and don’t overwhelm.

Second Award - Daily Citizen, Beaver Dam (“Jensen’s Piggly Wiggly” - Susan Procise, Mary Nordquist): Liquor ads can be tough sometimes. This one has a good contrast and division of colors which show off the separate products well.

Third Award - The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls (“Progress 2010” - Julie Nelson, Kelly Begley, Jessica Geis, Julie LaVelle): We found the size and multi-section layout to be somewhat awkward, but we liked the content. We liked the way major segments where broken-out and covered. Lots of information inside this section.

The ads were downplayed vs. the advertorial, which made for better readability.

Best Use of Color Group A First Award - Kenosha News (“When is the last time you were Downtown” - Nicole McQuestion, Jamie Serpe): This ad is bright and vibrant and really stands out. The contrasting colors in the two parts are very eye catching and “slick.”

Second Award - Kenosha News (“Car Hops” Nicole McQuestion, Jamie Serpe): This is a fun ad and the bright neon colors represent that.

Third Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette “Azure” - Shawn Scray, Beth Halter, Heather Nohr): The contrasting dark foreground and lighter background images draw you into the ad.

It is very simple and classy looking.

Third Award - Watertown Daily Times (“Connection Cafe” - Adam Burdsall, Lindsey Meider): The use of color in the boxes and circles breaks up the ad very nicely.

Best Multiple Advertiser Spread Group A First Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“March Crazy” - Advertising Sales Staff, Sharon Enos): Great idea to involve businesses with the tournament. Layout allowed messaging by advertisers and instructions were simple and easy to follow. Overall, a winning idea.

Second Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“mmmm-a treat for your kisser - Valentine’s Day Page” - Jenna Neumann, Paul Tackmier, Heather Holmes, Kelly Weber, Scott Flentje, M. Leclair, Nicole Gliszinski, Jim Jacobson): This simple insert is nicely designed and we can easily see how participating businesses would benefit. Layout is clean and easy-to-read. Good idea.

Group B First Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Parade of Homes” - Julie Daun, Donna Hanson): The fall colors enhance the theme and also draw your eye down the page.

Second Award - The Sheboygan Press (“Miesfeld’s Holiday Meat Sale” - Randy Schmahl ): Although there is a lot going on in this ad, the use of three main colors (red, green and gold) keep the whole ad together and uniform.

Third Award - The Sheboygan Press (“Wanted: Miesfeld’s Grand Champion Bratwurst” - Randy Schmahl): A very creative ad with the color creating a main focus on the subject (the bratwurst).

Group C First Award - The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls (“Gordy’s County Market July 4th Sale” - Julie LaVelle, Patty Harding):

The Janesville Gazette, First Award, Group B, Best Special Section.

34 Third Award - Kenosha News (“A Heartfelt Salute to our Heroes” - Jason Barnhill): A nice 9/11 addition to the paper. Really put a local focus on who is serving and though the businesses don’t get a big mention, we’re sure the readership appreciated their participation.

Overall, a very good idea.

Group B First Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc (“Sputnik Fest” - Lindsey Nelson): Very nice retro graphics throughout. Good mix of ads and fun copy and both are nicely designed.

Easy to read, clean - a clear winner.

Second Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Scavenger Hunt” - Marci McCarten, Diane Braunreiter): Really fun page and idea. like the spacing in-between ads, makes them standout and easy to read. Contest looks fun and copy is good. We can see why the hunt was a success!

Third Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc (“Maritime Metro Bus Page” - Patti Schack): This was a good idea that we’re sure helped the bus people and the advertisers.

Like the way the ads tie back to the schedules.

Overall, a good way to present a very detailed map and bus schedules AND include local businesses.

Group C First Award - The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls (“Family and Child Resource Guide” Kelly Begley, Bridgette Hunter, Andy Jorsch, Jessica Geis): Like the fun artwork mixed with the ads. Effective use of space and color. Very attention-getting, overall the best spread in the category.

Second Award - Daily Citizen, Beaver Dam (“Get on the Road to Horicon” - Thomas Stumpner): Good-looking double truck. Ads are easy to read and let’s you know the businesses are open. Like the road design graphic, breaks up the space nicely.

Third Award - Watertown Daily Times (“Silver Eagle Salon/Hepp Excavating and Warehouses” - Mark Heiden): We liked the overall idea of making the hats and wearing them during the parade and possibly winning prizes. Advertisers received lots of space and copy. Unique idea.

Best Use of Art Service Group A First Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Parkside Animal Care Center” - Jessica Gilson, Blayne Belter): Made me curious right away.

This ad is very original.

Second Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“70 Years - Belton Hearing” - Naomi Wendorf, P. Bier): The poster on the “wall” tops the ad off

Advertising: Daily Division - catches the eye and finishes the thought with the event of fight night.

it certainly makes me want to go grocery shopping!!

Third Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“70 Years - Belton Hearing” - Naomi Wendorf, P. Bier): Original connection between then and now. Difficult ad to create - good image advertising for all ages.

Second Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“The Ultimate Closet - Summer Fashion Dilemma’s” - Evan Siegle, Heather Holmes): I love your summer fashion dilemma’s ad - it definitely makes me want to go shopping! It’s a creative way of pairing the fashion products together that will grab shoppers’ attention because women can all relate to the dilemma’s featured.

One thing women struggle with is putting outfits together, so this ad does all the work for them! I can see why it had such huge success for the advertiser. The ad is simple, but I think that’s good because it helps the photos stand out on the page. The products and prices at the bottom seem a little cramped, so I would suggest spacing that out a little or using a different font or format.

Group B First Award - The Sheboygan Press (“Wishing you a delicious Christmas” - Nicole Wolff): Great work! Made me read the ad over and over again - Christmas Tree Pizza - Right Choice - good work!

Second Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Janesville Bar Association” - Marci McCarten, Donna Felland): Art plays well together. Many ads honoring veterans and this one really works well with art chosen. Elegant.

Third Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Rollin’ Pin Bakery” - Dan Bothun, Donna Hanson): Very Busy - interesting circus type atmoshere.

Group C First Award - Daily Jefferson County Union, Fort Atkinson (“Frank’s One Day Produce Sale”): Great idea. Fruit in a basket - connects very well. Wish I would have thought of that.

Second Award - The Daily Reporter, Milwaukee (“2009 New Makers of the Year” - Ingrid Johansson): Elegant Art just says “leader..”

Third Award - Watertown Daily Times (“Emergency Starting/Towing” - Mark Heiden): Love the idea of a news page purchased by an advertiser. Looks great. Customers brand may be lost though with so many different tow trucks.

Best Use of Local Photography Group A First Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Copp’s (vender tab)” - Jim Hoslet, Kristy Gnadt, Tina Griffith): This was a huge undertaking, and for Copps, I’m sure the hard work really paid off! The photos are beautiful and stand out on each page. I love the classy layout of the pages as well as the variety of angles, color and focus of the photos. Some of my favorite sections are those with cut-out photos, like the cheese and the deli trays - they certainly grab readers’ attention. Clever headlines and copy are a perfect match for the vibrant photos. I’m glad you included pictures of the grocery store staff as well. The only suggestion I have is to use more photos that zoom in on a particular product instead of the larger view of the whole aisle or shelf. Great job with the special section

Third Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Life! Award” - Patrick Ferron, Gary Vossekuil): This ad really jumps out at me! I love the way it is curved at the top, and I think the pink color really makes it stand out. Since the left side of the photo is cut out, it draws the eye from the pink across the faces in the photo.

I like the way the staff names are featured, and the people look friendly and inviting. I think seeing the faces of the staff will help readers relate to the publication - it’s more fun reading articles and columns when you feel like you know the person writing them! There’s not much going on at the right side of the ad, so I would suggest adding some color to “One of the Best” or cropping the photo closer to Sue. Group B First Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Culver’s” - Dan Bothun, Donna Hanson): I loved the Culver’s ad - it definitely made me want to get ice cream! Great job using a photo of the drive through employee. It’s always a plus to make it local and personal, and I’m sure it paid off for Culver’s when customers recognized her in the drive through. I’m glad the employee photo is large and the focus of the ad, and the way you cut it out at the top draws the eye over the ad.

Great colors and bold fonts are a great match for the good photos, both of the employee and the food.

Second Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Kids Hooked onn Fishing” - Nina Perona, Terry Fleig): The Kids Hooked on Fishing brochure is a great example of how to use descriptive, people-focused photos to get your point across.

The people in the photos certainly invite readers in to experience their world of fishing. The white border “Polaroid” look makes the photos stand out against the background. I liked the scenery for a background - it makes you feel like you are there on the lake with them. The inside of the brochure could use some more color,

Contest Edition and I would suggest not covering up so much of the top photo on the Interactive Workshops section.

Third Award - The Sheboygan Press (“Lakeshore Weekend-Miesfeld’s” - Randy Schmahl): You did a great job of grabbing readers attention with the use of local photography in the Miesfeld’s ad. It really jumps out of the page! I like how the photos are large, and the unique shape of the photos make them stand out. I think readers will be able to connect with and relate to this child - it tugs at your heart, so to speak.

I would suggest giving the rest of the ad a little more pizza to match the intensity of the photos.

Use brighter colors, a creative headline and maybe a more flashy background.

Group C First Award - The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls (“YMCA” - Jessica Geis, Mike Wood, Erin Brunke): The use of photography in this ad really makes it stand out. I love the way it’s cut out because the photo becomes the main focus.

The ad is simple and uncluttered which I think is good - it makes it feel more relaxed and comfortable. I’m glad you used local people. That’s always a plus because people feel they can relate to them or picture themselves using that same exercise machine. The only thing I would want to see different are smiles on their faces.

Second Award - Watertown Daily Times (“Stall affordable ... Still elegant” - Adam Burdsall, Lindsey Meider, John Hart): Readers and customers of The Oasis will love this ad because it really demonstrates to them what they are getting into when they go there. I like the virtual tour concept. The unique colors of the ad are great and portray the classy, elegant character of the business. Consider using a couple photos that are more of a close up of one thing in the room, or use photos with people in them to draw the eye into the photo.

Third Award - Watertown Daily Times (“TireRifik” - Mark Heiden, John Hart): I love the idea behind this ad. It’s very creative and clever and certainly draws the attention of readers. I like how the photo is cut out, making it the focal point of the ad. It looks like the photo could have been stretched a little bit. Also, did you try any photos with “Cupid” looking at the camera?

I think the eye contact would have invited more readers to look at the ad. Watch the movement of the ad as well. The eye wants to follow the bow and arrow and completely misses the We Aim To Please.

Contest Edition

Best Newspaper Promotion Group A First Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“What’s Your AM IQ?” - Gary Vossekuil, Kris Teofilo, Steve Massie, Paul Gilbert, Jaime Witt): Good promotion to show the value of reading the Post-Crescent to be informed. Great use of photography, blue color in ads is good, unique shapes of ads add interest to the campaign.

FUN. Second Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Answer Book Trivia Contest” - Kristen Manders, Gary Vossekuil): Campaign nicely adds value to advertisers in the Answer Book and create anticipation for release of the publication.

Contest will assure that the Answer Book is looked at closely. This must be the year for the yellow and green combination in ads, or maybe it is because of the Packers, but this combination does not work. The colors are too close on the color wheel and not contrasting enough to be easily read.

Third Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Weekend” - Gary Vossekuil): The simplicity of the ad is nice. Art enhances the theme of the ad. Use of color to emphasize the important points in the ad is good.

Group B First Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc (“House” - Patti Schack): A clear winner.

Excellent use of photography and layout to create a keepsake that will be picked up time and again, also increasing value to advertisers.

A creative way to promote the photography and layout talents of your staff and remind the community that you cover, and are a part of, many aspects of their lives.

Second Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc (“Your Catch of the Day” - Jim Schoemer): Nice use of photography to back up your headline. Very nice, clean and to the point layout.

Good use of white space. Effective in getting your message across.

Third Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Taste of home Cooking School” - Gazette Sale Staff, Terry Fleig): A nice way to build good will with advertisers and get to know them better.

However, I feel the newspaper did not promote themselves enough as their place in the entire project was not evident, except for running ads.

The newspaper was not listed as a sponsor of the event.

Group C First Award - The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls (“Have You Heard?” - Andy Jorsch, Julie Nelson, Jessica Geis, Kelly Begley, Julie LaVelle,

Advertising: Daily Division Mark Baker): Yes. Great job in promoting the value of your own newspaper and advertising in it! Giving statistics makes media buyers able to justify their advertising purchases. They can use this valuable information to gear their message to the demographic of your newspaper for more successful results. A successful advertiser will be a returning advertiser! Nice, informative ads.

Second Award - Watertown Daily Times (“Watertown paper promotions”): Nice use of theme of season to encourage new subscribers. Coloring contest is a fun way for children to become aware of the newspaper, hopefully growing future subscribers and readers.

Best Niche PublicationIn Paper Group A First Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Easing the Burden” - Heather Nohr, Erica VanBoxel): Helpful info, clean layout, consistent design and layout throughout.

Second Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Fresh Start” - Kristy Gnadt, Erica VanBoxel): Timely topic, helpful info to many age groups, clean and attractive layout.

Third Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“The Post Crescent Annual Report” - Larry Avila, Nicole Mertes): Lots of good info, maybe pare down info to have a cleaner layout. Nice cover - could carry cover design elements throughout magazine. On the rise sections would benefit from larger and more interesting photos of person featured, single page ad groupings are cluttered and make ads less effective.

Group B First Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Home Show”): Clean, consistent layout throughout, maps, floorplans are nice. Would benefit from a little more editorial content.

Second Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc (“You Magazine”): Good target market for a niche magazine. Likely pulls in advertisers that don’t advertise in regular paper, updated magazine-style layout is good. Nice variety of editorial content.

Third Award - The Sheboygan Press (“Senior Living”): Good piece for a demographic that is not always targeted. Nice use of layout and larger font size that works for your targeted audience. Good editorial content and tips for age group.

Group C First Award - The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls (“Marketplace Homes Extra” - Jamie

Johnson, Julie Nelson, Kelly Begley, Jessica Geis, Julie LaVelle): Not a new idea, but effective in this economy to encourage realtors to use print advertising over web. Reverse logos on inside pages compete with section heads and make this hard to read. Good vehicle for updating new and changing market listings.

Second Award - Portage Daily Register (“Around Town Portage” - Chad Brewer): Would benefit from cleaner, more creative layout, more content, special interest story related to event.

Best Niche PublicationOut of Paper Group A First Award - The Journal Times, Racine (“Scene262.com” - Molly Schmaling, Kelly Wiedholz, Bill Boyd, Mike Piro, Miguel Villarreal, Pete Koszyczarek, Dan Talsky, Roger Anderson, Jerry Boehme): Great publication for a tough niche to reach. Excellent revenue vs. inexpensive production. Funky layout which is great for this niche. Online component is so important for this niche - drives them from back and forth between the print and online.

Second Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“You Magazine” - Steve Massie, Melissa Gorzelanczyk): Fun funky layout. Good ad counts and easy to read. A very good niche to go after.

35 was eligible for the one-time home buyers tax credit and to make that into a revenue opportunity. Good info. Was wondering how the total P&L looked after production and mail costs were calculated.

General Comments: Overall each entry had strong merits but the winners had a bit more to offer the reader and advertiser.

Group C First Award - The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls (“Chippewa Valley Business Report” Sales Staff, Julie Nelson, Kelly Begley, Jessica Geis, Mark Jonely, Julie LaVelle): Good overall layout. Liked the way the particular issue focused on one industry (music)....very unique.

B2B is a good niche.

Second Award - Portage Daily Register (“Columbia County Wisconsin Travel Planner” Chad Brewer): Very good publication. You see lots of travel publications but this one was easy to read. Tons of ads so obviously the business community is in support Third Award - The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls (“Etc. Fine Living” - Jamie Johnson, Julie Nelson): There was enough good editorial content to keep my attention but not so much to take control of the issue. Could see why the upscale market would enjoy - or any market for that matter. It’s good to see an attempt to find a way to tap into this niche.

Third Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“College 101” - Steve Massie, Nicole Mertes): Very good info for a niche that wants and needs lots of guidance. This is a great way to get revenue from the university/colleges.

General Comments: These entries should make the larger papers in the state take note. They were well thought out, produced and had good advertising support. A great job by papers with under 9999 circulation - a very tough category to judge.

General Comments: Very strong and unique niche publications from all the entries. From a pure revenue stand point the winner appeared to reach their niche best with a good product that is easy to produce. The quality from many of the other entries was excellent.

Best Circulation Promotion

Group B First Award - Wausau Daily Herald (“You” Scott Hehir, Jennifer Marshall): Good niche to go after. Very good layout. Nice variety of ads and editorial content. Content was interesting to read. Color is on every page but B&W ads on pg 9 & 35. Would have looked better to force them to run full color. Still the best section in this category.

Second Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Parade of Homes”): Great way to capitalize on a one day, or limited time, event. Very good layout and ad designs.

Third Award - The Sheboygan Press (“First Time Home Buyers”): Excellent way to find out who

Group A First Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Save 25% Special Preferred Price for Select Customers” - Stephen Welcher): I like that multiple channels were used, thinking more about marketing the product than just ads as a promotion for the product. The “special rate” is a great way to entice new subscribers or customers and then retain them. The use of white and yellow text on green is very nontraditional and is hard to read in some places. I would consider using colors not so closely related in the future.

Group B First Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Gazette” - Lon Haenel, Sara Van Galder): This promotion is at the heart of what newspapers are and should be. I liked the connection of being in-

36 formed, educated, up to date, etc and the paper.

Giving people an easy to find “Three Easy Ways To Order” was smart and a good call to action.

Group C First Award - Daily Jefferson County Union, Fort Atkinson (“Faces in the Crowd” - Jim Furley, Leila Nordness): A fantastic idea for a community newspaper! I believe that this idea would develop a consistent following and would be something that people would look forward to each week just to see who was in the photo that they may know or where it was taken from issue to issue. Fantastic and fun.

Second Award - Watertown Daily Times (“Watertown promotion materials”): The Grow with Us campaign was unique in the idea of attaching or sending the seed packets. At minimum recipients of promo piece would have looked at it to see what was attached, and catching someone’s attention is usually the hardest part of any promotion. I would have liked to see some type of campaign logo, “Grow With Us - WD Times etc.,” developed and consistently put on each piece including the coloring contest.

Innovative Online Advertising Group A First Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“UFC” - Mike Cruse, Maren Lee, Maureen Saliger).

Second Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Community Learning Connections” - Nicole Glisczinski, Jim Jacobson, Blayne Belter).

Third Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Bergstrom Motors June 3000 Sale” - Mike Cruse, Maren Lee, Maureen Saliger).

Group B First Award - The Sheboygan Press (“Falls GlassReplace your Dingy Shower Door Today”).

Second Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc (“Downtown Manitowoc”).

Third Award - Oshkosh Northwestern (“Oshkosh Gymnastics Center”).

Group C First Award - Daily Tribune, Wisconsin Rapids (“Timberline Archery”).

Second Award - Daily Tribune, Wisconsin Rapids (“Special Olympics”).

Third Award - Stevens Point Journal (“Ultracom Wireless”).

Advertising: Daily Division

Contest Edition

Online Revenue Builder Best Online Advertising - Best Online AdvertisingGroup A Single Ad- Static Single Ad- Animated First Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“Best of the Bay” - Gary Vossekuil): Clear winner in this category. Really liked the logo and approach in the Best of the Bay Contest. Thought the daily prize give aways encouraged participation.

Smart to move most of the survey to online responses -- more than 14,000 makes the contest truly representative of the community’s views.

My only hesitation was on allowing people to vote multiple times, but overall, a great contest with great marketing that was smartly executed.

And love the $40,000 in revenue.

Group A First Award - Kenosha News (“Blast of Values” - Nicole McQuestion, Karen Rorek): The best advertising generates results. Spiegelhoff’s ad is simple and straightforward, but it’s also extremely smart. In a few days, Spiegelhoof’s connected with more than 900 customers by getting them to click on an ad that delivered an e-mail blast of values, thus driving customers into the store while also building a valuable email marketing database for Spiegelhoff’s.

Second Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Clubhouse Live” - Blayne Belter, Gary Vossekuil): I like the streaming live element.

Also liked that there was definite revenue attached.

Second Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“downtowngreenbay.com; Whats Up Downtown” - Blane Belter, Adam Ropson, Vicki Brown): Very creative idea to insert a static ad into a photo gallery. So creative, in fact, I think I’ll “borrow it” for our newspaper :)

Third Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“MomsLikeMe.com Mommy Makeover” Gary Vossekuil, Mike Cruse, Jaime Witt, Laura Kaste): Great idea. Well executed.

Group B First Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Gazlo. com” - Gazlo Sales Team, Kacey Kaderly): In terms of online revenue, there can be few matches to Gazlo.com’s online business directory. Clean design and easy to use. Love Kacey’s promotions on the site.

Second Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Downtown Bar Association” - Marci McCarten, Donna Felland): Loved Auction Mania. Smart idea. Way to connect with advertisers and again drive new revenue using online and print.

Third Award - Oshkosh Northwestern (“Grand Opera House ‘Top 100’” - Dave Wasinger, Stew Rieckman, Lisa O’Halloran): This is a beautiful site and it’s extremely creative. The idea of the Opera House inviting fans to decide on the acts they book is terrific. Definitely the most creative site. Definitely the most media rich, but the category is “online revenue builder” and I have to questions how much revenue will be generated by Grand Opera House, especially as compared to the cost that went into building and maintaining it.

Group C First Award - The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls (“Tradin’ Post Buyer’s Guide ‘Extra’” Brian Maki, Craig Hendrick, Andy Jorsch, Matthew Markham): Smart bundling of print and online to build automotive revenue in both.

Second Award - Stevens Point Journal (“Ski’s Meat Market” - Paul Bahr, Bob Berg): Another nicely done ad by Berg.

Third Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Fuddruckers” - Erin McGettrick, Elly Heuring): Clean, simple ad promoting Fuddrucker’s as an inexpensive option for dinner. I liked the sticky note style and the push pin. Sorry I didn’t get to see it moving on the page.

Group B First Award - The Janesville Gazette (“50/50 Factory Outlet” - Jenny Neuville, Adam Zellmer): The best ad in this category. Nice colors. Clean and inviting.

Second Award - The Janesville Gazette (“Diamond Dave’s” - Marci McCarten, Adam Zellmer).

Third Award - The Janesville Gazette (“American’s Mattress” - Trish Edwards, Adam Zellmer).

Group C First Award - Daily Citizen, Beaver Dam (“Imperfect People Welcome” - Melissa Boehler): Nice concept. Good use of photos to make church’s point. A really nice ad.

Second Award - Daily Tribune, Wisconsin Rapids (“Port Edwards School District” - Tara Marcoux, Bob Berg).

Third Award - Stevens Point Journal (“Oakview Veterinary” - Dave Paulsen, Bob Berg).

Group A First Award - Green Bay Press-Gazette (“The Bar” - Erin McGettrick, Vicki Brown): Loved it.

Very creative. Ad is clean and attractive. Animation is subtle and appealing. Most of all, the ad accomplishes a lot -- promoting upcoming events, food specials and drink specials while also encouraging reads to vote for The Bar in the Best of the Bay contest. Great job. Handsdown favorite ad.

Second Award - The Post-Crescent, Appleton (“Thedacare” - Erin McGettrick, Stan Feavel): The runners in the background were a cool way to promote the event.

Group B First Award - Wausau Daily Herald (“Woodchucks” - Janet Tharaldson, Bob Berg): Great concept well executed. Makes me want to go to a Woodchucks game.

Second Award - Oshkosh Northwestern (“Reimers” - Mindie Boynton): Beautiful ad. The fireworks really attracted your attention.

Third Award - Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc (“Lakeshore Weekend” - Rochelle Stubbs): A lot of work for the poor dinosaur rowing across the Lake.

Group C First Award - Stevens Point Journal (“Stevens Point Girls Youth Softball” - Dave Paulsen, Bob Berg): Creative, funny, attractive. Makes you pay attention. Berg is one of the top designers in this contest.

Second Award - Portage Daily Register (“Ace Portage - Elves” - Chad Brewer): Loved the elves ad. Funny. Makes you want to go to Ace. Third Award - Marshfield News-Herald (“V and H Auto” - Olaf Krawinkel, Bob Berg): Nice clean automotive ad. Well done.

Contest Edition

General Excellence First Award - The Badger Herald, UW-Madison.

First Award - The Clarion, Madison Area Technical College: A great job by everybody on the staff here. Great color reproduction — nice plays on words for some headlines and even in some ledes (like the golf team ‘teeing off’ — HA!). Very clean layout, easy to read, nice use of color, good use of reverses and artwork with opinion to emphasize content and meaning of the articles. Very little to improve on here, except putting Bettsey Barhorst’s column and photo on the opinion page. Why is she allowed to have a prominent location in the news section when her column is opinion? Perhaps it is presidential hubris, but if it is her opinion, it belongs on the opinion page. That is a minor criticism, however, and the staff may not be able to do anything about it. Great work, keep it up — the others in this category have a gold standard to shoot for!

Second Award - Royal Purple, UW-Whitewater: Great color reproduction and well-laidout newspaper. Attractive, easy to read packaging a lot of information. A lot of opinion on the opinion pages; a verity of feature coverage and well-designed with good color photos.

One of the best classified sections we’ve seen in judging the contest. Sports pages cover just about everything and attractively packaged. Some photos are a little dark and some outdoor pix are not clear and crisp, but that is minor problem. Ads were well done. Keep up the great work and you might be First Award next year!

Third Award - Arches, Mount Mary College: There is a lot to like about Arches — very clean design and easy to read. Nice use of headline style and weight; great use of color throughout, especially on front page. Interesting typography and graphics grabbed our judges from the beginning and kept out interest throughout. Great reproduction of color — your press crew deserves some kudos or at least a gift certificate. However — stronger opinion pages would have moved this entry up, as well as more sports coverage. Even a Brewers, Bucks or Admirals wrap-up would be more than just a hit-or-miss coverage of local sports. Great looking ads. Keep up the good work and you might be the top dog some day!

Honorable Mention - The Lakeland College Mirror, Lakeland College: As journalists, we sometimes become too involved in our publications to separate our own personal promotion from the newspaper itself — and that’s exactly what happened on one of the opinion pages in this entry when the editor took up an

Collegiate Contest Winners entire page to write a farewell column WITH her photo in it. Very self-promotional and unnecessary. Sports photo selections could be enlarged and less blurry. Pull quotes appear inconsistent in size and usage throughout the entries. Good variety of sports coverage.

Photo Opinions take up too much space that could be used for other polls or student opinion. Overall, pages appeared easy to read, with plenty of white space, although one front page had some photos out of register. Good work, just not top three material.

Honorable Mention - Advance-Titan, UWOshkosh: Some of use of color (orange?) was not spot on. Some photos appeared dark or muddy. Opinion pages were gray — could have used larger cartoons and other graphic elements on the page. Indoor sports photos were dark — an issue that needs to be addressed, but outdoor sports pix were good, although some were too big. Plenty of good stuff here, just not top three — it was very close to being there. A few more tweaks and perhaps a stronger opinion page and it would be there.

Honorable Mention - The UWM Post, UWMilwaukee: Cropping of photos bothered the judges — why the rounded corners? If it is an effort to be cutesy, it definitely hurt you, because every other major newspaper has square pictures for a reason. Some Sports pages appeared gray. Front pages were too cluttered, with some banging heads on one front page and a little gray on another. We loved the ads and hope some of the ads were designed in-house — kudos to the ad staff.

Opinion pages also resulted in an honorable mention — was not a fan of E-Pinion. If the newspaper cannot express an opinion on one issue each week, then the editorial board is not doing its job. Plenty of good stuff here, but some improvement would have made it top three material.

Graphics First Award - Royal Purple, UW-Whitewater (“University Salaries: National Market driving force for wages” - Tim Gumz): Everything comes together quite well in this story with graphics - easy to understand what’s happening here. It should be something that is understood by anyone who picks up this paper. Good job.

Second Award - The Clarion, Madison Area Technical College (“Contract Dispute” Vishmaa Ramsaroop-Briggs): The graphic is subtle yet enhances the story. Effective in either color or black and white. Good teamwork to tell about what is happening and how it affects the college.

37

Third Award - Arches, Mount Mary College (“Orthorexia Graphic” Kameryn Opatken): Good presentation and use of color. Easy to understand.

Adds the right touch to the article. Good use of teamwork to explain the subject.

General Reporting First Award - The UWM Post, UW-Milwaukee: (“16 detained, 15 arrested” - Kevin Lessmiller): This story was the first one I read in this category, and it immediately became the standard by which I judged. This is clearly written, and you look Kevin Lexmiller of The UWM Post, UW-Milwauat this incident from a variety of viewpoints. This kee; First Award, General Reporting. criticism is true of just ended up pulling for him. I would like to see a about every other entry: follow-up. Nice piece of work.

You need to work more on your lead — not just the first graph but the first several graphs.

Third Award - The Clarion, Madison Area Try to find a way to punch it up. Nice job!

Technical College (“No Powder, No Puff” Matt Daniels): Matt has a way of finding good Second Award - The Clarion, Madison Area stories to make The Clarion one of the best Technical College (“Flooded out” - Vishmaa college newspapers available. Good writing, Ramsaroop-Briggs): You included a lot of strong subject, good presentation. A job well detail and description that made this story done. readable. Also, you looked at this incident from a variety of perspectives.

Honorable Mention - The Spectator, UW-Eau Claire (“Rugby Wins” - Eric Larson): One of Third Award - The Spectator, UW-Eau Claire (“Free speech or hate speech” - Eric Christen- those stories where the real focus sneaks up on you and hits you with something you will son): Ah, the campus preachers. They’re easy remember about it. I liked the writing and to mock, but you gave respectful treatment the presentation - impressive. The placing to his point of view and to the students’ is a credit as this was a class filled with good concerns as well. Very fine lead, by the way — with the first three graphs setting the scene entries. quite nicely.

Honorable Mention - College Days, Ripon College (“Sara Heim etches name into Ripon record books” - Geoff Bruce): Tough story First Award - Stinger, UW-Superior (“A Tradi- to write. Good thought went into this and the presentation was very good. Touching tion Disbanded: The Fall of UWS Football” without making that the main focus of the - Joe Stark, Jordan Doffing): Great job of story. Well done. researching and bringing it all together. History, sports and good writing all combined to Honorable Mention - The Clarion, Madison make this entry the first place winner. I liked Area Technical College (“Golden Opportuniit very much. ty” - Matt Daniels): A very good article. Solid work for The Clarion readers or from anyone Second Award - Royal Purple, UW-Whitefortunate enough to pick up this paper and water (“Long Road Traveled” - Christopher enjoy a good read. Good use of qoutes. Well Kuhagen): Loved the lead and how the story written and a worthy read. develops. Got to know the subject through the way the story is presented and kind of

Sports Reporting

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Sports Column First Award - The Badger Herald, UW-Madison (“Minnesota Series” - Adam Holt): Good work at developing opinions and presenting them to the reader. The knowledge of subject as to what the writer is trying to say was very good to excellent. Some touches of humor to keep it loose so it does not become grinding for the reader. Overall, a very fine piece of work.

Second Award - The Badger Herald, UWMadison (“Leadership by Seniors” - Max Henson): Max Henson proves he can write about just about any sport and make it interesting. He goes deep into the subject and brings it home in each case. Well written columns, the kind you like to turn to when you pick up your favorite sports page each day or each week. Good job.

Third Award - The Clarion, Madison Area Technical College (“The Steroid Era in Major League Baseball,” “Super Bowl Aspirations prevented perfection” - Caleb Sanford): While these columns may lack local flavor they are no doubt OK for the audience Caleb is writing for. The mixture of students at a technical college will find other things to read about than their local teams and Caleb provides this. Well written and excellent research.

Good use of his opinion.

Investigative Reporting First Award - Exponent, UW-Platteville (“Parking: is it a problem at UW-P?” COMM 3730). The package of this issue was very well done and addressed questions, problems and solutions. These students took a responsible approach to an issue that directly affects them and made sure they got both sides of the story to present it in an unbiased way. The top part of this series put up all the questions and referred them to the appropriate stories, and there was useful information — including that on other campuses — to students, staff and the general public. Very well done in telling a story beyond a story and doing it a third-person point of view.

Second Award - The Clarion, Madison Area Technical College (“Contract Dispute” Vishmaa Ramsaroop-Briggs): The story had a good time element and had all the facts and figures, but it needed some rearrangement to give it better flow and provide some oomph in the beginning. We only get a few minutes of our readers’ time, and if we don’t sell them interest in the beginning, they’ll move on to something else.

Collegiate Contest Winners Third Award - The Badger Herald, UWMadison (“As state funding falls, students bear burden of rising tuition costs” - Kyle Mianulli): This is a good topic and a topic that can be informative, but it also can be a confusing topic. The trick is to bring it home and get some local impact and voice at the top instead of immediately going into a statewide perspective — you lose the local reader that way. Like many of the submissions in this category, all the facts and sources were there, but it just needed some rearranging. Also, the first paragraph is confusing — perhaps a suggested hed that didn’t get deleted?

Feature Writing First Award - Royal Purple, UW-Whitewater (“Vowing to take down cancer” - Christopher Kuhagen): A great read that pits an athlete against his toughest foe. Some of the best feature stories come out of regular beats like sports. The fact that you took the time to talk to his girlfriend and provided insight from the AD who has already been through testicular cancer was important — I see too many single-source feature stories. If you haven’t done so already, I would make sure that you follow on this story to see how he is doing. I did have one question though — what is the prognosis of Raebel’s ability to have children?

For such a young man that question seemed like a logical one to answer.

Second Award - The Badger Herald, UWMadison (“Sterling Hall Bombing” - Signe Brewster): A well-done, in-depth revisiting of one of UW’s most infamous historical moments. There was obviously a great deal of reporting done to piece together this story and it showed. The other side of that coin is the story drags at times with the weight of retelling all the history. A sidebar on the history of activism would have helped sharpen the focus. I also thought the lede was flat and too easy for such a large story. It’s a difficult task at times to re-tell a story that has been done many times. Overall, you handled it well.

Third Award - Royal Purple, UW-Whitewater (“Love, running and a sense of duty” - Matt Gardner): An interesting tale of a college track athlete who refused to let military service get in the way of his love for running. It’s a solid reminder that the men and women who serve our country are just like us, with passions and joys. The lede approach was effective, but I wanted more information about what happened. I also would have used Butzler’s name instead of using he, which was clumsy. You may also have considered setting up a sidebar on Butzler’s running exploits to focus more on comparing and contrasting the challenges of running vs. soldiering.

Honorable Mention - The Lakeland College Mirror, Lakeland College: Statisically dead” Jim Giese): This has all the elements of a great feature — a riveting life and death struggle, someone who really overcame the odds and a local student. What prevented it from becoming great was it was a single-source story.

It needed some additional reporting from another source. It also had a lot of quotes. I also wondered if the author was related to the subject?

Honorable Mention - The Spectator, UW-Eau Claire (“Talk to the Hand” - Emily Gresbrink): An interesting profile of an obviously talented college student with a passion that may end up being a career. It’s a good example of the axion that everyone has a story to tell. What prevented this story from being stronger was a weak lede — I would have preferred seeing something like: “The moment the audience believes is when the ventriloquist act is real for Nate Plummer.”

That’s what the story is about. A little sidebar on the history of ventriloquists, some famous performers and how it is done would have been useful as well.

Column Writing First Award - The Badger Herald, UWMadison (“Out of Sterling’s rubble” - Kyle Mianulli): Excellent look at the infamous Sterling Hall bombing on its 40th anniversary and comparing student activism then to today. Mianulli takes the reader through the times, explains that the bombers were as fringe to the student movement back then as today’s radical Muslims are to their religion and finishes with a convincing argument why young people need to get involved in issues facing the country. Well-written and good use of logic.

Contest Edition the introductory graph is particularly weak, but the column picks up from there and concludes forcefully. The way he handles the topic, at one point with graphic language to emphasize the point he is making, deserves to be recognized.

Honorable Mention - Arches, Mount Mary College (“Be a sweetie, wipe the seatie” Shannon Somers-Mueller): Somers-Mueller tackles a completely off-the-beaten-path topic: cleaning up after yourself when using public bathrooms and other facilities. This isn’t a humor column, but one that takes the topic seriously and attempts to demonstrate to her readers how they need to take responsibility, that school maintenance people can’t do it all. It’s a topic that few write about, but I’m sure many talk about it. She carefully avoids going over the top in her descriptions of what one finds in bathrooms, but goes far enough to drive her point home. Column is well-written, serves up plenty of examples and ends with a strong message.

Honorable Mention - The Spectator, UW-Eau Claire (“GOP may cut Badger Care” - Haley Zblewski): Zblewski does an excellent job of research in crafting this column over the issue of BadgerCare, which will be an ongoing controversy in Wisconsin government during the next several years. She explains to readers what BadgerCare is, who exactly benefits and then concludes that lower income people need it to continue or face consequences. Her writing is a bit stilted, but doesn’t lose the reader. In the end, her logic carries the day.

Best Editorial

Second Award - The Clarion, Madison Area Technical College (“Stand for something” Alisha Stahl): Alisha uses lessons of history — the historical stand against oppression — to convince her readers the importance of standing up for one’s beliefs. The column is well written, well organized and culminates with a decisive point — you can make a difference. The column is enhanced with good visuals. A nice job by all.

First Award - Royal Purple, UW-Whitewater (“Differential tuition policy a step in right direction” - Staff): Of all the editorials in this category, this editorial stood above the others in terms of impact on students, clarity of explanation, effective use of language and supported opinion pursuing a well-reasoned position. By using clear, easy-to-understand language, I understood completely what the point was, where the stand ought to be made and how even other universities were abusing the tuition policy system despite not having enough student support. Excellent work — keep up the great work!

Third Award - Student Voice, UW-River Falls (“Gross misunderstandings riddle New York Mosque” - Jason Larson): Larson’s column tackles a deeply divisive issue and does it tactfully, carefully making his arguments and ending in a surprise that he himself is deploying to Afghanistan, underscoring why the opposition to the mosque could be so dangerous to U.S. troops. The writing could be better,

Second Award - The Badger Herald, UWMadison (“Not so fast” - Editorial Board): This editorial explained its position clearly, supported it with facts and did not rely too much on jargon and acronyms (although there was some in there that probably could have been explained to the outside reader).

Although explaining previous rationale for supporting other fee increases, the editorial

Contest Edition clearly stakes out a position, supports it and offers a possible alternative for action. Great work — hats off to The Badger Herald staff on this effort and keep commenting on issues that impact students in clear, easy-to-understand language.

Third Award - The Racquet, UW-La Crosse (“Senate biffs on impeachment” - Editorial Board): Although the reader may get the gist of what’s going on after wading through this editorial - much of it is “Inside Baseball” stuff that most readers may not want to get through to get to the meat of the editorial here. The editorial board does a competent job of trying to get to the issues but does get a bit sidetracked — falling into the trap of balancing opinion and fact while failing to stick to the point. This is good work, certainly — most of the explanation is needed. However, there is some that could be summarized better in one or two sentences, leaving room instead for a summary deck or art of some kind that may explain the point of the editorial better. Finally, and perhaps what landed this editorial in third place, was the final statement, “The hypocrisy will not be tolerated.” What will happen? Are you suggesting stringing these folks up, or inciting a riot? Or perhaps worse? These are the kinds of questions the editorial board needs to ask before it ends with a statement like that. A better statement could be, “We’ll wager the hypocrisy will not be tolerated by students who will remember it when they travel to the ballot box come election time.” Again, solid work, but remember the attention span of the audience — get to the point, stick to it and come to a conclusion without confusing the issue and avoid making open-ended statements at the conclusion.

Collegiate Contest Winners of the editorial. The argument that sustainable energy are not cost-effective has been proven false by numerous campuses across the country as well as within Wisconsin? Just who do you think builds these renewable energy plants in Wisconsin? That’s right, the state, or utilities that are HEAVILY subsidized by taxpayers, ratepayers or both. Left to the private enterprise utility market, utilities would NOT be investing in these methods of alternative energy generation without heavy incentives, government tax credits, or both in most cases.

How then can Mr. Giese make such statements? There is no doubt that investing in energy efficiency efforts will save money — but at what cost to the environment? Mr. Giese does not examine the cost of compact fluorescent bulbs on the environment (the bulbs contain dangerous gases) or other renewable sources of energy such as ethanol (which will require large amounts of water and will drive up the cost of food because of its reliance on corn, which is used to produce corn syrup, an ingredient in many foods), yet sings the praises of alternative energy which is heavily subsidized and could never survive without the subsidy? The editorial does a good job of reciting many of the college’s energy efficiency efforts — which is a plus. But without a plausible opening statement, the editorial deserves only an honorable mention.

Honorable Mention - The Lakeland College Mirror, Lakeland College (“Why Mr. and Ms. Muskie are totally outdated” - Jessica Lillie):

The author seems to be more put off by the fact that females are placed at a competitive disadvantage in fund-raising than the gender inequity here. I also found the “White Mr. Muskie vs. Black Mr. Muskie” arguments a bit of a reach here. IF the argument is gender equity, bringing in race and even ethnic discrimination plays directly into the arguments most conservatives accuse liberals of: Using the most extreme examples of discrimination even if it does not fit the alleged inequality.

State the problem, support it with fact, give me a couple of solutions and come up with a snappy conclusion. Otherwise, we get lost in hyperbole, unfortunate liberal doublespeak and throwing the baby out with the bathwater. There is real promise in the subject matter and even in the writer’s talent here — which is why I’m giving it an Honorable Mention.

Follow the formula, keep it succinct, leave out the hyperbole and who knows what happens in this category in the future?

Honorable Mention - Royal Purple, UWWhitewater (“Put the ‘student’ back in student government” - Staff): Trying to get students to wake up and get involved in their government is like getting a camel to care about sand: It’s all around them, and yet they can only focus on their day-to-day work.

They only care about the sand when it is filled with holes or something else happens that requires them to pay attention to it. Real life examples of why students should care about their student government might be more

effective than the trials and tribulations of Whaley and Maki — however ironic and pathetic they may be. This is good work, but the other top finishers in the category had better impact on their audience, were more cleverly written or both. A fine effort worth an Honorable Mention.

Honorable Mention - The UWM Post, UWMilwaukee (“Federal appeals court ruling hurts the Internet” - Jason Kopplin): First of all, the title of the article is simply hard to believe. Regardless of any court ruling, the Internet can’t be harmed — it simply keeps growing exponentially as more and more devices are allowed to interact and communicate using it. However, the premise presented in the column seems one worth exploring, and Kopplin does it quite admirably. I just wish it had been done more succinctly with a little less ax grinding against corporate America. “Innovation comes from the little guys. Comcast and Time Warner aren’t going to create the next great innovation.” Really?

What about media conglomerates? Their profitability makes it more likely that little guys will keep innovating so they can sell them to the big companies, so they can get more money to go back and keep innovating. And, um, has Mr. Kopplin ever heard of Apple, which should adopt innovation as its middle name? Without iTunes, the music industry would be a mere shadow of its former, post-MTV self). Good work here, just not top three, but certainly worthy of an Honorable Mention. Also, keep in mind that editorials are the opinion of the editorial board representing the newspaper, not the opinion of a columnist or even the editorial page editor.

Best Advertisement

Honorable Mention - The Clarion, Madison Area Technical College (“The future of journalism still promising” - Buddy Thompson): As many of these as I’ve read in the past few months — and believe me, if I had a dime for each one I’ve read, I’d be quite wealthy by now — this one lays out many of the problems facing journalism as succinctly as any of them. However, in terms of sheer impact on an audience, this does not rank right up there with the top three. Remember that if you intend for people to read your editorials, they need to be relevant to your audience with a succinctly stated opinion supported by fact, and a snappy conclusion. Really, the formula doesn’t get any simpler than that. Good work here, just not top three and a solid Honorable Mention effort. Just keep the audience in mind.

Honorable Mention - The Lakeland College Mirror, Lakeland College (“Thinking ahead for a sustainable campus” - Jim Giese): I thoroughly disagreed with the opening paragraph

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First Award - The Clarion, Madison Area Technical College: Ad (“Where do you picture yourself?” - Vishmaa RamsaroopBriggs): Great Headline! Questions work, they invite the reader in. Good subhead and close. Good use of space. Easy to read.

Photo or photo art of photographer is a great complement to the headline. Suggestion for fun: Try a 3-D effect type font for the headline. Good job!

Vishmaa Ramsaroop-Briggs of The Clarion, Madison Area Technical College; First Award, Best Advertisement.

Second Award - The Fourth Estate, UWGreen Bay (“Goo Goo Dolls” - Josh Braun): I reduced this ad on a copier to 1/4 it’s original size AND STILL it WAS EFFECTIVE in getting it’s message across. The ad was unmistakable Goo Goo Dolls for their followers—the style of the design and color images can easily be found on the internet, on CD cover and book cover. I believe the disclaimer on this ad should be printed in a larger type font. What if the person reading this ad has

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Collegiate Contest Winners

Contest Edition

a vision impairment? Often it is difficult to have a company place greater emphasis on a disclaimer in an ad but worth pursuing.

Third Place - The UWM Post, UW- Milwaukee (“Goody Gourmet’s” - Kim Sullivan): Good branding ad. Liked the use of the aqua color which matched the company’s website.

Effective art, nice design and eye pleasing typefaces used. Easy to follow.

Honorable Mention - The Spectator, UW-Eau Claire (“Ravin’ Manes” - Kiana Tom): Even on a broadsheet black and white page filled with nine small space ads, this ad stood out. I liked the graphic use of gray and black letters and the simple sans serif type face. Gray background looked a little muddy. Message and ad would have stood out more using white instead of gray background. Try of leave a white edge around the ads as well— try not to have type running edge to edge on an ad.

Freedom of Information Award First Award - The UWM Post, UW-Milwaukee (“Post sues for records” - The UWM Post Staff plus Editor Kevin Lessmiller): This is a most deserving award for a college newspaper staff that decided to fight the university administration’s ill-advised decision to redact names from the minutes of a meeting that impacted student life on campus. The Post’s leadership and staff bravely took on the decision, convinced that the school had overstepped its bounds, claiming that federal privacy laws prevented it from revealing how members of a campus committee had voted.

In the end, the newspaper prevailed and a judge ordered the school to reimburse it for the lawyers’ costs that it had incurred. Not only was this a courageous action on the part of the paper, but it was an important victory for openness for all in Wisconsin.

Photography First Award - The Badger Herald, UWMadison (“Students strip, sprint for charity” Lukas Keapproth): Timely, telling, and brave, yet clean. This well-composed photo tells a story in itself — and the best photos do that without a cutline. The angle, expressions and sensitiveness show the photographer’s ability to capture a story in a photo yet push boundaries with them. Extremely well done.

Second Award - The Badger Herald, UWMadison: (“UW Campus, family remember Suri” - Lukas Keapproth): Very powerful photo. Nice depth of field and rule of thirds

Lukas Keapproth of The Badger Herald, UW-Madison; First Award, Photography. captures and focuses in on sadness from a distance. The reader immediately feels the emtion in the photo.

Third Award - The Badger Herald, UWMadison: (“UW offense fumbles away chance to dominate” - Megan McCormick): Great action shot tells the story that perfectly fits the headline and story. No better photo than a fumble to go along with the article.

General Web Excellence First Award - The Badger Herald, UW-Madison (“badgerherald.com” - Charlie Gorichanaz): Well designed, written, easy to use, innovative. BadgerHerald.com is the clear-cut winner among entries in the General Web Excellence category. Love the dominant photos, the clean, not-too-cluttered pages and the depth of the site. Links work, navigation is simple. Pages beyond the home page are interesting to look at, too. That’s something your competition struggled with. Nice interactivity with the shout outs, comments and links to Twitter and Facebook. Multimedia pieces were well done. I like the link to the PDF version, too. My vote is to retire the retired blogs for good — or at least bury them on a separate archive page. We don’t need to see what someone wrote five years ago on the main menu of blogs. The colophon, about and get involved pages are super. The overall

tone and presentation of this information must boost your recruitment efforts ... hats off. Advertising sales presentation is also well done. The comics page is super, too. One thought might be to reduce the amount of AP news stories on the front page/site? Most people get this news elsewhere ... focus on your own local product and showcase it.

Second Award - The Fourth Estate, UWGreen Bay (“fourthestatenewspaper.com” - Staff): The site has an overall clean, friendly to visit design. I love that it’s not overcluttered and busy. It also has a nice variety of stories posted and is kept relatively up to date. The photo galleries are very nice, I’m sure they get a lot of hits. The option to download a PDF of the print edition is also a nice touch. Interactivity is good, in theory, but some of the links to social media are not active. Polls are a nice touch, but the Facebook, Twitter, etc. buttons on your top ad don’t contain links to follow the Fourth Estate on Twitter or like its page on Facebook. Those icons traditionally serve as links — it’s better not to use them unless they link somewhere! Inside pages on the site could use a larger, more dominant photo with stories. Health Nuts Newsletter is inactive, so the link should be removed. The classifieds are not well managed — it appears there may be a few local ads but the rest are generated via your hosting service?

Third Place - The Clarion, Madison Area Technical College (“www.matc-clarion.com” - Staff): Overall a strong site. The site is nicely designed and easy to use. Navigation is clear

and straight-forward. Photos are crisp and are a dominant element on the home page, but are lacking throughout the site. Copywriting could be revised a bit for online reading: Your paragraphs are quite long and make for a big, gray, hard-to-read chunk on screen.

Break them down into smaller graphs online.

Interactivity is good with a poll and links to social media opportunities. The multimedia photo galleries were nice, but didn’t really TELL the story ... there was nothing accompanying the photos other than music and a label. Captions, a link to a story or a voice explaining what the story is would make all the difference. Several components of the site have links but don’t appear to be active ... ad rates, classifieds, podcasts, events and message board. Perhaps these need to be further developed but until that time they should be removed from the navigation. Keep up the good work!