ACN earns seven Texas Press Awards
The Archer County News was recently recognized with seven awards during the 2022 Texas Press Association’s Texas Better Newspaper Contest at the TPA Conference.
Awards were presented at the TPA Convention and Trade Show in Round Rock on Saturday, June 3. TPA members could enter 12 sweepstakes contest categories and six non-sweepstakes contest categories from publications in a period of Jan. 1, 2022, to Dec. 31, 2022.
According to the TPA, 99 newspapers submitted 920 entries in the contest. Competitions were divided into divisions which newspapers competed against publications of similar circulation. Entries were judged by members of the Oregon Press Association.
In the Division 10 (small weekly) competition, the Archer County News earned a first-place finish in page design, second place finishes in the headline writing and sports coverage categories, third place finishes in advertising design and sports photography and fourth place finishes in feature photography and news writing.
The first-place page design was highlighted by the Archer County News’ May 19 edition front page and its story on Hannah Spears taking home gold medals at the 2022 state track meet.
In the headline writing category, newspapers submitted three catchy headlines to be judged. The Archer County News submitted “Williams, Eagles soar over Wall,” “Running into the record book” and “Limousin Cattle Queens.”
“Catchy; makes me want to read the articles,” the judge’s comments read about the Archer County News’ second place entry. “Nice play on words.”
In the sports coverage division, newspapers were judged based on quality of writing, range of coverage, photos, layout/design and suitability of headlines. ACN’s featured sports reporter Will Edwards’ and the staff’s coverage on April 14, 2022, and Nov. 17, 2022.
The third-place sports photography submission featured five photos from across the entry period taken by Edwards and editor Nathan Lawson.
The third-place advertising design finish highlighted three advertisements created by creative director Grace Rees.
The fourth-place news writing submissions featured to articles written by Lawson; March 31’s “Archer City council discusses future of the Archer City Ambulance Service,” and Oct. 6’s “Transformer causes scare at ACISD.”
The fourth-place feature photography submission was highlighted by five photos taken by Lawson, Edwards and community desk’s Jerry Phillips.
The combined finishes were good enough for the Archer County News to finish tied for second with the Caprock Courier in the division 10 sweepstakes race. The two newspapers finished behind the Clarendon Enterprise.
“When I came on staff in June of 2020, I had a goal of the Archer County News becoming an award-winning publication and in the last two years, the Archer County News has taken home 12 better newspaper awards including two first place finishes,” Lawson said. “I am extremely proud of Grace’s, Will’s, Jerry’s and advertising sales representative Vanessa Parkey’s hard work in 2022 that earned this recognition. I believe our current staff will continue to produce and exceed the award-winning quality which the newspaper has been publishing.”
