Tribune takes 13 awards in Nebraska Better Newspaper Contest
The Nebraska Press Association has announced the winners of the 2020 Better Newspaper Contest.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, first, second and third place winners were announced Thursday, June 17, by video presentation.
Newspapers are broken down by their circulation into Classes A-D and daily’s. The Tribune competes in the class B division.
Many newspapers, including the Tribune, had “watch parties” to view the video and celebrate their wins.
The Tribune accepted awards in several categories.
A special one-time contest category this year was Corona Virus Pandemic Coverage.
The judges liked what they saw in the Tribune’s entry, awarding it first place and saying, “This entry was a standout in this division. In-depth reporting, strong photography and interesting features helped paint a complete picture of life during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Another award that the Tribune staff are particularly proud of is their second place finish in the Class B General Excellence category. This is an evaluation of the newspaper overall and is considered a top award in the contest.
In the advertising portion, Production Manager Samantha Goff earned a first place finish for her “small ad” promoting the Venango Chili Cook-Off event.
Goff earned second in “single retail black and white ad” for her Prairie Theater ads.
In the news portion of the contest, Publisher Russ Pankonin took first and third place in the “entertainment” category.
The first place story was about the podcast “Show Yourself Mr. Jasmine,” featuring Grant in their show, while the third place entry was his story on the Operation Tournament hosted by the PCHSF.
Pankonin took third place in “news writing” for his story on a 92 year old man falling from a grain bin and his apple watch calling 911.
“Handy bags a Mountain Lion” was a story that earned Pankonin a third place win in sports feature writing, and in breaking news, Pankonin earned a third place award for his story about two plane crashes.
Erin Gibbens, reporter at the Tribune earned her first Nebraska Better Newspaper Contest award for a “single feature” piece with a third place tie for her story about “Flossie’s Makeover.”
The Tribune staff also proudly accepted a third place finish for their classified page, second place for front page, and second place in headline writing.
Other Johnson Publication papers also earned awards in the contest. The Imperial Republican took home the following awards in the class C division:
• First place: Ag Advertisement, editorial page and special section-Salute to Grain.
• Second place: Classified page.
• Third place: Creative ad writing, computer graphics and feature photography.
The Wauneta Breeze also took a third place Class A award for feature photography, their last award as an individual paper, now that they have merged with the Republican.