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2001 Better Newspaper Contest — Page Design

Division 2, Dailies 7,000 to 99,999
1st. New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung – Page One staff photos the most intimate and compelling in Division 2. Most interesting Opinions page in Division 2. Sports staff photos are excellent as well, good story-telling shots. Lifestyle: good layout of way-too static photos. But you are clearly the best in your division.
2nd.  The Paris News – Excellent front page photos, but photos elsewhere not of the same excellent quality, though excellent color. Compelling front page layout and design, but Sports is a drag, editorial black box purgatory. Overall, a mix of excellent and not-that-great.
3rd. Odessa American – Rather a lot of wire service photos, but used for very good effect – if perhaps over-used on Page One. Hot! Ticket! Lifestyle page! Dramatic Opinion, but Sunday’s choice can’t be representative of the daily problems faced. Maybe too many photos and stories on Page One?
4th. The Facts, Clute – Dramatic and clean front page. Nice Living, balance of photos and story – though a lot going on in the header. Terrific local Sports photos but too many type styles in Sports heads. Typically boring Opinions layout.

Division 3, Dailies Less Than 7,000
1st. Stephenville Empire-Tribune — Couple of small pictures and logo blurry.
2nd. Texas City Sun — No comments.
3rd. Athens Daily Review — No comments.
4th. Hereford Brand — No comments.

Division 4, Semiweeklies 4,001 or +
1st. Williamson County Sun — Far and away the most sophisticated design in Division 4. Clean, clear, intensity; good balance of photos and text. Looks like a paper 10 times its size. Congratulations. Superb.
2nd. Hood County News — Interesting, inviting, lively, good color work, compelling stories.
3rd. Wise County Messenger — Strong Lifestyle and Opinion pages for Division 4. Page 1 color photo treatment a little weird — what looks like a good character study has been over “innovated.” Page One should study the other sections for tips.
4th. Round Rock Leader — Too many photos for my taste. Some color graphic treatments difficult to read; color use tends to the garish. But still, one of the top 4 in its division — a particularly mediocre division overall.

Division 5, Semiweeklies 4,000 or -
1st. The Light & Champion, Center — No comments.
2nd. The Bowie News — No comments.
3rd. The Sealy News — No comments.
4th. Lampasas Dispatch-Record — No comments.
Division 6, Weeklies 3,001 or More
1st. Kaufman Herald — Front page and sports section look great. Great use of space on page, balanced design is open and inviting.
2nd. Colorado County Citizen — Good use of readable-size fonts. Balance of images and text. Very clean. Good job. Simple, classic, nice.
3rd. The Azle News  — Great use of photos, color. Good, clean layout.
4th. DeSoto Today — Appealing use of photography and color throughout. DeSoto Today page needs captions.

Division 7, Weeklies 2,001 to 3,000
1st. The Community News, Aledo — No comments.
2nd. Lancaster Today — Layout on ads on one page runs backwards.
3rd. Duncanville Today — Couple of pictures a little dark.
4th. River Cities Tribune, Marble Falls — No comments.

Division 8, Weeklies 1,201 to 2,000
1st. Midlothian Today — Very well organized - sports - easy to find specifics.
2nd. The Albany News — The header needs something more with it.
3rd. Canyon Lake Times-Guardian — Take the price out of the fish display ads on bottom of editorial.
4th. Hansford County Reporter-Statesman — Spice up the headers.

Division 9, Weeklies 1,200 or Less
1st. The Eldorado Success — Very nice! Excellent layout all-around, photos and graphics are crisp, and photo manipulation is strong. Nice use of other artwork, and courageous text flow.
2nd. Lytle Leader News — Photos are crisp, clean and well-used. Leading is a bit spacious, but text wraps and thoughtful flow are good. Lack of color is a shame.
3rd. Martin County Messenger — Text is often too dense. Good design and layout overall, especially the Lifestyle page and front page. Text boxes look good as do the skybox teasers.
4th. The Kerens Tribune — A little sterile overall, but a few bright spots: readability, typography and photos. Design is on the safe side, but in-keeping with daily structure. Pretty clean.