2009 Better Newspaper Contest — Special Sections

Routine Special Sections

Daily

1. Fort Bend Herald, Rosenberg — “Profile 2008” Good explanation of the theme. Good use of photos, good balance of advertising to content. Could use better color. A little busy, could clean it up a little bit.
2. Kerrville Daily Times — “Healthy Life” Very popular theme. Great local stories and content. Easy to read. Lots of good information so readers might hang onto it longer.
3. The Facts, Clute — “Citizen of the Year” Very well put together. Great content, appears to be a lot of advertising. Good use of photos to appeal to your demographic.
4. The Galveston County Daily News — “Coast” Great reproduction. Nice layout structure. Good local stories-- could use more.

Semiweekly

1. Wimberley View — “The Guide to Wimberley” Nice design. Great printing. Good organization.
2. Round Rock Leader — “All Aboard: Round Rock Express” Nice use of wrapping text around photos. Nice use of bar across the top of each page. Reproduction and registration could be better.
3. Copperas Cove Leader-Press — “The Hills Guide to Copperas Cove” Nice cover, depicts area nicely. Excellent use of color.
4. Fayette County Record — “Locally Owned, Locally Grown” Excellent cover, nice color. Relevant content. Definite reader interest.

Weekly A

1. Park Cities People — “Homes & Estates” Very inviting front page, the articles make it more appealing for a homes section.
2. Rockdale Reporter — “FYI” A simple theme with an excellent design and layout.
3. Hays Free Press — “Women in Business” Overall a good section that is a tough sell in most markets. Nice job!
4. Jewish Herald-Voice — “Voices” A very nice section with excellent design and layout.

Weekly B

1. Hill Country Community Journal, Kerrville — “Fall Sports Preview” Loved your cover. You let us know what is inside, which many special sections forget to do. Like consistency in the use of the “overview” for each section. Loved the position chart. We are going to “steal” that idea from you. We liked “Tivy through the year,” takes a lot to put something like that together.
2. Hill Country News Weekender, Cedar Park — “Kickoff 2008” Very compelling cover. We liked the sponsorship ads for each player. Nice use of cut-out images. Schedules were consistent in use of fonts/styling/spacing. Liked page 30 layout. Nice touch with team helmets anchoring in corners. Not crazy about the heading fonts, but liked that you were consistent with fonts and styling throughout publication.
3. West Kerr Current, Ingram — “Hunters Guide” Nicely done cover. You identify who you are and what is inside the special section. Would have liked to have seen a different font for cutlines and smaller type face. Maybe a bold version of the body copy. Content was very interesting and would appeal to hunters and non-hunters. You left more white space between folio and body copy and ad line and body copy to create more “white space.” Most entries crammed them too tightly. You kept editorial columns lined up. Nice job!
4. Clay County Leader — “Relax you’re in… Clay County” Great cover design. Eye travels to the anchored “Clay County.” Grunge device would have been nice to carry throughout special section. Need to update fonts to give your publication a look that others are not using. “Freshen it up.” Use photos with stories to break up text and draw interest. Drop caps, summary boxes, rules will break up text also and get readers’ attention. Add white space below folios and above ad line. Use some subheads. You have great content. A few changes and review other publications could make you #1.

Weekly C

1. Dripping Springs Century News — “Guide” By far and away the best publication in this contest. Very well-designed. Consistent theme, beautiful press run, nice crisp photos and interesting stories. Directory in back very simple and helpful. Any weekly publication should/would be proud to have this as a special section! Good work, keep it up!
2. The Gladewater Mirror — “Fall sports” Some very unique and creative design elements. Definitely makes your publication stand out over others. Perhaps a little over-use of stock photos in some areas. Weird issue with ad on page 15. Dallas Cowboys schedule seems like filler in a publication about high school sports. Overall very solid work though. Great publication.
3. Pflugerville Pflag — “Fall sports” Cover catches attention for sure, but looks a little 80s-ish. Excellent cutouts on page 3. Nice schedule design. Good design elements, but interesting choice in pink. Can tell a lot of effort went into this publication. Nice work!
4. Sachse News — “Mustang Roundup” nice use of color. Cover really pops, though I am not a huge fan of font choice. Some intriguing photos. Well-balanced coverage. Nice break from “football only.” Love the medicine man article. Good work!

Blue Moon Special Sections

Daily Division

1. Lubbock Avalanche-Journal — “Lubbock Centennial” Terrific concept. Beautifully executed. 2. Midland Reporter-Telegram — “Solving the energy puzzle” Bright and energetic!
3. Victoria Advocate — “The Fatal Funnel” Great illustrations.
4. Alice Echo-News Journal — “10-0 Perfection” No comments.

Semiweekly Division

1. El Campo Leader-News — “El Campo Volunteer Fire Department 100 years” Beautiful piece, well-conceived and executed with tremendous community benefit. Head and shoulders above other entries.
2. The Bowie News — “Montague County 150 years” We would have liked to see the booklet for the July issue. A close second. Well done. Great research and great design.
3. The Vindicator, Liberty — “Hurricane Ike” Impressive piece considering the circumstances.
4. The Graham Leader — “Transition of Progress” Good cover and ad support, helpful content for community.

Weekly Division A

1. Jewish Herald Voice — “100th anniversary” Profession l level work! Great cover, successful magazine appeal. Functional typography with great aesthetic appeal. Engaging art.
2. Silsbee Bee — “Sesquicentennial” Professional level cover execution. Great content and typography. Good balance with large ads. Good use of header. Good use of photo.
3. Lake Travis View — “LTHS 4A State Champions” Good layout. Great cover photo, typography weak. Content reads well. Competes with ads.
4. Pleasanton Express — “Sesquicentennial” Good cover, lacks balance with typography. Rich black cover, suffers with registration. Good editorial content style. Easy to read.

Weekly Division B

1. Park Cities News — “70th Anniversary” Outstanding effort to research and compile history in an attractive format.
2. Hill Country Community Journal, Kerrville — “A season to remember” As sports sections go better continuity and design than most. Would have like to have seen explanation of section to readers as this is sure to be a keepsake.
3. Muleshoe Journal — “State Champions” Excellent idea for once-in-a-lifetime season.
4. Olney Enterprise — “Hamilton Hospital 100 years” No comments.