Like many businesses in small towns, producing a weekly newspaper 52 weeks a year, no matter what, can be somewhat isolating. A few of our readers know what goes into that effort because they’ve done it, but most don’t. So it’s exciting to get together with other newspaper folk once a year.
The annual Minnesota Newspaper Association convention, held at the end of January, provides learning opportunities (and this year was especially beneficial to me). But I think the fellowship is even more important. We commiserate, share challenges, and give each other suggestions for meeting those challenges. It’s a wonderful opportunity to recharge and reinvigorate our work lives.
Two luncheon speakers each year are a highlight of the two-day convention. This year we enjoyed insight into the Minnesota Twins’ organization with CEO Dave St. Peter and two-time World Series champion and MLB broadcaster Dan Gladden. They spoke for a bit, and answered many questions from a grateful audience.
None other than Boyd Huppert, the much-loved and much-awarded storyteller now famous for his “Land of 10,000 Stories” on KARE11 was our Friday speaker. He joked that he never could have imagined being welcomed into a room full of newspaper people, since he’s a TV journalist who often “steals” his stories from the pages of our papers.
Storytelling is what we do. And the stories are all around us. He shared video from some of his more powerful stories from his long broadcast career. The most-viewed story was that of Emmett and Erling, an old man and young boy who lived nextdoor to each other, and shared a love of tomatoes and riding lawnmowers. Most personal to him was the story of his multi-generational family farm being sold at auction. And most moving was the story he did of a kindergarten teacher continuing to teach her students online, from her chemo room, while facing a second cancer diagnosis.
The big event for many during the convention, though, is the awards banquet. It takes several hours to get through all the winners of the many categories, with newspapers competing against others of comparable size. There were well over 3,000 entries this year, judged by three different state press associations. (Minnesota has one of the largest and most active press associations in the country.)
Award letters were sent out in early December, but we only know that we won something in a particular category, and we can’t say anything until after the convention.
Wednesday morning, Jan. 25, the results were posted online and we finally learned that we had won four first-place awards, four second-place awards, and four third-place awards. A nice balance, to be sure.
We’re thrilled to receive this record number (for us) of awards, to which all of our dedicated and talented staff contributed!
Rather than rest on our laurels, however, we are already working hard to improve.
We appreciate each of our advertisers who make this all possible, and each of our readers for whom we work diligently each week. Thank you!
The Tri-County News won the following awards for the period from Oct. 1, 2021, through Sept. 30, 2022.
• First place Advertising Excellence. This award acknowledges overall excellence of advertising in our paper throughout the year, both the ads themselves and their placement within the newspaper each week. This award would not be possible without the beautiful ads that Sue Hughes creates each week.
• First place Best Special Section for the 2022 Tri-County Resource Guide. We worked especially hard on the Guide last year, and it showed. The judges commented, “Wow! What a great resource guide for a group of small towns.” We’re pleased that the judges recognized our hard work. Call us now if you’d like to be included in this beautiful publication this year!
• First place Best Use of Color in Advertising for our yearly SHOP LOCAL spread that runs for six weeks before Christmas. It is colorful, eye–catching, and effective for advertisers.
• First place Best Infographic for the two-page color explanation of our brand-new website last March.
• Second place Best Advertisement for Scotty’s Exteriors/S.B. Restoration.
• Second place Best Classified Advertising Section throughout the year, from among newspapers with similar circulation.
• Second place Best General Reporting, also throughout the year and with comparable newspapers. Judges’ comments: “Love the local focus of this publication. Great job!”
• Second place Best Website. We made a big change last March, and will continue to refine our website which is tricountynews.com. Watch for details as they become available.
• Third place Best Design Portfolio for Jean’s layout and design of special pages such as festival photo layouts.
• Third place Best Editorial Page as a Whole throughout the year. The judges’ comments: “Good variety of subject matter, good mix of local and non-local contributors. Very strong third.”
• Third place General Excellence which takes into consideration the newspaper throughout the whole year, not just for a particular issue. One judge’s comment: “I liked this paper’s organization, in particular its clear labeling of ‘categories’ of news – community, schools and sports, obituaries, announcements, etc.”
• Third place Best Sports Feature Story for Jean’s profile of the Marquardt family and their love of baseball. One judge’s comment: “I especially liked the unique way the reporter organized this feature – giving each family member their own section. I thought it was a neat way to organize the information.”