Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: The Valders Journal Entry Title: Sept. 30, 2021; Jan. 13, 2022; Aug. 11, 2022 Entry Credit: Brian Thomsen Judge Comment: Sept. 30: A really nice front page. The photos in the photo package are great and draw in the reader's eye. The story about the school menus being impacted by supply chain issues is very timely and was no doubt an important read for area parents with children in the local school system. The bottom story was likewise very informative and some good news to boot.
Jan. 13: Again, a great piece of lead art on this page, and you played it large, so kudos to you. The EMS story and the school district substitute story were both very well-written and informative. The story about the child dying was gut-wrenching. A great example of good writing about a horrible subject.
Aug. 11: The bees package is very nicely done. You've got a solid photo coupled with a fun headline treatment. It works well to illustrate the story, which is put together very nicely as well. It's good to see you talking about beekeeping at large in your area and not just one person who keeps bees. I appreciate you didn't take the easy way out on that. The election story at the bottom of the page adds some needed hard news to your front and keeps readers up to date on statewide issues of importance. If I had a criticism at all about the page, it would be that you might have had more luck with a more colorful screen behind your main package. Gray is very drab, and given the content, I think you could have gone with pale orange, yellow or brown and had something that looked even better. But that is nit-picking. This is a solid page.
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: Superior Telegram Entry Title: Superior Telegram Front Pages (Oct. 15, 2021; Jan. 7, 2022; Aug. 5, 2022) Entry Credit: Telegram staff Judge Comment: Oct. 15: A good mix of local and state news on the page. Lead package photos are really nice, and the headline treatment is great. Solid writing on the locally prepared content.
Jan. 7: Nice to see you scrambled to cover the warehouse fire and did so with an informative story and nice art. You've really told the story well. Candidate story is also interesting. The overall look of the page is good. Given the seriousness of what is being covered, I'm glad you didn't try to employ a bunch of design or typography tricks with the main package and it's headline treatment.
Aug. 5: National Night Out coverage is decent, but the packaging could have been done better, maybe be working in a kicker, some pull quotes or an additional piece of art with those stories, just a few more things to draw in the reader's eye. There is some interesting news at the bottom of the page, though it all appears to be coming from other sources.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: Oconomowoc Enterprise Entry Title: Aug. 18, 2022; June 16, 2022; April 28, 2022 Entry Credit: Bill Yorth Judge Comment: Aug. 18: Centerpiece package is nice and uses the submitted illustrations well. The story is good, and it's rarely a bad idea to offer your readers some alternative story forms such as this Q&A format. Bottom rail section is also a helpful addition for your readers, giving them some quick access to information about what kind of events are happening in the area. I appreciate the focus on local news and events throughout the page.
June 16: Another page with a lot of good local content. It would have been nice to get some other content or context for the school board resignation story. It seems like this was basically a rewritten press release, and usually more than that can be done. The hail package is well-written and uses the photos nicely to help tell the story.
April 28: Lead story is OK, but the deck head says it's a Q&A with the team, but it's really a Q&A with a team marketing official. The deck headline should have reflected that. Otherwise, readers might think they are getting into a story with comments from the team manager and players. Lead photo is OK for telling the story, but nothing special. Bottom headline is clever and the take on the story is nice as well. The photos are OK, but just mugs so there's not much visually appealing about this page in either story.
Place Name: Honorable Mention Contestant Name: Waupaca County Post Entry Title: Front pages, 4/21/22; 7/14/22; 12/12/21 Entry Credit: Robert Cloud, Cody Popp Judge Comment: April 21: Some nice local news on this page. It would have been better if you had some lead art that wasn't just building shots. The library story is very informative and no doubt important to your readers. The story about the officer being recognized for saving the infant is a good read, and the Krebs story puts something fun on the page. Overall pretty nice. I just think some better lead art would have helped put this page over the top.
July 14: A lot of good local news on this page, but again, the lead art is lacking much oomph. The stadium story is interesting, but I wonder if it should have been played in two columns and one of the nicer images lower on the page played as lead art instead. Overall news coverage is solid with a compelling crime story, an update on city law regarding K-9 officers and the story about the stadium. The other pair of stories add some more human interest to the page and round it out well. I do wonder if maybe you tried to work too much onto the page, and if one of the stories or the standalone photo of the accident could have moved inside the section.
Dec. 2: Art with Parkinson's boxing package is great. And the story is good as well, though I have seen stories like this out of a lot of communities at this point, so the topic is getting a bit well-tread. Candy shop story doesn't really seem like it deserves front page play. Your hard news stories are informative and well-written.
Competition Comment: Some really nice entries were submitted. The best ones were those that put a heavy focus on local news coverage written by staff members or stringers and those that took great photos to illustrate their pages and played those photos large. One design pitfall to avoid would be doing design tricks like text on top of photos and drop shadows applied to various elements with no real purpose behind the treatment or when the treatment doesn't reflect the tone of the story. If a story is serious, the treatment on the page should be serious as well. When a story is more light-hearted or fun, that is the best time to flex those page design muscles and do something attention-grabbing with headline treatments and nontraditional photo displays. The focus on in-depth coverage of stories of local important was a common thread among the winners of the contest. That is what your readers can only get from you, and it is a smart place to put your energy.
