Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: The Business News - Northeast Entry Title: Henning Cheese earns multiple first-place honors at 2025 cheese contest Entry Credit: Heather Graves Judge Comment: A smart story to cover—one readers will gravitate to, while compelling a sense of local pride. Well-written human angle, offering a rare glimpse of history for a town icon and a family business both, while delivering the facts of the event.
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: The Business News - Northeast Entry Title: How powerful is paper in NE Wisconsin? Entry Credit: Matthew Day Judge Comment: The lede held an unexpectedly strong hook, and I found myself rooting for the local paper industry while (again, unexpectedly) wanting to know more about its twice-annual forum. Smart approach by this clever reporter.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: The Lakeland Times Entry Title: Cloverland commits to ‘biggest ever’ culvert project Entry Credit: Fred Williston Judge Comment: Williston could have left this as a small potatoes issue, but dug deeper for a story that revealed the difficult decisions our local officials have to wrestle with every day.
Place Name: Honorable Mention Contestant Name: The Lakeland Times Entry Title: Exposed: Four arrested after Crescent swinger party goes public Entry Credit: Trevor Greene Judge Comment: The importance of this topic must be judged by the level of interest from readers, and my experience in reporting tells me it was likely a popular piece. An interesting take on the "scheduled or planned event" element of this category, but the shoe fits. Well reported, complete story with strong sentence structure and delivery of information.
