Journal earns 18 state press awards

The staff of The Ritzville Adams County Journal earned 18 awards from the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association Friday. The newspaper was presented with seven photography awards, seven writing awards and four awards for advertising design.

The state association’s annual convention was held in Everett last weekend. On Friday evening during the convention, state newspapers and staff members were honored for their work during the past year. The 2011 entries in the Better Newspaper Contest were judged by the Texas Press Association.

The contest is broken into four divisions. A newspaper is placed in a specific division based on its overall circulation. The Journal is part of Group 1, for newspapers with a circulation under 2,500.

Total entries for the 2011 judging were 2,523, submitted by 78 community newspapers from around the state.

The following is a list of The Journal’s awards:

Second place for Best Use of Process Color in a Full Page Advertisement was awarded to Stephen McFadden for the 2010 Wheat Land Communities’ Fair.

Lavonne Saunders picked up three third-place awards. She was given an award for Best Use of Process Color in a Full Page Advertisement for the Blues Festival Thank You.

In Best use of Process Color for a Half Page Advertisement, Saunders received third place for Wheat Land Communities’ Fair Wampum.

From the category of Best Use of Process Color for Small Spaces, Saunders received a third-place award for Christmas at the Clock. The judges said “Nice use of color headers and black type. Very easy to read.”

Jennifer Larsen earned a third place for Best Education Story. The entry dealt with discussions regarding the proposed academic cooperative between the Lind and Ritzville School Districts. The story headline was “Public forum in Lind mirrors Ritzville’s, board asked to do more research.”

Stephen McFadden earned a second place award for Best Crime and Court Story for “Judge sends Balfe to prison for white collar crime.”

McFadden was awarded a first- and second-place award in the Best Sports News Story category. The first place was for “Broncos trample Springdale, 34-6.” The judges said “Very well written and tells more than just what happened in the game.”

The second place award was for “40-yard pass play puts Broncos on top of Asotin.”

In the category of Best Editorial, McFadden received a second place award for “Doctors, community deserve better from hospital leaders.” McFadden also received a third place for Best Editorial for “Printing the news that fits.” The judges said, “It’s always good to communicate with readers about what it takes to deliver the hometown paper.”

A third-place award for Best General Interest Column was presented to McFadden for a series of his “Let’s Chat” columns.

In the photo division, Larsen swept the Black and White Feature Photo Category with three awards. She picked up a first place for a photo entitled “Legendary.”

The judges said “Fantastic photo! Tells the whole story in one shot. Love the eyes! Great job.”

Larsen earned a second place award for “Ahh – the cool water of the Ritzville Water Park.” She collected a third place award for a photo entitled “You should buy this.” The judges said “Great expression! Looks like she just won the jackpot.”

In the Black and White Spot News category Larsen received a third place for “Digging Out.”

Jennifer and Brent Larsen and McFadden earned a first-place award for Best Black and White Photo Essay for “Blues fans love what they hear in Ritzville.”

The judges said, “Photos do a great job telling the story event without text!”

Among the entries for Color Sports Action Photo, McFadden won first place for his rodeo photo entitled “Rodeo the hard way.”

McFadden also collected a second-place award in the category for “Face smashing: Keanu Niezwaag’s nose probably still hurts.”

The judges said, “Wrestling pictures can be very tricky to take. The photographer did a good job of picking out the right moment.”