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COLLEGE STATION — The team dedicated to bringing the city comprehensive coverage and community insight received special recognition during a conference last month.
The awards — which are generally divided into divisions based on circulation or frequency — were announced during the Texas Press Association’s annual trade show and conference June 20-22 at the Hilton College Station & Conference Center.
The Elgin Courier earned first place in General Excellence and Headline Writing, Division 9. Other awards included second in advertising, third in sports coverage, and fourth in feature photography, page design and sports photography.
“I am proud to represent the county that has welcomed me in with open arms, and am appreciative of each and every one of our subscribers,” Senior Reporter Niko Demetriou said. “I will do my best to continue serving this beautiful community with the information that matters here.”
The Courier also placed third in Sweepstakes. The sweepstakes award is the top honor in the statewide competition, bestowed on newspapers with the highest overall scores based on cumulative points for editorial, design, photography and advertising excellence.
“I’m extremely proud of our team at the Elgin Courier,” said Jason Hennington, area editor. “They continue to work hard to serve our readers and produce a quality, informative product that Elgin can be proud of.”
The convention included seminars and discussions on better ad designs in print and for websites, newspaper sponsorships of non-journalistic events such as music shows to generate extra revenue, the concept of Journalism 3.0, hiring young journalists at a living wage, improving the quality of a newspaper with a copy desk and a professional staff photographer, using artificial intelligence, strategies for reporters to “cover life, not just news” and much more.
“I’m proud of our reporters and editors, and our Granite team as a whole, but there’s always room for improvement,” said Executive Editor Thomas Edwards. “We can’t rest on our laurels just because we’re the best at what we do when it comes to covering our communities. In the days ahead, we’re going to be looking at more daily stories posted online and requiring digital or video offerings at all newspapers.”
In the contest, 100 TPA members submitted 965 entries, which were judged by an impartial panel from the Georgia Press Association.
In addition to Hennington and Edwards, Suzanne Stevens serves as the digital editor. H. Daniel Philhower is president and CEO of Granite, Valeri Stair is vice president of finance, Shawn Burrell is vice president of sales, Patti Slavych heads up the creative/design department and Ory Boney oversees the press.
The full winner’s circle can be downloaded at www.texaspress. com.
