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The Daily News took second place for Newspaper of the Year in its class in Thursday’s Michigan Press Association Better Newspaper Contest.
Senior Staff Writer Cory Smith’s photo, “Out of the history books,” took third place for Best Feature Photo in Class D in the Michigan Press Association Better Newspaper Contest. Original caption: Irene Miller of West Bloomfield, who shared her story of surviving the Holocaust with students at Greenville High School, wipes away tears from the face of junior Marianna Barron, 16, who was overcome with emotion as she reflected on the significance of Miller’s presentation. — DN Photo | Cory Smith
The Greenville-based newspaper took home a total of eight awards for editorial and advertising excellence, including four first-place awards, two second-place awards and two third-place awards. The Daily News was also a top-three finalist for the Daily Advertising contest.
The Daily News has been named Newspaper of the Year in its class for eight times in nine years, most recently last year, but lost this year to the Flint Journal, which was previously in a larger class, but is now in the same class as the Daily News, along with multiple other formerly larger newspapers in bigger cities.
“Somehow, we’ve found ourselves in the same division as Flint, Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, Muskegon and other newspapers under MLive’s larger banner,” Managing Editor Darrin Clark said. “This made for some very stiff competition compared to past years, but we still managed to be runner-up in the Newspaper of the Year race, which is something to be proud of.
“The contest year (August 2023-July 2024) coincided with tremendous upheaval on our own staff, but we were able to keep our eye on providing quality news coverage for our subscribers,” Clark added.
Clark won first place for Best Newspaper/Publication Design and took third place for Best Page or Pages.
The Daily News staff won first place for its Rooted in Agriculture pages in the Best Special Section Category and first place for Best Digital Presentation.
News Editor Elisabeth Waldon took second place for Best Columnist. Two of the columns explained the difficulty of obtaining a response for a Freedom of Information Act request from the Crystal Township treasurer regarding a new street lighting district tax assessment. A third column detailed the challenges of writing about a particularly heinous child abuse court case.
Senior Staff Writer Cory Smith took third place for Best Feature Photo for “Out of the history books,” part of a feature about Holocaust survivor Irene Miller who shared her story with Greenville High School students.
Two former sports writers for the Daily News also won awards: Austin Chastain won first place for Best Sports Column for “Friday’s biggest heart” about Greenville High School football and Alex Freeman took second place for Best Sports Feature for “Alleged vandals” about Montabella High School forfeiting a football game to Merrill High School due to safety concerns.
In the advertising contest, the Daily News took home two first-place awards, five second-place awards and three third-place awards.
“The MPA Excellence in Advertising contest is a fantastic opportunity for all Michigan Press Association daily and weekly newspapers to compete statewide and really highlight the creative graphic talent that visually tells our advertisers’ stories through their ad placements,” Daily News General Manager Amber Rood said. “I am incredibly proud that we’ve once again been recognized among the top three publications this year in the state.”
The first place advertising awards were in the Entertaining Services category for “Child Abuse Prevention Awareness” and in the Small Ads Work category for “Plan ahead so your family doesn’t have to.”
The second place advertising awards were in the New and Used Autos, Recreational Vehicles and Boats category for Steve Winnie Auto Sales, in the Restaurants category for “Sidney Tavern: Where the locals go,” in the Best Health/Fitness category for “New year, new you with the White Lotus,” in the Best In-House Circulation category for “Subscribe for sports coverage” and in the Best Community Cause Marketing category for “Literacy awareness feature and grouping.”
The third place advertising awards were in the Community Business Promotions category for “Businesses of distinction,” in the New and Used Autos, Recreational Vehicles and Boats category for “Steve Winnie retirement sale” and in the Best Health/Fitness category for “Sheridan Community Hospital health page.”
“The annual Michigan Press Association Better Newspaper Contest gives our members a chance each year to assess and put forth their team’s best work in journalism, photojournalism, column writing, graphic design and advertising,” said Wes Smith, MPA past president and group publisher of View Newspaper Group, which owns the Daily News. “After the judges have reviewed the thousands of submissions and made their decisions, awards will be given, bragging rights established and perhaps a few toasts made to the winners. It is a rare moment in our profession where we allow ourselves to reflect and experience something akin to satisfaction for a job well done. Anyone in this business today is in it, not for kudos, but because of a passion and desire to serve our readers, our advertisers and our communities. For us the work is the reward. But on the occasion of the MPA BNC contest awards, let’s take a moment to say to all our coworkers and all our colleagues, good job. And to the winners, congratulations.”
