The Texarkana Gazette took home 42 awards in two Arkansas journalism contests announced over the summer, including seven first-place awards in the Arkansas Associated Press Managing Editors contest.
Arkansas APME Contest
Becky Bell took first place in the Beat Reporting category for her coverage of regional water issues and the Sulphur River Basin Authority.
The staff took first place in News Coverage for its months-long chronicling of the Red River flooding and the damage it caused last spring. The quality of reporting, writing, photography, graphics and page design were considered in this category.
Evan Lewis took two first-place awards, the first for Spot News Photography for his image of a woman being held back by police at the scene of a deadly shooting, and the second for Feature Photography for a photo of a boy's face bobbing in a pool filled with rubber ducks.
Jerry Habraken took first place in the Photographer's Portfolio category for a package of five news, feature and sports images taken last year. (Gazette photographers swept this category.)
Les Minor took first place in Hard News Column Writing for a piece about an Arkansas-side city board member complaining he was singled out by the newspaper about his travel expenses.
Andrea Miller and Minor took first place in Non-Traditional News Item for their Page One presentation of election results for expanded alcohol sales in several Bowie County cities that used photographs of beer and wine in glasses and a modest amount of words to illustrate the results.
Second place awards went to Lynn LaRowe for Spot News Story, LaRowe and Minor for Special Project/Community Service, Bell for Political Reporting, Minor for Human Interest Column Writing, Andrea Miller and Jason Hopkins for Page Design, Habraken for Spot Sports Photography, Lewis for Photographer's Portfolio, and staff for Digital Web Content.
Third place awards went to LaRowe for Beat Reporting, Russell McDermott for Editorial Writing, Jennifer Middleton for Education Reporting, Middleton again for News Feature Writing, staff for Special Project/Community Service, Bill Owney for Sports Column Writing, Minor for Headline Writing, Danielle Dupree for Information Graphics, Lewis for Feature Photography, Josh Boucher for Photographer's Portfolio, and staff for General Excellence.
The Texarkana Gazette competes in the high-circulation division against other Associated Press affiliated daily newspapers. Awards were for material published in 2015.
Arkansas Press Association
Second-place awards: Lewis for Single News Photograph; Habraken for Single Feature Photograph; Bell, Aaron Brand and Ashley Gardner for Coverage of Business/Agriculture; Brand and Lori Dunn for Coverage of Tourism; Hopkins for Best Sports Page: Minor for Humorous Column Writing; and Andie Martin for Freelance Writing.
Third-place awards: Brand for Sports Feature Story; Miller for Headline Writing; Lewis, Habraken and Boucher for Picture Page/Photo Essay; Kristen Doss for Best Graphic Design Portfolio; Staff for Best Website; and staff for General Excellence.
Honorable mentions: Jim Williamson for Feature Story, McDermott for Editorial Writing and Minor for General Interest Column Writing.
The Texarkana Gazette competed in the high-circulation division. The contest was judged by members of the Nebraska Press Association. More than 700 entries from 16 daily newspapers were submitted.