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COLLEGE STATION — Granite Media Partners Inc.’s publications dominated the 2023 Texas Better Newspaper Contest, earning two coveted first-place sweepstakes awards for the Taylor Press and the Colorado County Citizen, 16 first-place writing citations and a total of 50 honors overall.
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.
This was the second year in a row the Taylor Press claimed the sweepstakes award in its division, a rare feat according to officials.
The Boerne Star in the Division 3 semiweeklies category and the Elgin Courier in the Division 9 weeklies slot both nabbed third-place sweepstakes nods.
In addition, the Bandera Bulletin, the Star, the Citizen and the Courier took home honors in the next-highest category — general excellence.
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 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.
Longtime Granite employees said the number of awards may be a new record for the company.
“I’m proud of our reporters and editors, and our Granite team as a whole, but there’s always room for improvement,” Executive Editor Thomas Edwards said, “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 addition to the awards, outgoing TPA President Ken Esten Cooke took a brief moment during remarks on the survivability of print newspapers to praise the digital programs and shows now being produced by the Taylor Press.
In the contest, 100 TPA members submitted 965 entries, which were judged by an impartial panel from the Georgia Press Association.
The breakdown in awards include: TAYLOR PRESS
First — feature writing, news writing; second — advertising, column writing, headline writing, page design, online live coverage and special section; third — sports coverage, sports photography; fourth — best magazine Sweepstakes — first place
COLORADO COUNTY CITIZEN
First — feature writing, general excellence, news writing, page design; second — column writing, sports coverage, best magazine, special section; third – news photography; and fourth — headline writing Sweepstakes — first place
ELGIN COURIER
First — general excellence, headline writing; second — advertising; third — sports coverage; and fourth — feature photography, page design and sports photography Sweepstakes — third place
BOERNE STAR
First — feature writing, headline writing, sports coverage; second — sports photography; third — news photography; and fourth — general excellence Sweepstakes — third place
BANDERA BULLETIN
First —general excellence; second — editorial writing, news writing; and fourth — advertising and best magazine
SEALY NEWS
First — sports coverage; third — headline writing; and fourth — feature writing, sports photography
LIBERTY VINDICATOR
First —headline writing, sports coverage; and third — feature writing
NAVASOTA EXAMINER
First — headline writing; third — public notice (a new category); and fourth — feature writing
MADISONVILLE METEOR Third — editorial writing Granite area editors include Jason Hennington (Taylor and Elgin) and Jimmy Galvan (Sealy and Columbus). Suzanne Stevens is 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.
Publishers whose papers were represented in the contest include Marcy Branson (Bandera/ Boerne), Tressa Alley (Sealy/ Columbus), Jennifer Gray Richardson (Vindicator) and Ana Cosino (Navasota/Madisonville).
The full winner’s circle can be downloaded at www.texaspress.
com.
