The Morgan Hill Times took first place Saturday in a statewide
competition that named it the best small non-daily newspaper in
California in 2002. The category includes newspapers with a
circulation of 4,300 or less.
The Morgan Hill Times took first place Saturday in a statewide competition that named it the best small non-daily newspaper in California in 2002. The category includes newspapers with a circulation of 4,300 or less.
Judges, from out of state, said they based the “General Excellence” award on superior writing, excellent graphics and good local content.
The “Better Newspapers Contest” awards were announced at a lunch at San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel at the end of the California Newspaper Publishers Association convention.
The Times also took first place in the “Spot News” category for a story package written in the early hours of September’s Croy fire by Times reporter Carol Holzgrafe and Gilroy Dispatch reporter Jonathan Jeisel.
Holzgrafe and Executive Editor Walt Glines earned second place for an editorial on the dayworker situation.
Photographer Chris Riley won second place for a photo essay on the 2002 high school graduations.
Times’ Publisher Bill Barry, said he was pleased with the paper’s showing.
“The state press association has awarded The Morgan Hill Times General Excellence five times in the past 10 years,” Barry said. “This award demonstrates the continued efforts of Editor Walt Glines and The Times news staff to achieve consistent journalistic excellence of the entire news product. The real winners are the readers of The Times. We are all proud of Walt and the entire Times staff.”
“This truly was a group effort,” Glines said. “The award is for all of us, including the press room, production and advertising.”
Glines also thanked Pacific Sierra Newspapers, the Merced-based firm that owns The Times, The Dispatch and The Free Lance, for their support.
In recent years The Times earned first place general excellence awards in 1992 and 1996 and second place awards in 1999 and 1997.
Besides, Holzgrafe, the Times’ staff writers include Education Reporter Marilyn Dubil and Sports Editor Nathan Mixter. Paginators – the people who take story files and make them look like a newspaper – are Alex Price, Mark Anthony Medeiros and Chrissy Bryant. Cecilia Clark also contributed stories during the year.
The Dispatch swept a total of eight awards, more than any newspaper in the South Valley area. It took firsts in Editorial Comment, Local Spot News, Columns, Commentary, Criticism; Arts and Entertainment Coverage and Lifestyle Coverage and second place in Environmental or Ag Resource Reporting, Sports Photo and Photo Essay.
The Santa Cruz Good Times, Merced Sun-Star, Turlock Journal and Sierra Star from Oakhurst won a total of 11 firsts and seven second-place awards.
The Los Angeles Times earned a record 24 awards and the top spot for a daily paper. Other winning dailies are the Contra Costa Times, The Santa Barbara News Press, The Reporter, Vacaville and Manteca Bulletin.
Other first place weeklies included the Palo Alto Weekly, San Francisco Business Times and the Half Moon Bay Review.
