Gartner takes silver as YS News rakes in awards

Frequent Blog collaborator and former Yellow Springs News reporter Susan Gartner received a second place award in the Osman C. Hooper 2010 Newspaper Contest which was held at the annual Ohio Newspaper Association convention in Columbus on February 11 for her story “Tidings of Joy, Babe Born in a Stable Van.” The contest recognizes the best weekly newspapers in Ohio.

Others on the YS News staff also received awards in the contest including first place for design and advertising. The awards:

---Second Place, In-Depth Reporting – “Recession in the Village” a series of articles by Diane Chiddister, Lauren Heaton, and Brooke Bryan

Recession in the Village’ was a systematic consideration of the effects of the recession on a small community still reeling from the loss of Antioch College. The thoughtful series gathered data and did the analysis, but also offered the personal stories of the impact of the recession. A sobering project, well done.

---Second Place, Local Features – “Tidings of Joy, Babe Born in a Stable Van” by Susan Gartner

Both funny and suspenseful. This story of a baby born in the back of a minivan parked in the driveway of her parents’ friends is a delight. Colorful details about the circumstances and scene (soon after the baby was born, tea was served!) make the reader feel like he was there. Ultimately this was a story about the bonds of friendship, entertainingly told through the unexpected events of one December night.

---Fourth Place, Editorial Writing – by Diane Chiddister

These three samples showed the unique spirit of Yellow Springs, a mixture of the good, the possible and the inspiration. The lively prose made them easy to read and the content made them worth reading.

---First Place, Design – by production/layout staff and graphic designers Matt Minde and Vanessa Query

Perfect example that color does not make good design. This paper has very nice column widths, nice gutter space. Very clean and simple design and creative and nice use of photos. Very organized and clear hierarchy on each page.

---First Place, Advertising – by advertising manager Robert Hasek and display advertising associate Kathryn Hitchcock; layout by Matt Minde and Vanessa Query

Nice layout, obvious hierarchy, clean and simple.

---Fifth Place, Headline Writing – by YS News staff

Excellent feature headlines – engaging, clever and appropriate.

The News competes in Division D: Total circulation from 1,126 to 3,299. Other newspapers in the category include:

Archbold Buckeye
Bluffton News
The Courier, Conneaut
The Clyde Enterprise
Granville Sentinel
The Holmes County Journal
The News Democrat, Georgetown
The News Leader, Minerva
North Ridgeville Press
Pataskala Standard
The Press-News, Waynesburg
Pymatuning Area News
Sunday Record Herald
Vandalia Drummer News
Vermilion Photojournal

Click here to see all the contestants and awards.

Some of the award winning pieces can be located in the archives section of the News Website.