Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: Cloquet - Pine Knot News Entry Title: Pine Knot News Entry Credit: Jana Peterson, Mike Creger, Timothy Soden-Groves, Rose Chu Judge Comment: The Pine Knot News offered a nice mix of content and was a great reflection of the community. While sometimes it is difficult coming up with hard news once a week, the News certainly found ways to package what appeared to be the top stories of the week that told readers what was most important in the community. The paper also had clearly defined opinion, business, sports, etc., that were well labeled and presented. All in all, the Pine Knot News appears to serve its community well.
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: Mountain Lake - Observer/Advocate Entry Title: General Reporting Entry Credit: Observer/Advocate Staff Judge Comment: A nice mix on the front pages of features and news, all anchored by a top photo of the week that appear to reflect the community. The paper is peppered with many photos that will probably help fill lots of scrapbooks!
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: Henning - Citizen's Advocate Entry Title: General Reporting Entry Credit: staff Judge Comment: Does Chad Koenen ever sleep? This is obviously a two-person, husband-wife show and it appears to do a good job of keeping its community informed. Even though Chad covered everything, his voice took on a tone that reflected each topic well.
Competition Comment: Reading these newspapers really tell a person from a few hundred miles away that you're in Minnesota. We are a lake community in northeast Indiana and have some of the same coverage — water quality, fishing derbies, etc. — but we don't have competitive cross country skiing and just a year ago got collegiate hockey. You can tell by reading these papers that all of this is a way of life in Minnesota; it was fun to read. By and large, these papers did a good job of reflecting what is going on in their communities. Even the papers where the relationship between the chamber and the newsroom is probably tight, the winners didn't seem to shy away from tough topics. Sure, there were a large dose of festivals and holiday fun, but covering the difficult topics that face communities were an important part of the content.
