Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: Blooming Prairie Steele County Times Entry Title: Advertising Excellence Entry Credit: Staff Judge Comment: Bloomington Prairie Steele County Times is very well laid out with a good mix of advertisers and Classifieds section. *Very well created "2020 Fair" section. Good mix of edit, photos, graphics and advertisers. *Very nice double-truck pages Congratulations Section plus State Champions to the Blossoms. Good advertiser involvement. *"Here is my card" business directory catches attention. *Blooming Prairie Medallion Hunt keeps the readers engaged
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: Walker Pilot-Independent Entry Title: Nov. 20, 2019; Dec. 11, 2019; March 18, 2020 Entry Credit: Terri Fierstine, Luke Schmitz, Michelle Bruns Judge Comment: Nicely put toghether paper. Eye flow of pages, directories, mix of advertisers. *Kudos on the "Hometown Holiday" Shopping Guide. Nice mix of advertisers shows the readers support the local businesses. *Football Picks sponsorship directory stands out - well done. *A+ on the "What is Kindness" sponsored children's quotes as to their perception of what is kindness. Brings together readership engagement plus advertiser support. Well done
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: Annandale Advocate Entry Title: Annandale Advocate Advertising Excellence Entry Credit: Andrew Enninga Judge Comment: The Annandale Advocate has a nice mix of advertisers, which shows the community supports their local businesses or the businesses wouldn't be advertising. *Hometown Holiday Shop & Win sponsored contest is a good mix of readership, advertiser and newspaper staff involvement. All ad reps can participate. *Very nice Annandale Public Schools Thank You for your recentl election support page. Full page 4C sponsorship. Well done
Competition Comment: There were some very impressive sponsorships and features across all of the papers in this 1,501 to 3,000 circulation level submissions. The Press of Pelican Rapids has some outstanding History story features. The Glenwood Pope County Tribune has a great Congratulations 2020 State Tournament Starbuck Stars page and their professional guide is well spaced so as to not feel cluttered. All of the papers had a nice mix of advertisers, whether ROP display ads, directory ads or Classifieds.
