Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: Preston-Fillmore County Journal Entry Title: Sales is the engine that drives the train... especially in 2020 Entry Credit: Jason Sethre, Sherry Hines, Sara Schultz, Taylor Case Judge Comment: The Preston Fillmore County Journal has many impressive features throughout the three editions submitted. *A+ for "2019 Tasty Temptations, Best Cooks of Bluff Country" sponsored recipe contest. Beautifullly executed. *A+ Dec 9 edition great use of color & space with Holiday advertiser ads running vertically down 2-col. x full depth of outside edges of edit pages. Well done. A+ for the "Back to School Word Search Puzzle Book" with the words per each puzzle specific to the sponsoring advertiser of that puzzle. Brilliant and an advertising revenue generator which can be used across all sales teams and all advertiser categories. I didn't want to return this so that I could complete it! *overall good mix of advertisers with lots of directories in all 3 submission editions
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: White Bear Lake - White Bear Press Entry Title: White Bear Press 3/11/2020 Entry Credit: Adam Henschell Judge Comment: Overall well laid out with good mix of advertisers. *Good use of color and space for the directories. Directories can be a nightmare of clutter. These make you want to read through the advertisers. *Great center spread for State Champs Zehpyrs team. Good use of color plus great mix of sponsoring advertisers - allowed all sales reps to contribute. *Nice, quarterly glossy "Town Life" magazine. Interesting mix of current content and regional hisotry plus advertiser support.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: Little Falls - Morrison County Record Entry Title: 12-8-19, 3-15-20, 8-16,20 Entry Credit: Morrison County Record Staff Judge Comment: Brilliant idea to refer to the "Gift Guide" as the "Gift Certificate Guide". Even though it is the same holiday gift guide, it immediately becomes something different.
It's far more relevant and engages the reader. My children are in or have graduated college and all they want are gift cards. I actually read thru the advertisers for gift card ideas I can make where I live. *Good use of Reader Recipies pages (though I'm surprised the readers aren't identified). *good mix of adveritsers and color on all pages
Competition Comment: Alll four entrants to the Non-Dailies over 7,000 circulation category have a good mix of advertisers throughout their papers. This shows that the readers are engaged with the newspapers to the point where they support the advertisers.
