Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: Cloquet - Pine Knot News Entry Title: Pine Knot News Entry Credit: Pine Knot News Judge Comment: What an excellent small-town newspaper. The clear winner for General Excellence. Stunning above-the-fold, front-page visuals. Serious, in-depth news coverage with clear and urgent relevance to the local community. On-point, timely, and authoritative editorials. Comprehensive local sports coverage. Strong design, robust advertising. Worth so much more than $1.25 per week. Great job, Pine Knot team!
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: New York Mills Dispatch Entry Title: General Excellence Entry Credit: Staff Judge Comment: Fantastic presentation, especially the April 29 “The Day Spring Sports Stood Still” edition. Visuals and advertising quality are leaders of the pack. In terms of reporting… Excellent profiles of local community members, which is one of the most valuable assets of a community newspaper, though the front page might benefit from more hard/in-depth news.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: Henning - Citizen's Advocate Entry Title: General Excellence Entry Credit: Staff Judge Comment: Judge’s Comments: Hard to walk past the strong above-the-fold imagery each week. The page design can be busy, but so are local communities, and this approach offers numerous good windows into what’s going on in the community each week. Inspiring profiles of community members. Good issues coverage of local affairs. Diverse editorial page voices. Good advertising. Good local sports coverage. The community is well-served by this newspaper.