Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: Cloquet - Pine Knot News Entry Title: Mike Creger columns Entry Credit: Mike Creger Judge Comment: Mike Creger effectively offers a consensus of how many people have viewed the pandemic both from a personal perspective and the filter of being a journalist. "I am tired. Drained. I've hit the wall," he wrote.
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: Cloquet - Pine Knot News Entry Title: Ann Markusen, On the Mark Entry Credit: Ann Markusen Judge Comment: Nice mix of topics -- from weighty subjects to closing down a productive garden as frost arrives. Her columns on child labor effectively combined personal perspective and stories with the broader topic and hopefully left readers more informed.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: Waterville - Lake Region Life Entry Title: Lisa's Lines Entry Credit: Lisa Ingebrand Judge Comment: The columnist tells personal stories of family life -- trying to listen to a daughter on a hectic shopping trip, a mismatched Christmas tree full of memories and a COVID-era family reunion. All are told in a way a reader can appreciate and maybe identify elements in their own lives. Well done.
Competition Comment: In a time dominated by a pandemic, politics and a nationally-followed murder trial of a police officer in their home state, these columnists offered personal perspectives on the news, their lives and small, but still important stories about people in their communities.
