From Staff Reports
NORTH LITTLE ROCK -- The Times of Northeast Benton County won 20 awards -- second place in General Excellence with four first place awards, seven second place awards, six third-place awards and three honorable mentions -- in the Arkansas Press Association's annual newspaper contest.
In all, Northwest Arkansas journalists won 35 first-place awards at the Arkansas Press Association's annual journalism awards luncheon Saturday, July 11.
"It is always an honor to receive awards from our peers around the country," said Times publisher Kent Marts. "And it is exciting to see how well Times managing editor Annette Beard does year after year. Each year at the awards convention, her name and The Times are typically called out more than any other newspaper of any other size. That's because of her dedication to serving the readers and advertisers of Pea Ridge and Northeast Benton County.
"I want to thank her for all the hard work, long hours, late nights, and anguish, heartache and love she puts into the newspaper," Marts said.
The awards were spread among daily and weekly Benton and Washington County newspapers owned by the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. In addition to The Times of Northeast Benton County in Pea Ridge, they include The Free Weekly in Fayetteville, Herald-Leader in Siloam Springs, Weekly Vista in Bella Vista, Enterprise-Leader in Lincoln, as well as the Springdale Morning News, Northwest Arkansas Times, Rogers Morning News and Benton County Daily Record -- the four daily publications that merged to form the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Best beat reporting first-place awards went to Annette Beard of The Times of NE Benton County in the smaller weeklies category, while former Times reporter Cassi Lapp, now of the Weekly Vista, won in the medium weeklies category.
Awards won by The Times are:
First place awards
• In-depth series reporting: Marisol Soto
• Beat reporting
• Sports column: The importance of athletics by John McGee
• Single sports feature photograph: Behind the catcher's mitt by Annette Beard
Second place awards
• News Story:Freedom of speech
• Gen. Interest column: "Learning to see others" by Annette Beard
• News/Political column: "Let's get together" by Leo Lynch
• Humorous column: "On being floored before breakfast" by Jerry Nichols
• Single feature photograph: Cars, trucks, bikes by Annette Beard
• Best special issue/section: Mule Jump by Annette Beard & Teresa Hufford
• Freelance writing: "Hawks cap spring football" by John McGee
Third place awards
• Feature story: "Black stains have green dividends"
• Sports feature story: "She loves to hit"
• Editorial: "Voting is a privilege and responsibility"
• Coverage of business/agriculture
• Coverage of education
• Editorial cartoonist portfolio by John McGee
Honorable mentions
• News story: "Passing it on"
• Single News photograph: Hard working chief by Annette Beard
• Single News photograph: Crack in rail by Annette Beard
General News on 07/22/2015