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From Staff Reports | Saturday, August 13, 2005 | (No comments posted.)
MUNSTER | The Times on Friday was named 2005 Newspaper of the Year in an annual Suburban Newspapers of America competition that attracted entries from many of the nation's major suburban papers.
In announcing the award, the SNA reported judges for the journalism competition selected The Times for consistent quality in design, news writing, editorial commentary, promotional advertising and press work.
"The newspaper brings a lot of creativity to how it approaches stories. Newswriting is solid and some news features shine," the judges wrote. "A very consistent format, very well reproduced."
The Times won first-place honors in the category of daily newspapers with circulations of more than 25,000. The competition was judged by staff members of the American Press Institute, a journalism education institution based in Reston, Va. The judges evaluated more than 200 papers that entered the contest.
"This is a terrific honor for The Times and all of Northwest Indiana because a good community newspaper is a reflection of the region we serve," Kevin Mowbray, publisher of The Times, said. "I'm particularly happy for the hard-working employees of The Times who strive for excellence day in and day out. I'm also thankful to our dedicated readers and advertisers whose collective feedback and wisdom help The Times best represent Northwest Indiana."
William Nangle, executive editor of The Times, was grateful the newspaper's teamwork was noticed and appreciated.
"We are honored by this recognition. It is born from the commitment The Times makes to provide a quality newspaper that serves our community," Nangle said. "It is also deserved recognition of the work by professionals at The Times who excel in the newspaper industry."
Newspapers were required to submit three complete editions of the newspaper of their choice; one edition from the following months: October 2004, February 2005 and April 2005. Among the entries submitted by The Times was the Sunday, April 17, 2005, edition that featured the "Friday Night Fix" special report on steroids use among prep athletes in Northwest Indiana
The Times was among four daily newspapers owned by Lee Enterprises that earned honors in the contest. The North County Times of Escondido, Calif., drew second-place in overall excellence in the same circulation class as The Times.
In the category of daily papers with less than 25,000 circulation, The Citizen of Auburn, N.Y., received the second-place award and The Daily News of Longview, Wash., received third-place honors.
The Times' overall excellence award comes less than a year after the paper retooled its appearance and content -- an ambitious change that pleased some readers and puzzled others. Two of the editions featured the newspaper's new look -- which is the current design of The Times.
The paper's design was praised by the contest judges as "a very consistent format, very well reproduced."
They also called the paper's headline typography "risky but sophisticated."
Times staff members were recognized by two other journalism associations earlier this year. The Indiana Society of Professional Journalists awarded the paper with first-place honors for best feature writing, best government coverage and best news photograph. The Times' John Watkins also took home a first-place award for photography in the Peter Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism, a Chicago-based journalism competition.
Late last year, Times staff members were awarded first-place honors from the Hoosier State Press Association for community service reporting, commentary writing and short feature writing.
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