The Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun newspaper was a winner of five awards in the Iowa Newspaper Association’s Better Newspaper Contests, announced Thursday, Feb. 2.
The Sun placed first in excellence in editorial writing, best sports photo and best features page, second in best news photo and third in coverage of education.
“It’s an honor just to have received one of these awards in any year, let alone have five entries that placed,” said editor Nathan Countryman.
The excellence in editorial writing award included an editorial against the Navigator Heartland pipeline, one on the traffic flow discussion city and schools were having and a recap of one of the days that touched on many of the community’s values.
Coverage of education included several stories that followed Lisbon School’s science teacher search last spring and summer.
Best features pages included a Taste piece on Chameleon’s Pub and Grub, Mount Vernon Homecoming 2022 and sledding hill pages in the past year.
Best sports photo was of Parker Whitham being congratulated by teammates after a crucial match point in a volleyball game.
Best news photo was from the first Lisbon youth track meet, of varsity track athletes on the Lisbon team congratulating one of the youths participating after a long jump.
Sister publications were also winners of awards in the contest. The Solon Economist won seven awards, including best news photo, two best sports feature photos, three best photo story awards, and best photographer award. The Anamosa Eureka Journal also won best sports section and coverage of business awards.
Approximately 2,500 entries in dozens of categories were judged by class, based on circulation. Daily Class I is for newspapers published daily with 5,000 circulation and under, Daily Class II is for newspapers published daily with 5,001 circulation and above. Weekly Class I is for newspapers published weekly with 875 circulation and under. Weekly Class II, 876 to 1,550 circulation; Weekly Class III, 1,551 and above circulation. The contest was adjudicated by the North Carolina Press Association.
This photo from the youth track meet in Lisbon last spring was a second place winner for best news photo in the 2023 Better Newspaper Contests.