The Mount Vernon Lisbon Sun newspaper received five awards from the Iowa Newspaper Association’s Better Newspaper Contests in 2024. More than 2,780 entries were entered in the contest this year, and awards were announced at the Iowa Newspaper Convention Thursday, Feb. 8.
The Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun won first place for coverage of government and politics, second place for coverage of education, second place for best photo story, third place for best news story and third place for best breaking news story.
“I was definitely excited in 2023 when I had five awards for the newspaper, and to repeat with the same number of awards this year in the Iowa Newspaper Convention’s Better Newspaper Contest was not something I expected,” said Nathan Countryman, editor of the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun. “I put a lot of pride into each edition of the newspaper and the stories of the community we tell, and these awards always highlight some of the best stories and newspapers across the state. To have our newspaper represented as one of the place winners in any category is an accomplishment. I’m particularly proud of that breaking news story win and the judge’s comments on the excellent reporting that went into that story.”
Coverage of government and politics was a selection of stories related to the Mount Vernon City council’s discussion on the flag policy for the city this past summer.
Coverage of education was several stories on Lisbon Schools CTE building addition and new band uniform purchases.
Best photo story was coverage of Lisbon Sauerkraut Days 2023.
Best news story was the Lisbon Mount Vernon-Ambulance and Mechanicsville Ambulance services being recognized for saving a 2-year-old in March 2023.
Breaking news story was on the Jilovec house fire that happened during the holiday blizzard in 2022 that claimed their home, as well as the elements many firefighting crews faced in battling a fire in brutal cold conditions.
Sister publication the Solon Economist won first place awards for best photographer, best news photo, best sports feature photo and best sports photo categories this year for editor Chris Umscheid.