Daily Globe honored with nine awards at MNA event

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BLOOMINGTON — The Daily Globe of Worthington earned nine awards at the Minnesota Newspaper Association’s annual Better Newspaper Contest. Awards were presented Thursday at the Doubletree Hotel, Bloomington.

All of the awards were earned in the class of daily newspapers with a circulation of less than 10,000, and were based on entries submitted from Oct. 1, 2011 through Sept 30, 2012.

Advertising representative Jennifer Spengler and Graphics Manager Cindy Ramert teamed up to earn first place among 33 entries in the best use of color in advertising category. The winning advertisement featured a mouth-watering steak to “Make Dad’s Day,” to promote Worthington’s W-2’s Quality Meats.

Photographer Brian Korthals earned two awards — second place of six entries in Portrait and Personality Photography for an image from Halloween night; and a third-place award among 12 entries in the Feature Photography class for a picture he captured of four babies born at the local hospital on 11-11-11. Judges said, “Nice treatment by adding the flag on Veteran’s Day babies.”

A second-place award for best website came with high marks from judges for inviting the community to comment through Facebook, Twitter and a bulletin board.

“It does (well) with occasional local video and photo galleries, and its records page neatly combines marriage licenses, births, public hearings, proposed ordinances and ambulance runs in a single place,” the judges wrote.

Reporter Julie Buntjer earned third-place honors among 10 entries in the Investigative Reporting category for her series of stories on the investigation of former Nobles County Administrator Mel Ruppert. Judges wrote: “Thorough and clear reporting. Follow-up stories were well connected to the original.”

Chris Murphy, former Daily Globe sports editor, earned third place of 16 entries in the category of Best Sports Story for “A Trojan Tragedy” regarding the death of Mitchell Benson. The judges wrote, “A very nice tribute story for a kid who likely was very well-known in the community. The voice of the friend making the long drive home drew you in.”

The Final Journey: Honor Flight Southwest Minnesota, a special section published in October 2011 by the Daily Globe, earned third place among all dailies (29 entries) for Best Special Section. Judges said, “This section was a beautiful tribute to veterans for their service. Kudos to the Worthington Daily Globe for making such an investment for this project that surely brought joy to its most loyal readers.”

The Globe earned third place in the Advertising Excellence among daily newspapers with a circulation under 10,000. The judges’ comments were, “Group pages are laid out well and use color effectively. Ink coverage is nice on black and white and color ads. Ad designs are easy to read and quickly understood.

Third-place honors were also received in Sports Reporting. Judges said, “The Worthington Daily Globe uses bold design and outstanding photography to carry a section that’s also solid in its reporting and ambitious in its range of coverage. A top-drawer section in all respects.”

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