Tuesday Feb. 9, 2010 — The Claremore Daily Progress received first place honors for its community leadership and sales promotion during the 2009 Oklahoma Press Association Better Newspaper Contest.
The awards were announced on Friday, Feb. 5 in Midwest City.
“Extensive and committed effort by newspaper to tell the story and celebrate the centennial of an important community institution,” said judge Brent Boyer of the Colorado Press Association in their critique of the Progress’ entry. A special tabloid, features, stories and coverage of Rogers State University’s 100th anniversary were submitted for competition.
The Progress was also awarded a first place in Sales Promotion for its medical directory.
“Very nice job! Clean, easily, readable, lots of white, great size to keep handy,’ said Mike Erskine of the Colorado Press Association.
Claremore also received two second place awards for Advertising and In-Depth Enterprise Reporting.
Judge John Evenson of the Colorado Press Association praised the efforts of the Progress for giving “the willingness to tackle a difficult subject that is not readily apparent in the day-to-day life of the community.”
Randy Cowling’s editorials about Sen. Glenn Coffee placed fourth. Judge Aaron Cole from Colorado said “The two editorials surrounding Sen. Coffee showed keen interest in the state house and its impact. Very thoughtful.”
Claremore placed fourth in Division 2 of Daily Newspapers with circulation of 4,000 to 8,199 behind Still NewsPress, Ada Evening News, The Duncan Banner.
Recipients of the 2009 Sequoyah Award, the highest honor in the annual contest, were The Norman Transcript, Stillwater NewsPress, The Journal Record, Stigler News-Sentinel, The Cleveland American, The Newcastle Pacer, Tulsa County News, El Reno Tribune and Mustang Times. The Sequoyah Award is based on total points accumulated in all events.
Members of the Colorado Press Association judged a total of 850 entries received from 86 newspapers in the 2009 Better Newspaper Contest.
