Traverse City Record-Eagle

Record-Eagle Awards

October 7, 2007

2007 awards

The Record-Eagle was named the Michigan Press Association "Newspaper of the Year" in its circulation category for 2007.

The designation results from the newspaper winning 18 awards in the MPA's "Better Newspaper Contest." Among the honors were nine first-place awards, two second places, three third places and four honorable mentions.

In addition, the Record-Eagle was a finalist in the MPA's statewide Public Service Award competition, an honor the newspaper received in 2005. The 2007 entry detailed unregulated contributions to state Sen. Jason Allen's political funds and connections between Allen and developers in Traverse City and Petoskey and their pursuit of taxpayer dollars for alleged contaminated or "brownfield" sites.

Staff writers Brian McGillivary, Vanessa McCray and former staff writer Craig McCool wrote the reports that earned the finalist nomination.

The Record-Eagle's public service entry is matched against entries from the Detroit Free Press and the Muskegon Chronicle. The award winner will be announced in February.

Among the Record-Eagle awards were first-place staff awards for best news story, editorial pages, design and sports coverage.

"I'm very proud of the work of the Record-Eagle's news staff," said Publisher Ann Reed. "It speaks well for the entire organization and the community when professional organizations such as the Michigan Press Association recognize the quality of our work."

The Record-Eagle received 1,160 judging points for its entries. The staff won awards in 12 of 19 judging categories.

Individual award winners are:

First place: Features Editor Kathy Gibbons, feature writing; photographer Jan-Michael Stump, feature photography; photographer Tyler Sipe, picture story; sports writer Jeff Peek, sports writing; and sports writer Mark Urban, sports column writing.

Second place: McCool, news story; and photographer Doug Tesner, feature photography.

Third place: McCool, enterprise reporting; Stump, picture story, and the news and sports staffs, special sections.

Honorable mention: Reporter Sheri McWhirter, news story; McGillivary, enterprise reporting; Tesner, sports photography; and Stump, picture story.

The Record-Eagle competes in the MPA's 12,000-30,000 circulation category. Other daily papers receiving Newspaper of the Year designations in their classifications were the Detroit News, the (Pontiac) Oakland Press and The (Mount Pleasant) Morning Sun. The Herald Times, in Gaylord, was one of four papers receiving the award in the weekly division.

More than 3,600 entries from 144 Michigan newspapers were judged by the Wisconsin Press Association.

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