Transcript takes home General Excellence title in newspaper contest

The New Rockford Transcript staff came up big winners in the North Dakota Newspaper Association's Better Newspaper Contest this year. The newspaper competed in a new category this year, small weeklies, in which 47 community newspapers compete for awards. The awards ceremony was held virtually via Zoom on Friday, May 7.

The paper's biggest honor was first place in General Excellence among small weeklies. This is a coveted award, as it encompasses the whole of a newspaper's published work throughout the year, from the front page headline news and flashy sports photos to the locally-written editorials and advertisement of community events. That's right, amidst a global pandemic, your local newspaper produced work that is recognized as top notch among four dozen newspapers from across the state.

Publisher Amy Wobbema received a first place award from among all weekly newspapers for her online coverage of breaking news throughout the year. Wobbema used the newspaper's website, http://www.newrockfordtranscript.com, and Facebook page to break several stories of major, local interest during the pandemic. The story that earned her top honors was the water situation, when she notified residents of New Rockford of a boil order put in place after a test of the water supply came back positive for total coliform bacteria. She published several updates throughout the weekend, as more testing was completed and new information was provided by the public works staff. This is the first year that this award has been handed out.

In all, Transcript staff received 35 awards in the contest, and 11 of them were first place awards. The staff also received first place for overall design excellence, another big award that highlights the work done each week to make the newspaper pages appeal to readers. The staff received a first place for their feature page recognizing ambulance volunteers during EMS Week. See our 2021 submission on page A8-9 of this week's paper, as it is again EMS Week.

Other first place awards are noted below:

1) Healthcare Ad - "Mental Health Toolkit" from Eddy County Community Cares - Ashley Schuster

2) Reporting Series - New Rockford water infrastructure project - Staff

3) Government Reporting - "Lake Region LEC faces shortfall"- Rachel Brazil

4) Spot News - "Eddy County records first case of COVID (Eric Myhre)" - Amy Wobbema

5) Sports reporting - "Stepping up to the plate" summer rec amid COVID-19 - Amy Wobbema

6) Infographics - COVID-19 case trends in Eddy County - Rachel Brazil

7) Sports photo - "Three on the ball" - Jenna Weisenburger

Newspaper staff earned 13 second place awards.

1) Infographics - Ag Week Production Stats - Amy Wobbema

2) Agricultural Coverage - "Equity Co-op joins Fessenden Co-op" - Amy Wobbema

3) Editorial - "Hello, how are you? Yes, I've had the COVID"- Rachel Brazil

4) Entertainment/Liquor Ad - "Honky Tonk Laundry" - Ashley Schuster

5) Outdoors/Sports Ad - Autocross on Dirt - Sydney Ulrich

6) Financial Ad - Community Credit Union's "COVID-19 Heart" - Amy Wobbema

7) Use of Color in Ad - Neto Alcala Benefit - Amy Wobbema

8) Best Website - http://www.newrockfordtranscript.com - Transcript staff

9) Picture Story - "Summer Fun" - Rachel Brazil and Amy Wobbema

10) Feature photo - NR-S Elementary Blue Ribbon Celebration - Sarah Smith Warren

11) Promotion of Community Ad - Shop Local (NRABC and Chamber) - Amy Wobbema

12) Reporting Series - Ronald Williams, California murder case - Amy Wobbema

13) Front page design - Staff

The eight third place awards were in a variety of categories:

1) Editorial page - Amy Wobbema and Rachel Brazil

2) Single Ad- Central Pharmacy's "Beat the Winter Blues" sale - Allison Lindgren

3) Feature Reporting - "Lights of Hope event remembers those lost to suicide"- Rachel Brazil

4) Agricultural Ad - James River Ag spring specials - Sydney Ulrich

5) Picture Story - "How did they do that?" directional drilling - Amy Wobbema

6) Feature Series - Lily's Hope Ministry & Memorial - Rachel Brazil

7) Infographics - Youth Risk Behavior Survey results - Amy Wobbema and Rachel Brazil

8) Front page design - Transcript staff

Even our youngest reporter, Oakley Brazil, pulled out a win this year. He earned an Honorable Mention for his feature series "What it Takes." Other honorable mentions included Wobbema and Rachel Brazil's "Expecting the Unexpected" article introducing COVID-19, in the reporting category, and Rachel Brazil's article "Lende brings fair to town" in the business news category.

This is the most wins for the local newspaper since Wobbema took over ownership of the newspaper in 2015. Wobbema was also elected into leadership at the May 7 annual meeting. She will serve as second vice president of the North Dakota Newspaper Association this year.