PARAGRAPH RANCH GROUP NEWSPAPERS AMONG WEEKLIES HONORED
At the 145th convention of the Texas Press Association, June 19– 21, in Denton, The Caprock Courier, The Floyd County Hesperian-Beacon, The Knox County News-Courier, The Post Dispatch and The Texas Spur were among 108 Texas daily, semi-weekly, and weekly newspapers receiving annual awards for outstanding journalism in 17 categories in ten divisions ranked by circulation size; of these, 74 were weeklies in six divisions.
The awards are given to various Texas newspapers in different categories such as sports coverage, photography, writing, and overall excellence. The contest is divided into different divi- sions based on the size and frequency of publication of the newspapers.
The 2024 Better Newspaper Contest covered the period from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2024. A total of 1,021 entries statewide were submitted in the contest.
Spur-based Paragraph Ranch LLC, which has owned The Texas Spur since March 2018, acquired The Caprock Courier in March 2020 and The Floyd County Hesperian-Beacon in February 2021; in August 2023 the group also acquired The Knox County News-Courier and The Post Dispatch, to cover a combined region of 10 contiguous counties. Under the leadership of newspaper veteran Kay Ellington, it has consistently won regional and statewide awards in multiple categories annually for each of its newspapers.
In Division 8 Sweepstakes top four, The Texas Spur this year ranked 3rd (400 points) among The Clarendon Enterprise, with 675 points, the Flatonia Argus, with 400 points, and the Archer City News, with 350 points.
Judges did not always offer feedback or comments, but where they have, we’ve included them. Full results can be downloaded from www.texaspress.com. • • •
THE CAPROCK COURIER • Briscoe, Cottle, Hall, King, Motley Counties, Div. 8
• 1st Place, News Photography: Apr. 18, p. B9, Historic Ham’s Barbershop, (Hanaba Munn Welch); May 2, p. 1, Haircuts at Ham’s (Hanaba Munn Welch); Sept. 12, p. 1, “Soluna Breaks Ground” (Barbara Brannon); Nov. 7, p. 1, “Hunting Trailers on Fire” (Kodie Fairchild). Firefighting from ground and air: A Texas A&M Forest service plan dropped retardant along the north-east fire line of a hunting camp fire outside Turkey, Texas.
• 3rd Place, Column Writing: Feb. 1, p. 3, Hanaba Munn Welch, “How to Be a Reporter”; Aug. 29, 2024, pp. 2, 9, Barbara Brannon, “Route 66 in New
Mexico”
• 1st Place, Editorials: Feb. 22, p. 2, Sue Jane Sullivan, “Shoot it!”; Sept. 24, p. 2, Sue Jane Sullivan, “Brother Harold.”
• 2nd Place, Feature Writing: April 25 pp. 1, 5, 8, Hanaba Munn Welch, “Salt Springs”; May 2, p. 1, and May 16, p. 1, Hanaba Munn Welch, “Abandoned Quilt.” Welch. Judges’ comments: Stories pull you in with good, clean storytelling. Especially liked the lede on the gentleman’s memories of his sinkhole exploration.
• 4th Place, Advertising: Mar. 7 p. 10, “Lady Patriots”; May 16, p. 5, P8 Pest Control, “If It’s Bugs U Hate”
THE FLOYD COUNTY HESPERIANBEACON • Floyd County, Div. 9
• 1st Place, Feature Writing: May 30, pp. 1, 4, Barbara Brannon, “Keeping Time: Lockney’s Leading Lady at 100”; Nov. 14, pp. 1, 7, Marisue Potts, “Floydada’s Bob Dempsey.” I was particularly impressed by the thoroughly reported and elegantly written feature on Lucy Dean Record. We should all be so lucky to have our lives documented as well at 100.
• 2nd Pl a ce , Feature Photography: May 30, pp. 1, 4, “Keeping Time: Lockney’s Leading Lady at 100” (Barbara Brannon); June 6, pp. 1, 10, “Glacier National Park travelogue” (Noah Fierros); July 18, p, 10 and Sept. 5, p. 9, “Route 66 travelogue (Barbara Brannon).
Love the variety of these photos and particularly enjoyed the Glacier National Park pics. Could be a bit more selective in layouts to give more space to the best shots.
• 3rd Place, Community Service: July 11, FCHB staff, “Floyd County Community Guide,” all photography and stories; design, Barbara Brannon. Floydada, Texas (pop. 2,500) has been known for nearly four decades as Punkin’ Capital USA — but this very visitable fall destination hasn’t had a true visitor and community guide in all that time. When the newspaper staff got wind that Lubbock’s KCBD-TV Community Coverage program had picked Floydada as a focus for one night in July, we jumped at the chance to produce one. In four weeks, we gathered background info, wrote stories, compiled and took photos, sold ads, and pulled the whole thing together — in time to distribute on the event night and in the newspaper the next day. We printed a sufficient overrun for all participating advertisers to have a supply to use, and to give the local Chamber of Commerce, schools, and city hall a healthy supply to last the year as well. We were proud to help put our community and entire county on the map well in time for Punkin’ Days 2024!
• 3rd Place, News Writing: Feb. 8, pp. 1, 2, Barbara Brannon, “Perry discusses water issues”; Feb. 15, pp. 1, 2, Barbara Brannon, “Happy State Bank closures”; Barbara Brannon, Mar. 21, p 1, “Allsup’s robbery.” Great range of writing exhibited in these entries.
• 3rd Place, Sports Coverage: Jan. 18, pp. 4, 10 Doug Hensley, Noah Fierros; Jan. 25, p. 7, Sept. 5, pp. 1, 4, 5, Sue Jane Sullivan, Fred Cervantes
• 4th Place, Editorial: Sue Jane Sullivan, “A doctor in the house,” Jan. 18, p. 2; Sue Jane Sullivan, “Public service and the small-town school board,” Oct. 17, p. 2
• 4th Place, Headline Writing: May 30, p. 1, “Keeping Time: Lockney’s Leading Lady on the Keys to a Long, Happy Life” (Barbara Brannon); Oct. 17, p. 1, “Floydada Takes it on the Chin Strap (Sue Jane Sullivan); Oct. 24, p 1, “Loooooooonghorns win” (Barbara Brannon)
THE KNOX COUNTY NEWS-COURIER •
Knox County, Div. 10
2nd Place, Column Writing: Nov. 8, p. 2, Sue Jane Sullivan, “The One That Got Away”; Nov. 8, p. 3, Hanaba Munn Welch, “Grave AI Deficiency” 3rd Place, Page Design: Connor Morgan, Feb. 23, Page 1; Mar. 15, Editorial; Oct. 18, Sports; Mar. 29, Features.
Valentine royalty photo should have some sort of headline to offset it from everything else. Mix-and-match column sigs seem a little strange (why doesn’t Don’s match Angelina’s and Ellen’s?). Too many vertical volleyball photos and strange that only one has a cutline, plus no info about what happened in the game. I like the QR code on the front — handy.
4th Place General Excellence: Issues of Feb. 2, Oct. 23. The different fonts used throughout seems slightly messy, but the use of shading and colors to differentiate columns and breaks in content is well presented. The 501 is fantastic, and I hope I find it in the column category, as Hanaba is a gem. The business directory and supporters ads are well done.
THE POST DISPATCH • Garza County, Div. 10
• 2nd place, General Excellence: Issues of Oct. 4, Nov. 22. Nicely-done teaser at the top of the front page, although the photos could be larger. The Post Notes and the civic involvement page is an engaging addition to this hyper-local newspaper. Having specials to the editor from the library and featuring local birthdays and anniversaries is a tribute to the local support and speaks well of the newspaper as a whole.
• 2nd Place, Sports Coverage: Nov. 22, sports stories on pp. 1, 5, 6, 7; Nov. 22, sports stories on pp 1, 5, 6, 7, Russ Morris. Plentiful, well-written staff stories. The Kazoo story is well done! Spotlight is a nice feature.
• 3rd Place, Column Writing: Feb. 23 p. 7, “Leap Year,” Voda Beth Gradine; Mar. 1, p 7, “Women Who Made History in Garza,” Voda Beth Gradine
• 3rd Place, News Writing: Mar. 1, pp. 1, 3, “Smoke scene in violation,” Julia Childs; Sept 13, pp. 1, 2, “MTC to Cease Operations,” Anna Gibson
THE TEXAS SPUR • Dickens and Kent Counties, Div. 9
• 2nd Place News Writing: Apr. 18, pp. 1, 10, Barbara Brannon, “Texas Solar Nova breaks ground”; Nov. 28, pp. 1, 4, Kay Ellington, “Helping during the holidays.” Great resource for others in how to help during the holidays. Great story about all things solar in an easy to read format.
• 2nd Place, Sports Photography: Dec. 19, “Jayton State Football Champions,” pp. 1, 8, 9 (Camden Reese); pp. 7, 10 (Barbara Brannon). Front page shot the strongest, and you played it up. Good job.
• 3rd Place, Advertising:
Feb. 8, p. 8, “Celebrate 125 Years of The Texas Spur”; Mar. 7, p. 10, “Remembrance Ever Green”; Oct. 3, p. 10, “Dickens History Ramble”
• 3rd Place, Column Writing: Jul. 4, p. 2, Barbara Brannon, “Murphey headlines inspiring evening”; Barbara Brannon, Aug. 22, p. 2, 10, “Route 66 Ramble, Pt. 6, Back in Texas”
• 3rd Place, Editorial: Sue Jane Sullivan, Feb. 15, p. 2, “Will the Real Journalist Please Stand Up?”; Barbara Brannon, May 9, p. 2, “What a candidates’ forum can accomplish” • 3rd Place, General Excellence: Issues of Mar. 14, Kay Ellington, “State Bound”; Oct. 3, Kay Ellington, “Ralna English”
• 3rd Place, Headline Writing: Mar. 7, p. 1, “Currents to currency: Rep. Burrows tours Helios site”; Oct. 14, p. 1, “Dollars to Data: Galaxy’s Helios plan pivots to profitable AI”; Oct. 14, p. 3, “Much Ado about Mulch”
• 4th Place, Community Service: Year-long overage of Spur’s Swenson Park swimming pool reopening, with stories “Spur’s Swimming Pool back on track,” Feb. 29, p. 1, 8; “Countdown on pool started 10 weeks,” Mar. 14, p. 1; “Pool Pitch, Apr. 11, p. 1; “Council hears updates,” Apr. 25, p. 1, “New Bitcoin film, The Big Empty,” May 2, p. 1; “Pool progress, photo,” May 2, p. 4; Locals, pool the focus,” May 9, p. 1, 5; Galaxy Digital ads, May 9, p. 9; “Filling up the Big Empty,” May 16, p. 1, 2; “Back in the Swim,” May 23, p. B1-4; “Having a ball: Galaxy Sponsors Spur pool reopening,” May 30, p. 1. 10; “Pooling a community’s resources,” June 6, p. 2; “Spur pool drained for retreatment,” June 13, p 1; “Reopened, June 20, p. 1; “Pool patio,” July 4, p. 1; “South Plains Electric, CoBank gift,” July 11, pp. 1, 8; “SPEC, CoBank gift,” July 18, p. 1’ “Diving board installed,” July 18, p. 1; “CoBank check presentation,” July 25, p. 1; “Spur reports on park, pool maintenance,” Dec. 5, p. 4
• 4th Place, Special Section: Spur Pool Reopens, May 23 Section B • • •
