The St. Louis American won seven first-place recognitions and several other awards during the 2024 Missouri Press Association Best Newspaper Contest awards luncheon in Springfield, Mo., on Saturday Sept. 21, 2024.
The American’s secured first place in the Best Editorials (Staff) Best Front Page (Mike Terhaar,) Best News Photograph (Wiley Price – Austin Layne Funeral), Best Serious Columnist (Mike Jones), Best Story About Religion (Sylvester Brown), Best Headline Writing (Staff) and Best Multi-Media (Salute to Excellence in Education) competitions for weekly newspapers in the Class 3 Division.
In addition, the American placed second place in the General Excellence, Best Investigative Reporting (Sylvester Brown), Best Special Section (95th Anniversary), Best Sports Columnist (Alvin A. Reid), Best Multi-Media (James Lebine and the late Kevin Jones), and Best Newspaper in Education categories.
Third place finishes included Best Editorial and Opinion Pages (Melvin Moore), Best Feature photograph (Wiley Price), Best Sports Columnist (Earl Austin Jr.,) Best Sports News Story/Package (Alvin A. Reid), and Best Story about Government (Alvin A. Reid) and Best Story about History (Fred Sweets)
Judge’s shared comments on the first-place winning entries.
Best Editorials: “This package of editorials is written in a strong, clear, compelling voice. This is some of the finest thought-provoking editorial writing I’ve ever had the pleasure to read. Keep up the outstanding work!”
Best Front Page: “I get a feeling of community pride from looking at these pages. The pictures are excellent. The layouts are clean and inviting. Really like this paper and the way it seems to serve its readers.”
Best Serious Columnist: “What pushed this entry over the top for me was the ‘I stand with Jefferson’ column, to which I actually snorted at the line: I’m writing the words I never thought I would say.’ Well-grounded opinion piece that weaves in the voices of others to fundamentally make the point. St. Louis’ Then and Now comparison also was well thought through.”
Best Headline Writing: “Very clever and not cheesy. The headline is meant to clue you into the story, and I felt compelled to dive into each and every story.”
Best News Photograph: “Great photography elicits an emotional response. In addition to vibrant color and framing, these certainly do that.”
Best Story About Religion: Graceful writing and attention to detail made [The Miricale Nun] a winner.
Best Multi-Media: “The amount and variety of content was great!”
The Missouri Press Association also sponsored respective debates with candidates for governor and U.S. Senate on Sept. 21 at The Historic Fox theater in Springfield as part of the 2024 MPA Convention.
While it was not clear he would attend, Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley did participate. He was joined on stage by Democrat Lucas Kunce, Nathan Kline, nominee of the Green Party, and Jared Young, who petitioned to form the Better Party as the label for his effort.
Taking part in the gubernatorial debate were Democratic nominee Crystal Quade, Republican Mike Kehoe, Libertarian Bill Slantz and Green Party candidate Paul Lehmann.
The debates were moderated by David Lieb of the Associated Press. Panelists who queried the candidates were Alvin A. Reid of the St. Louis American, Lucas Presson, Southeast Missourian, and Christine Temple, Springfield Business Journal.
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