COLLEGE STATION — Granite Media Partners Inc.’s publications dominated the 2023 Texas Better Newspaper Contest, earning two coveted first-place sweepstakes awards for the Taylor Press and the Colorado County Citizen, 16 first-place writing citations and a total of 50 honors overall.
The sweepstakes award is the top honor in the statewide competition, bestowed on newspapers with the highest overall scores based on cumulative points for editorial, design, photography and advertising excellence.
This was the second year in a row the Taylor Press claimed the sweepstakes award in its division, a rare feat according to officials.
The Boerne Star in the Division 3 semiweeklies category and the Elgin Courier in the Division 9 weeklies slot both nabbed third-place sweepstakes nods.
The Star took home its share of awards, including first-place awards for feature writing, headline writing and overall sports coverage. Sports photography earned a second- place award, while news photography grabbed a third-place honor.
In addition to the Sweepstakes finish, the Star received a fourthplace nod in the General Excellence category.
The awards — which are generally divided into divisions based on circulation or frequency — were announced during the Texas Press Association’s annual trade show and conference June 20-22 at the Hilton College Station & Conference Center.
The convention included seminars and discussions on better ad designs in print and for websites, newspaper sponsorships of non-journalistic events such as music shows to generate extra revenue, the concept of Journalism 3.0, hiring young journalists at a living wage, improving the quality of a newspaper with a copy desk and a professional staff photographer, using artificial intelligence, strategies for reporters to “cover life, not just news” and much more.
Longtime Granite employees said the number of awards may be a new record for the company.
“ I’m proud of our reporters and editors, and our Granite team as a whole, but there’s always room for improvement,” Thomas Edwards, Granite Media executive editor, said. “We can’t rest on our laurels just because we’re the best at what we do when it comes to covering our communities. In the days ahead, we’re going to be looking at more daily stories posted online and requiring digital or video offerings at all newspapers.”
In the contest, 100 TPA members submitted 965 entries, which were judged by an impartial panel from the Georgia Press Association.
In feature writing, Jeff B. Flinn’s winning entry included an Aug. 20, 2023 article detailing a Boerne native’s harrowing escape from the raging flames that destroyed Lahaina, Hawaii, last summer; and the Nov. 12, 2023 recount of Boerne area veteran Eiji Teragouchi’s remembrances of living in — and surviving — Hiroshima as a 3-year-old when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Aug. 6, 1945.
Headlines featured in the contest included an Easter 2023 photo package, “Bunny, I’m Home,” a sports headline on Sept. 24, 2023, “Boerne tosses Salado,” and an Oct. 29 headline over the annual Boerne cemetery walk, “The departed ‘talk’ during cemetery walk.”
Kerry Barboza’s sports coverage grabbed first place for entries of Wednesday. Oct. 4, featuring articles on Friday night football and volleyball games; and Sunday, June 4, 2023, recapping dramatic baseball and softball playoff victories.
Sports photos featured in the second-place finish included: a Boerne girls’ soccer celebration of a 1-0 regional title win, in the April 12, 2023 edition; a tight touchdown catch at the end zone pylon by Champion’s Sawyer Bolli, in the Sept. 13, 2023 edition; a tag at the plate on a leaping Robstown base runner by Boerne’s Cale Blalock, in the June 4, 2023 edition; and Champion’s Addison Hankins’ preparing to run the 100-meter hurdles at the regional track meet, in the May 7, 2023 edition.
News photos included shots of a prescribed burn at the Cibolo Preserve, published Jan. 8, 2023; an “eyes to the skies” annular eclipse photo shot at the former Dog and Pony Grill, in the Oct. 18, 2023, edition; and the demolishing of visitor’s stands at Boerne ISD Stadium, published Dec. 24, 2023.
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