“Still Sweet Still Home, Impressions of a small Oregon town at the dawn of the New Millennium ” a special section produced jointly by The New Era and the University of Oregon School of Journalism, earned a first place award Friday in the annual Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association Better Newspaper Contest.
The award was among four first place and one second place honors earned by The New Era and brings to nine the total number of awards earned during the 2000 publishing year. The newspaper has earned some 35 state and national awards in the last three years.
The special section award was especially significant, said The New Era publisher Alex Paul, because it was a venture that had not been tried before at the paper or by the journalism school, considered one of the better schools in the country.
It was also significant because the project focused on many facets of life in Sweet Home, written from the perspective of persons new to the community.
Earlier in the year the section earned first place in a contest sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists from the states of Oregon and Washington.
Other awards earned Friday by The New Era included first place honors for best feature photo, best photo layout and best spot news coverage. A second place was earned for best coverage of business.
The feature photo was of veterans paying respect at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. It was taken by Alex Paul.
The photo layout focused on Mollie’s Bakery and was the center spread of the “Still Sweet, Still Home” special section. It was written and photographed by Lauren Howery, then a student at the University of Oregon, now a writer at The Daily Astorian, Astoria, Oregon.
Coverage by Alex Paul and Sean Morgan, of a police standoff during which a man fired shots at officers, took first place honors in the spot news category.
The second place award was for a story about the transition of ownership of the Rio Theater.
Outgoing ONPA president Bob Caldwell, editorial page editor of The Oregonian, presented Alex Paul of The New Era and Rick Swart of the Wallowa County Enterprise with President’s Awards for their contributions and dedication to the organization.
Special honors went to longtime Oregon publishers Phil Bladine of the McMinnville News-Register and Dick Nafsinger of the Hood River News/Eagle Newspapers.