North Oakland newspapers win 20 awards
ORION TWP. — The Lake Orion Review won five awards in the 2024 Michigan Press Association Better Newspaper Contest.
The awards were announced on May 8 at the MPA’s annual convention. This year the Wisconsin Press Association reviewed 2,928 entries submitted by 93 Michigan newspapers.
The editorial contest period was for articles and photos published between Aug. 1, 2023 to July 31, 2024. The competition inspires all journalists to produce their best work, which in turn, nurtures stronger communities.
Across all of the View Newspaper Group’s newspapers, editorial staff combined for 91 MPA Awards.
“The View Newspaper Group team of talented and dedicated journalists, writers, photographers, editors, designers and advertising sales professionals combined to win 91 first, second and third place awards, including another Newspaper of the Year win for the Huron County View,” said Wes Smith, publisher of View Newspaper Group.
“The scope of the categories in which our team members won first place awards – news coverage and photos, enterprise reporting, government and education reporting, business and agriculture news, feature story writing, columnist, editorial writing, sports writing and photos, page design and layout, feature photography and advertising – proves that we have assembled one of – if not the best – community newspaper teams in Michigan. I congratulate all our individual winners and our team as a whole with a special shout out to our Huron County View team on being named ‘Newspaper of the Year,’” Smith said.
The Lake Orion Review competes in the Weekly Class D category.
Managing Editor Jim Newell won four MPA Awards for his work in The Lake Orion Review, including first place in the Feature Photo category for his photo “Seniors Win!” – a photo of the Lake Orion High School class tug-of-war during Homecoming activities night.
Newell won a first place Photo Story award for “There’s more than just football at the football games!” He also won third place in the Sports Photograph category for “Dragon Soccer – Hard-Fought Battle”; and third place in the Government/Education News category for the article, “Proposal to repeal Lake Orion DDA funding ordinance slated for Nov. 7 election.”
Clarkston News Editor Megan Kelley, who was a reporter for Lake Orion during the contest period, won a first place award in the Government/Education News category for her article, “Lake Orion Community Schools bond and sinking fund updates.”
Throughout the View Newspaper Group’s four north Oakland County newspapers – The Oxford Leader, The Lake Orion Review, The Clarkston News and the Ortonville Citizen – reporters won a total of 20 MPA Awards.
Oxford Leader
Newell won three awards for his work in the Oxford Leader, including second place in the Spot News Story category for his article, “Fire department rescues two teens who fell through ice on Squaw Lake.”
Newell also won third place in the Sports Writing category for his article “District Champs! – Oxford Boys Soccer” about the Oxford High School boys varsity soccer team winning the district title with a 3-2 victory over Clarkston.
Newell won a third place in the Photo Story category for the “Trunk-or-Treat” photo page of the Oxford Early Learning Center’s annual Halloween trunk-or-treat.
Reporter Joseph Goral earned a second place award in the Photo Story category for “Seymour Celebration is the perfect slide into summer” photo page.
Kelley won second place in the Government/Education News category for her article “Guidepost Solutions and Varnum release final report on OHS shooting.”
Clarkston News
The Clarkston News competes in the Weekly Class D category and won one MPA Award.
Clarkston News Reporter Wendi Reardon Price won third place in the Best Columnist category for her column, “Wendi’s Word: Reading month is every month.”
Ortonville Citizen
The Ortonville Citizen competes in the Weekly Class B category and won nine MPA awards.
In the Spot News Story category, Shelby Stewart-Soldan won third place for, “Special delivery en route to hospital.”
In the News Enterprise Reporting category, Stewart-Soldan won first place for, “Abigail’s Pride in Ortonville,” and second place for, “Michigan Family Protection Act soon to be law; Whitmer signs Michigan Family Protection Act.”
In the Government/Education News category, David Fleet won second place for, “New St. Anne Pastor brings message of thankfulness.”
In the Business/Agriculture News category, Fleet won third place for, “Pressing on: fourth generation cider maker.”
In the Feature Story category, Fleet won first place for, “An Ireland journey: Fr. Gerry Frawley remembered.”
In the Feature Photo category, Patrick McAbee won first place for, “Septemberfest.”
In the Sports Writing category, Stewart-Soldan won first place for, “Olympic surfers sport suits designed by former Blackhawk,” and Fleet won third place for, “Remembering Tiger catcher, radio analyst Jim Price.”
“Congratulations to our team on their exceptional achievement in the MPA Better Newspaper Contest Awards. It is truly a pleasure to work with dedicated professionals who are committed to covering our communities with the highest journalistic standards and caring. I appreciate each of them and the hard work they put in every day,” Newell said.