Lake Orion Review wins six awards

PLYMOUTH, Mich. — During its Salute to Journalism ceremony held March 14 at St. John’s Resort in Plymouth, the Michigan Press Association (MPA) announced the winners of their 2023 Better Newspaper Contest.
View Newspaper Group received recognition with 124 awards and honorable mentions in categories for news and sports reporting and photography, column writing, advertising and page design.
The Lake Orion Review earned four first place awards and two second place awards in the Weekly Class D circulation category in the Better Newspaper Contest.
Managing Editor Jim Newell won first place in the News Photo category for his photo of Orion Township firefighters battling a house fire in downtown Lake Orion; first place in the Feature Photo category for his photo, White Out!, showing Lake Orion students tossing baby powder into the air during a football game; and first place in the Sports Photo category for his photo of Lake Orion High School athlete Donovan Scott clearing the bar in the high jump at a Lake Orion High School track and field meet.
Lake Orion Review reporter Megan Kelley won first place in the Photo Story category for her story and photos of the Lake Orion Unified Basketball Team. Newell received a second place finish for his photo story of the Lake Orion DDA Halloween Extravaganza.
Newell also earned a second place in the Feature Writing category for his story “(Not) Everyone’s a Critic” about Blanche Sims Elementary first grade students who wrote reviews of area restaurants and businesses.
Among the other accolades was a fourth consecutive “Newspaper of the Year” award for the Huron County View in the Weekly Class A circulation category and an eighth “Newspaper of the Year” award for the Greenville Daily News in the Daily Class D circulation category.
The Daily News also won the MPA Public Service Award which recognizes a distinguished example of meritorious public service by a newspaper or newspaper individual that has made a significant contribution to the betterment of their community.
First Place awards in Individual categories won by View Newspaper publications and team members include: Best Columnist – Seth Stapleton, Huron County View; Best Newspaper Design – (Daily Class D) Darrin Clark, Greenville Daily News; (Weekly Class A) Cindy Alvado, Huron County View; Best Sports Column – (Weekly Class A) Paul Adams, Huron County View; (Weekly Class C) – Mike Gallagher, Sanilac County News; Business/Agriculture News – (Weekly Class A) Hannah Ball, Tri-County Times; (Weekly Class C) – Casey Johnson, Sanilac County News; Feature Photo – (Weekly Class A) Hannah Ball, Tri-County Times; (Weekly Class B) Patrick McAbee, The Citizen; (Weekly Class D) Jim Newell, Lake Orion Review; Feature Story (Weekly Class A) – Hannah Ball, Tri-County Times; Feature Story (Weekly Class B) – David Fleet, The Citizen; Government/Education News (Daily Class D) – Elisabeth Waldon, Greenville Daily News; (Weekly Class B) – Shelby Stewart-Soldan, The Citizen; (Weekly Class C) Casey Johnson, Sanilac County News; News Photo – (Weekly Class A) Keith Salisbury, Tri-County Citizen; (Weekly Class D) Jim Newell, Lake Orion Review; Photo Story – (Weekly Class A) Seth Stapleton, Huron County View; (Weekly Class D) Megan Kelley, Lake Orion Review; Special Section – Graphics & Editorial Teams, Tri-County Times; Sports Photo – (Weekly Class A) Paul Adams, Huron County View; (Weekly Class D) Jim Newell, Lake Orion Review; Sports Writing – (Weekly Class A) Paul Adams; (Weekly Class B) David Fleet, The Citizen.
“We are very proud of our group’s overall showing in the annual MPA contest. Especially our Huron County View team in Bad Axe and Daily News team in Greenville for winning Newspaper of the Year,” said Group Publisher Wes Smith. “We have an incredibly talented and dedicated team of journalists, editors, designers, sales professionals and support staff working at our community newspapers across Michigan. It is truly an honor that our team members are recognized by our peers in the newspaper business for their efforts and achievements,” Smith said.
View Newspaper Group, based in Lapeer, publishes 14 community newspapers covering 10 Michigan counties with more than 250,000 copies in print weekly and 13 websites with more than 600,000 monthly page views.