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HARTINGTON — The Cedar County News was one of just eight Nebraska newspapers to earn national honors in the National Newspaper Association contest.
The awards were handed out at a Friday banquet at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Omaha during the annual NNA convention.
In this year’s National Newspaper contest, the Cedar County News picked up 11 awards in the news editorial contest - more than any other newspaper in the state.
Only one other Nebraska newspaper, the Antelope County News, picked up double digit awards.
Judges honored the Cedar County News with three firstplace finishes, one second-place award, two third-place honors and five honorable mentions.
The News’ features on local history earned top honors in its circulation category for weekly newspapers under 2,500.
Cedar County News photographers Jeremy Buss and Darin Epperly also picked up firstplace plaques.
Buss’ swimming lessons photos were deemed as the top entry in the feature photo category. He won Photo of the Year honors for the same photos at last spring's Nebraska Press Association awards banquet.
Epperly’s shots of a Cedar Catholic football game on a rainy night in Ponca earned top honors in the sports action category.
A colorful weather graphic showing the area’s weather extremes for the year picked up a second-place plaque.
The local newspaper was also given a third-place award for its headline writing.
Coverage of the creation and dedication of the new Hartington Veterans' Memorial also earned a third-place plaque.
The News won honorable mention status for newswriting for editor Rob Dump’s coverage of a nuisance house in Hartington that eventually had to be demolished.
The News picked up honorable mention honors for its editorial pages and for cartoons by News cartoonist Wayne Stroot.
A Darin Epperly feature photo of kids sledding also earned honorable mention.
Trisha Benton’s article about how area businesses are dealing with the increase in minimum wage also garnered an honorable mention.
The Cedar County News has garnered over 60 awards since 2000 — more than any other area newspaper.
There were 1,513 entries in the Better Newspaper Editorial Contest. There were 676 awards won by 92 newspapers in 32 states.
The Wyoming Press Association was awarded the fifth annual “Best of NNA” Award for their 109 winning entries, beating out California with 68 wins and Iowa with 59 wins. This is their fourth award for excellence in editorial and advertising.
Other Nebraska newspapers to earn national recognition last week were:
• Fairbury Journal News won two awards.
• Hooker Co. Tribune (Mullen) won an Honorable Mention award.
• Knox Co. News picked up a second-place award for Photo- Best Breaking News Photo.
• Norfolk Daily News won 1st Place, Story-Series-Best Investigative or In-Depth Story or Series (Daily Division).
• North Bend Eagle won two awards, including 1st Place, Photo-Best Breaking News Photo (Non-daily Division, circ. less than 2,000).
• Stanton Register won seven awards, including 1st Place, Best Informational Graphic (Non-Daily Division, circ. less than 2,000).
