The News Democrat earned first place in Division B for Best News Photo at this year’s Ohio News Media Association Hooper Contest Awards Banquet held March 30.
Ripley Bee receives three Hooper awards
The News Democrat earned first place in Division B for Best News Photo at this year’s Ohio News Media Association Hooper Contest Awards Banquet held March 30.
The News Democrat received a total of six awards at this year’s Ohio News Media Association Osman C. Hooper Awards Banquet.
The Ripley Bee was the winner of three ONMA Hooper Awards for 2023.
The annual ONMA Hooper competition recognizes the talents of the state’s top non-daily newspaper editors, writers, photographers, designers, and their colleagues.
Competing newspapers were divided into three divisions based on circulation information on file with the ONMA – Division A (3,500 and above), Division B (2,000-3,500), and Division C (2,000 and below).
Wade Linville (editor of The News Democrat and The Ripley Bee) received first place in Division B for Best News Photo in The News Democrat.
“Effective use of pathos and lighting to visually tell this story. Photographer had a sense of timing and placement snapping the photo at the right moment and in the rest spot, allowing the audience to see the facial reactions to this solemn occasion,” the judges said of The News Democrat’s winning news photo, which was a photo that appeared with the 2022 story, “Welcome home, soldier”.
Linville received second place in Division B for Best News Story “Welcome home, soldier” that appeared in The News Democrat.
“Creative and emotional story. Nice use of quotes. Educational and sheds an important light on the topic of missing soldiers,” judges said of Linville’s “Welcome home, soldier”.
Linville received second place in Division B (The News Democrat) for Best Local Profile “Aberdeen’s preaching police chief”, a profile story on David Benjamin who serves as police chief and a pastor in the village of Aberdeen.
“Lead got my attention. You can sense he is a unique individual. The mention of an ethical situation was interesting,” said the judges.
Linville received second place in Division B (The News Democrat) for Best Page Design.
“The Fourth of July picture looks amazing. The sack race photos at the top of the page show the action, which is difficult to capture. All the photos are balanced as well as jump lines and text,” judges said of The News Democrat’s page design.
Linville received a third place award in Division B for Best Special Edition or Section (The News Democrat’s Brown County Fair photo section).
“Very good use of photos to illustrate the happenings of the fair, and by sticking to the visual with cutlines only allowed for a greater number of large photos. Really appreciated the choice to use large photos instead of a collage of smaller ones where places and faces are hard to discern, and this represents a nice cross-section of activities that spanned several days,” judges said of the award-winning Brown County Fair photo section.
Linville received second place in Division C for Best News Coverage (The Ripley Bee).
“The Ripley Bee serves its readers well with clear writing about important news and events. Its coverage of the Parker House provided the right mix of history and context. Its report on a water company controversy included needed detail. Coverage of charges related to a boating fatality was elevated with file photos,” judges said of The Ripley Bee news coverage.
The Ripley Bee staff earned first place in Division C for Newspaper Design.
“Very clean layout with nice use of font weight and light strokes to help separate the content. Good use of inline images to draw readers attention,” the judges said of The Ripley Bee’s design.
Garth Shanklin, former sports editor of The Ripley Bee and The News Democrat, received second place in Division C for Sports Coverage.
Shanklin also earned a second place award in Division B for Best Sports Photo (The News Democrat).