Bell Press brings home multiple awards during WNA banquet

Bell Press newspapers, which include the Chetek Alert, Barron News-Shield and Ladysmith News, received awards in the 2024 Better Newspaper Contest from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association Foundation during its awards banquet in Madison on Friday, March 7.

“It’s rewarding to be recognized by your peers in community journalism, because they know how difficult the challenge can be to get your name on a plaque competing against weekly newspapers in your circulation class from all across the state. And that’s great,” Publisher Jim Bell said. “But it’s also rewarding to earn community respect for fair, honest, correct and objective reporting. We don’t get inscribed plaques for that, and we sometimes fall short, but that is still our goal in the shadow of a national media no longer embarrassed by their prejudices. Congratulations to our editorial staff, advertising department, and general manager who work hard every week to fill the award-winning news columns of The Chetek Alert.”

Overall, Bell Press received a total of 20 awards and two honorable mentions.

The contest, with an entry period of September 1, 2023, to Aug. 31, 2024, was judged by members of the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Assn. The 2024 contest received 2,134 entries from 105 newspapers.

The Chetek Alert

The Alert staff won 11 awards in total—four first place, four second place, three third place and one honorable mention in the editorial, photography and advertising categories.

Bill Payne Award

The Alert’s Jim Moran won first place for the WNA’s Bill Payne Award.

The Bill Payne award is given to those who exhibit the best in advertising excellence. It  recognizes  the  most  outstanding  locally  prepared  display  ad  of  the  year.

Health Coverage

The Alert’s Kenton Troutman brought home first place for her local coverage of the Marshfield clinic closure and the  area’s ongoing struggle with rural healthcare.

Judge’s Comments: A crucial issue in small and rural communities is lack of health care. This extensive and continued coverage of the local impacts of ongoing clinic closings is important. The writing is solid, and the reporting is very thorough and well-balanced, though there are minor editing errors and the print layout is too compact in places. Photo selection and captions are informative. Good follow-through on the labor and delivery story and its connections to the larger issues.

Best Ad Idea (series)

The Chetek Alert won first place in this category for the ad promotion for Six Lakes Realty featuring Maverick the Golden Retriever.

Comments: “Love how they use an adorable dog as their mascot and tie him into holidays. The ads are cute, easy to read, and a solid, constant reminder of the business that is in a crowded category. Well done!”

Best Newspaper Promotion

The Chetek Alert staff, with Jim Moran leading the charge, took first in its division for this category for its unique, local promotions including the citywide garage sale, Pizza Palooza, Burgers in Paradise, Harvest Fest Fishing Lure Scavenger Hunt and other local promotions.

Comments: “Very imaginative promotions, well executed and explained and a whole lot of fun across the board. It sounds like a great place to work with a creative and dedicated staff who work hard but also love what they do. Well done one and all.

Community Engagement

The Chetek Alert’s Kenton Troutman took second place across the WNA’s multiple weekly division newspapers for its engagement of the community in publishing articles and a survey on the Knapp St. Housing Development and involving and informing the community about the Long Bridge construction project, affording them the opportunity to voice their concerns with officials.

Judge’s comments: “Any effort to show that the press is here to present factual, objective and helpful information is a fine way of engaging and educating readers. This reporting went above and beyond in its duty to bring these issues to the forefront and give readers the opportunity to engage as well. Keep it up. Issues big and small are all big in small communities and ways to show the professionalism and need for the press.”

Best Use of Art Service

Jim Moran took home second place in this category for ads in The Alert’s 2024 Summer Scene special section including ads for Dairyland Insurance Agency, Chetek Public Library’s Summer Reading Program and the WorldWise Food Truck event during Liberty Fest.

Comments: “This series of ads demonstrates that graphics and images from an art service can be manipulated into attention-getting ads. Nice work.”

Photo Essay

Kenton Troutman earned second place for her coverage of the memorial dedication at Chetek Police Department for officer Emily Breidenbach.

Judge’s Comments: “This photo essay was a beautiful tribute to the fallen officer. You could really feel the emotion in each of the images.”

Best Use of Humor

Jim Moran (not surprisingly) earned second place in this multi-division category for his humorous ad concepts including his Valentine’s Day ad for Fostbites Spirits and a house-made ad for The Alert’s Summer Scene publication.

Comments: “Attractive with lots of information.”

Best Front Page

Kenton Troutman earned third in this category.

 Comments: “The variety of topics and photographs are really strong and definitely a reason this publication has won previous awards.”

Best Spot News Photo

The Alert’s Tyler Florczak received a third place award and an honorable mention for his photo submission’s titled “Friendly Fur Bearer Feasts on Fresh Fish” and “The mating game: pheasants fighting for females.”

Best Use of Art of Local Photography

Jim Moran placed third in this category for the use of local photography for ad promotions for Rod n’ Gun and Walleyes for Chetek.

Barron News-Shield Awards

The Barron News-Shield received three second place awards and one third place award in the annual Wisconsin Newspaper Assn. Better Newspaper Contest.

Competing in Division D (circulation of 2,250 – 4,499), News-Shield staff received honors in the Ongoing/Extended Coverage, Local Column, Editorial Award and Best Headlines categories.

In Ongoing/Extended Coverage, assistant publisher Jim Bell and editor Ryan Urban received second place for a series of three stories on infighting within the Barron County Republican Party. A rift between the organization’s board members and local Republican legislators, as well as other members, brought out allegations of bylaw violations. The Republican Party of Wisconsin ultimately revoked the organization’s charter and the Republican Party of Barron County was reestablished with new leadership in the spring of 2024.

For the second time in three years, Urban placed in the Local Column category for his “Urban Rural Column.” Urban received second place for his submission of three columns, “The BBC comes to Barron County,” “New appliances may hang you out to dry,” and “Should Wisconsin follow Minnesota in getting a new flag?”

Associate editor Bob Zientara received second place for the Editorial Award category. Zientara’s submission included editorials headlined “Social, economic realities mean challenges for criminal justice,” “Think the redistricting fight’s over? Guess Again,” and “No matter your politics, inflation doesn’t care.”

Jim Bell received third place for Best Headlines. Submitted headlines included, “No party at GOP headquarters,” “Will the sun shine on large solar project?” and “Man’s alleged deer violations could cost a lot of bucks.”

Ladysmith News Awards

The Ladysmith News is judged in the division that includes the largest non-daily newspapers in the state.

For its General News Photo, the Ladysmith News received a first place award. It was judged on an entry titled, “That’s Mutton.” The photo was taken by Editor Luke Klink.

Judges said, “Great shot, cute subject and great headline. Well done.”

For its Editorials, the Ladysmith News received a second place award.

It was judged on entries titled, “History is in the eye of the beholder,” “Assassination attempt a signal for change” and “At least some on city council thought it was a bad idea.”

Judges wrote, “Strong arguments backed by details.”

For its Breaking News Reporting, the Ladysmith News received a second place award. It was judged on an entry titled, “Hawkins to see Jeld-Wen plant close its doors.” The story was written by Editor Luke Klink.

For its Health Coverage, the Ladysmith News received a third place award. It was judged on entries titled, “HSHS, Prevea to close all area clinics, hospitals;” OakLeaf explores possible hospital, Prevea site talks;  “Hospital, Prevea closings will impact county human services;” “Physicians ask county to buy Prevea site” and “County ups offer, buys city Prevea Clinic property.” The stories were written by Editor Luke Klink.

For its Best Multiple Advertiser Spread, the Ladysmith News received a third place award. It was judged on an entry titled, “June is National Adopt a Shelter Cat Month.” The ad was by Kyle Harmon in Graphic Design/Ad Production.

Judges said, “Nicely laid out page for a good cause with lots of advertising support. Paw prints dotting the “I’s” is a nice touch.”

For its Headlines, the Ladysmith News received an honorable mention award.  It was judged on entries titled, “City property appearance lights neighbors’ ire;” “Oar the river, through the woods to Sheldon;” and “Anglers escape dam close call in Holcombe.” The headlines were by Editor Luke Klink.

Division winners in the statewide contest included the Wisconsin State Journal (Madison) in Division A; Herald Times Reporter (Manitowoc) in Division B; Peninsula Pulse (Baileys Harbor) in Division C; Superior Telegram in Division D; and Northwoods River News (Rhinelander) in Division E. Overall winners for the statewide contest were the Wisconsin State Journal in the daily category and Superior Telegram among the weeklies.