Examiner does well at WPA convention

by Rhonda Swain

The Wyoming Press Association held its annual winter convention in Casper Jan. 19 - 21. The highlight of the gathering is to honor the association's newspapers with awards in numerous categories. The Sublette Examiner came away with 18 pacemaker awards for entries submitted for news stories, ads, page layouts, photos, etc., as well as four excellence awards at Saturday night's awards banquet.

In second place in the general excellence category among small newspapers was the Examiner, which also placed first in advertising and typograpy, and second in editorial excellence. The Thermopolis Independent-Record took first place in general excellence.

The Examiner also won the photographic excellence award for small weeklies as well as the award for best small weekly photo of the year.

Tim Ruland's Sublette County Fair layout, "Flavors of fair," earned a second-place award. Judges commented that Ruland's layout had good use of the color red, with subtle blue elements in the photos really tying it all together.

The front page of our Green River Rendezvous preview, "Rendezvous - Then and Now," took first place in the use of artwork in small weeklies category. The cover, created by former Examiner photographer Delsa Allen, was called, "Lovely. Worth framing."

In open page design, Allen took second for "Exploring modern dance," coverage of the Jackson Dancers Workshop residency at Pinedale Elementary School. "Good positioning of photographs. Good choice of photos. Good use of negative space. Clean look," were the judges' comments.

Deanne Swain's ad for Faler's Ace Hardware's Lopi stove took first in the small ad category. Judges said the heading with pictures said i tall. Swain's institutional ad, "It's our Backyard," took honorable mention. Thead about the Jonah Field made judges want to find out more about the topic.

The Examiner took two special merit awards, a category in which newspapers can submit entries that may not fit in other categories, along with an explanation of why they are being submitted. Rhonda Swain's photos of Louie and Leisa Roberts' draft colts, "Belgian babes," took second place. Judges said the layout had, "Excellent photos of Belgian babes purchased by a ranching family to help them work their ranch. The photos made me want to know more. A good story would have given this a first-place rating."

The staff's "Lasting legacy," the Examiner's coverage of the annual Green River Valley Cattlemen gatherings in March, was "a valuable and readable section on the ranching tradition of this community," according to the judges. The special section took a special merit honorable mention.

In the photography awards, Allen's "Mossy Pines" took second in scenic; "Remembering Honoring," one of the photos of Pinedale's Memorial Day ceremonies, took honorable mention in feature photo; her sports photo "Facing off - Punchers win" of the Wrangler/Puncher football game came in second; and her general news photo of the Pinedale Half Marathon took first. Allen's "Pinedale Home Crowd" photo earned a first-place and the sweepstakes award for small weekly papers.

Jennifer Reneau's photo story entitled "Silly Sheep Styles" took first place. The layout depicted sheep shearing.

Pam McCulloch's fair photos, "Boogie in the Barn" took second place, as did Cat Urbigkit's front-page photo, "Family Tradition," of Jim Jensen and his son Ethan.