The Pope County Tribune & Times received eight awards at the annual Minnesota Newspaper Convention held last week in Minneapolis. Publisher Tim Douglass credited the newspaper’s dedicated staff for the awards and complimented their commitment to the quality of the newspaper and its publications. From left are: Melanie Stegner, news reporter; Erica Stoen, who leads graphic design, sales and marketing; Tim Douglass, publisher/editor; Erika Andreas, accounting and office manager; John Fragodt, sports editor; and Amber Hart, graphic design and office assistant.

The Pope County Tribune garnered eight awards in the Minnesota Newspaper Association’s 2023 Better Newspaper Contest.

Again, the newspaper’s annual magazine, Minnewaska Visitor Guide won top honors winning first place for “Best Magazine Design” and “Best Magazine Cover” as well as first and second place in “Best Magazine Reporting.”  The Minnewaska Visitor Guide has won “Best Magazine” for the past eight years.

The newspaper also won second place among weeklies in the circulation category of 1,501 to 3,000 for “General Excellence.”  The General Excellence category recognizes the “balanced excellence of the newspaper as a whole.”  Judges consider: depth, breadth and quality of news coverage; quality of advertising, both classified and display; quality of editorial page with particular attention to relevance to community; quantity and quality of pictorial material; and overall appearance of the newspaper. 

The Tribune also was awarded second place for weeklies in its circulation class for “Advertising Excellence.”

The other two categories the Tribune won included second place in Typography and third place for Best News Photo.

Tim Douglass, publisher/editor of the Pope County Tribune & Times said he credits his staff.  

“The staff at the Tribune & Times are dedicated to quality journalism and design.  They make it possible for the newspaper to win awards year after year, and they are experienced and dedicated enough to keep producing at a high level whether we win awards or not,” Douglass said.

“The awards are a bonus for us and it’s nice to be recognized by your peers in the newspaper business.  Our main focus is to cover our communities with quality news and advertising and reward our readers and advertisers by giving them our best publication we can each and every week,” Douglass said.

This year there were 4,095  entries in the MNA Better Newspaper.  Judges in South Dakota, North Carolina and New Jersey (yes, as one of the largest contests in the nation, it takes three states to judge the Minnesota Better Newspaper Contest) determined the Minnesota winners.