| Photo below: Jason Bailey, at right, webmaster for the Progress picks up awards for the paper in St. George. In background, publisher Rick Shaw passes out awards. |
The Emery County Progress recently participated in the Utah Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest. The Progress came away a winner in several categories. The Progress competes with other newspapers of their same circulation. The Utah Press annual convention held their 115th annual convention where the awards were presented at the awards banquet.
Jason Bailey the web page designer for the Emery County Progress accepted the awards for the Progress. These awards included the Best Website Design-first place. Best Breaking News-third place; Best News Coverage-second place, Best Editor’s column-second place; Best Feature Column-second place; Best Lifestyle Page-second place; Best In-House Produced Ad-second place; Best Use of Color Ad- first place; Best Advertising Idea-first place; Best Circulation promotion-third place; Best In-House Promotion-second place.
The convention featured a full-slate of break-out sessions including the “Freedom of Information” presented by Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. Another session was to familarize members with the new postal regulations regarding newspapers.
Keynote speakers included Utah State Senator Karen Hales and MediaNews Group CEO William Dean Singleton, the publishing group that owns the Salt Lake Tribune. Singleton was awarded the association’s most coveted award, the Master Editor and Publisher Award.
Other Awards presented were given to former Utah State Senator Beverly Evans-the Honorary Publisher Award; Cherry Niemeyer of the Richfield Reaper-Distinguished Service Award and Karla Johnson, the Kane County Clerk-the John E. Jones Award. John Stahle was inducted into the Utah Newspaper Hall of Fame.
The Sun Advocate, a sister newspaper to the Emery County Progress received the general excellence award for their group. Progress Editor, Patsy Stoddard also won a photo award for Best News Photo for a photo she took which was used in the Sun Advocate newspaper.