Missourian wins 64 awards at the 2019 Missouri Press Association Awards

Columbia Missourian Won 64 Awards in the 2019 Better Newspaper Contest

Competing with Missouri newspapers with circulations from 5,001 to 15,000, the Columbia Missourian won 64 awards in the Missouri Press Association’s 2019 Better Newspaper Contest, including the gold cup award given to the news organization with the most awards in its division.

By Cheri Eichholz Cherry
Columbia Missourian

Columbia, Mo. (Sept. 30, 2019) — The Columbia Missourian, including Vox Magazine, won 64 awards in the Missouri Press Association‘s 2019 Better Newspaper Contest, including the gold cup award given to the news organization with the most awards in its division.

The Missourian competed in the division of newspapers with circulations from 5,001 to 15,000 and won awards for written stories, photos, ongoing coverage, multimedia, graphics, design and projects published in 2018.

The awards were announced Saturday, September 28 during the Missouri Press Association convention in Kansas City.

First Place

  • Best Online Newspaper or Website: ColumbiaMissourian.com won first place for its website. Judging is based on originality, ease of use, local content and advertising.
  • Best Health Story: Alexis Allison won first place for her story about the health care gap between black and white babies in Boone County.
  • Multi-Media Reporting: Titus Wu and Jennifer Mosbrucker won first place for the story and photographs documenting modern day debtors prisons in Missouri.
  • Best News or Feature Obituary: Alexis Allison won first place for her life story about Edwin Schnell, local mason and devoted father and grandfather.
  • Best Headline Writing: Missourian staff won first place for its headline submission based on creativity and clever word selection.
  • Best Video: Cameron LaFontaine and Joey Schneider earned first place for a video about Barry Koeneke, longtime Hallsville teacher and baseball coach.
  • Best Editorial Cartoon: Local cartoonist John Darkow won first place for his commentary on current events and issues, including politics, immigration and a tribute to George H.W. Bush.
  • Best Information Graphic: Maddie Hall won first place for her graphic explaining the work that earned retired MU biology professor, George Smith, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
  • Best Page Design: First place staff award for the layout, design of text and photos of retiring Pastor Caroles Taylor giving his last sermon at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church.
  • Best Story about Education: Nancy Coleman won a first-place award for her story about the difficulties MU student parents have finding affordable childcare.
  • Best Story about Rural Life or Agriculture: Titus Wu earned a first-place award for his story about rural prisoners who remain incarcerated, because they are unable to pay board bills.
  • Best Coverage of Rural Life or Agriculture: Missourian reporters Nancy Coleman, Maggie Resor and Kathryn Hardison won first place for their coverage of an apple orchard in Mexico, Missouri, a partnership between the Columbia Public Schools and the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture and Missouri’s vanishing small dairies.
  • Best Sports News Story or Package: Sports reporters Ryan Herrera, Matt Antonic, Jake Sutherlin and Langston Newsome earned first place for their coverage of four local high schools that are bucking the trend of reduced participation in high school football.
  • Best Photo Illustration: Julia Hansen won first place for her Vox Magazine photo illustration on single-use plastic straws.
  • Best News or Feature Series and Best Local Business Coverage: The Columbia Missourian business reporting team won first place in two categories for a series of stories highlighting opportunity gaps in the community.
  • Best News Feature Story: Ann Marion won first place for her Vox Magazine feature about a couple who uses sonar to search and recover missing persons in waterways. This is one of four winning entries from Vox’s “Thicker than Water” issue featuring stories about the Missouri River.
  • Best News Story: Sam Manas won a first-place award for his story about Columbia Police Chief Ken Burton‘s administrative leave and subsequent resignation.

Second Place

  • Best News or Feature Obituary: Annalise Acuff won second place for her life story on Nathan Blount, Mizzou alum, beloved friend and community member.
  • Best Video: Rayna Sims won second place for her video about a small truck stop chapel in Kingdom City, Missouri designed to offer religious services to over-the-road truck drivers.
  • Best Information Graphic: Tynan Stewart won second place on his graphic detailing Columbia census and population data over the past 200 years.
  • Best Page Design: Missourian staff won second place for the story layout of a prom night celebration for a teenage patient at MU Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
  • Best Story About History: Alexander Ransom won second place for his Vox Magazine story about the town of Wakenda, Missouri, which was destroyed during the Great Flood of 1993.
  • Best Story About the Outdoors: Jared Kaufman won a second-place award for his Vox Magazine story about catfishing in the Missouri River.
  • Best Story About Education: Kyle LaHucik earned a second-place award for his story about the University of Missouri System’s priority to build a Transition Precision Medicine Complex.
  • Best Story About Rural Life or Agriculture: Kathryn Hardison won second place for her reporting on Missouri’s diminishing dairy industry.
  • Best News or Feature Special Section: Missourian staff won a second-place award for Boomtown, a special section geared toward readers over 50.
  • Best Sports Feature Story: Sports reporter DJ McGuire earned a second-place award for his story about a display of kindness and sportsmanship at a high school cross country meet.
  • Best News Story or Package: Reed Koutelas and David Sack won second place for their story about Missouri men’s basketball player Jontay Porter’s season-ending injury.
  • Community Service: The Columbia Missourian outreach team won second place for the Progress Awards, a program designed to recognize and honor unsung heroes in the community.
  • Best Photo Illustration: N. Andrew Dent won second place for his photo illustration for Vox Magazine’s 2018 Fall Arts Guide.
  • Best News or Feature Series: Six Missourian reporters contributed to a special series about the lack of rural broadband service in Missouri. Kathryn Hardison, Trevor Hook, Dylan Jackson, Annika Merrilees, Lydia Nusbaum and Mica Soellner earned a second-place award for the project.
  • Best Feature Photograph: Jessi Dodge won second place for her photo of designer Levi Bedall at the 2018 True/False Film Fest.
  • Best Front Page: Missourian staff won second place for three front pages based on design, layout and content.
  • Best Overall Design: Missourian staff earned a second-place award based on three issues. Judging criteria looks for consistent quality of the entire newspaper and includes all design elements, such as photography and graphics.
  • General Excellence: Missourian and Vox Magazine staff won second place for breadth of coverage, quality of layout and design, the use of photographs, artwork and advertising design over three full issues.

Third Place

Honorable Mention

About the Columbia Missourian

The Columbia Missourian is a digital-first publication founded in 1908 as a community newspaper and working laboratory for students at the Missouri School of Journalism. The Missourian regularly beats out the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Kansas City Star and Columbia Tribune for state journalism awards.

Updated: November 10, 2020

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