CR 1st for general excellence

INDIANAPOLIS — For the second time in three years, The Commercial Review has been honored as the state’s top small daily newspaper.
The Commercial Review was awarded first place in Division 3 for general excellence Saturday at the Hoosier State Press Association’s Newsroom Seminar & Better Newspaper Contest Awards Luncheon.
It brought home 17 awards in all — second most in the paper’s history to the 20 it won in 2014 — with 10 first-place honors. Sports editor Chris Schanz was a finalist for photo of the year.
A pair of former CR staffers also picked up awards.
The general excellence honors are presented to the top three newspapers in each division based on an accumulation of points earned from all other awards. The CR, which competes against the state’s 39 other daily newspapers with a circulation of 6,000 or less, finished first ahead of the Princeton Daily Clarion and The Tribune (Seymour). It also won for general excellence in 2014 and finished second in both 2013 and 2015.
The Commercial Review’s 10 first-place awards were twice as many as any other paper in Division 3.
Schanz had The CR’s top honor of the day as his best feature photo winner — a shot of Kylie Osborne diving through a puddle at Jay County FFA’s mud volleyball tournament during the Jay County Fair in 2015 — as it was judged best in the division and named a finalist for photo of the year.
“The expression on this person’s face in the middle of the splatter is a moment you don’t often see and won’t soon forget,” the judge commented.
The Commercial Review dominated the photo categories overall, taking first place in five out of six, with Schanz also adding wins for best sports action photo and best sports feature photo.
Editor Ray Cooney took the top spot for best general news photo, and the newspaper’s staff combined to win best multiple picture group for its series of photos about the July 2015 flooding in Portland.
“Most people have a difficult time imagining the damage a flood can cause to the landscape and its people,” said the judge of the flood photos. “This story illustrates that nicely by showing the strength of the community through storytelling.”
Other photo awards for The CR included second places for Schanz for best spot news photo and Cooney for best sports action photo.
Cooney also took both first and second place for best picture story with audio or video story.
In addition to the multiple picture group award, The Commercial Review’s staff took first place for best website.
“The staff of The Commercial Review clearly gets it; they’re using their website for more than another place to display their print stories,” said the judge. “There are multiple examples of staff-produced videos, strong photo galleries and excellent interaction with Facebook and Twitter.”
The paper’s other two first-place awards went to Cooney for best in-depth feature or feature package and best sports news or feature coverage. He also earned second place for best headline writing and third place for best use of graphics.
Cooney’s eight awards tied with Andrea Howe and Michael Caterina, both of the Princeton Daily Clarion, for most in Division III ahead of Mike Marturello of The Herald Republican (Angola) with five and Schanz with four. It was the fourth consecutive year he has led the division in total awards.
The Commercial Review also earned second place for best business section and third place for best ongoing news coverage.
Former CR county reporter Steve Garbacz, who is now on staff at The News-Sun (Kendallville), took second place for best headline writing in Division 4 (daily newspapers with a circulation of 6,000 to 14,000). He was also third for best general commentary.
Samm Quinn, a former CR city reporter who now works at the Daily Reporter (Greenfield), teamed with Noelle Steele for second place in Division 4 for best news coverage with no deadline pressure. The Daily Reporter also claimed first place for general excellence in its division.