The White Lake Beacon and its sister papers each received a handful of awards Thursday afternoon when the results of the 2022 Michigan Press Association Better Newspaper Contest were announced.
The Beacon competes in the weekly Class C category along with Oceana’s Herald-Journal, while their sister paper the Ludington Daily News competes in the daily Class C category.
The Beacon received a total of four mentions in the contest, including two first-place awards for editor Andy Roberts. Roberts brought home the top prize in the sports feature category for his July 24, 2022 feature “Wildcats’ Woller never slows down” about current Montague junior athlete Elizabeth Woller, and also did so in the spot news category for his Feb. 27, 2022 story “Reeths-Puffer renames basketball arena for retired principal Dan Beckeman”.
Also earning an award for the Beacon was former freelance writer Barbara Gosselar, who was awarded third place in the business/agriculture news category for her Sept. 26, 2021 story “Stony Lake Therapeutic Riding Center prepares for fundraiser”. The Beacon as a whole picked up honorable mention in the newspaper design category for its Jan. 30, 2022 issue, with current OHJ editor Amanda Dodge, Roberts and current OHJ staff writer Brendan Samuels and former Beacon writer Natalie Holmstrom each contributing.
Oceana’s Herald-Journal, based in Hart, also earned four mentions in the contest, highlighted by a second-place showing in newspaper design for the March 17, 2022 edition of the paper. Dodge, Samuels, Roberts and OHJ writer John Cavanagh each contributed.
Roberts also earned second place for the OHJ in the sports column category for his Dec. 2, 2021 article “Big-time moves have college football at crossroads”. Gosselar picked up third place in the best columnist category.
The OHJ staff also contributed to a third-place showing in the special section category for the summer 2022 issue of its LakeStyle magazine. The quarterly publication is edited by Dodge and counts among its contributors Roberts, David Barber, Jeanne Barber, Steve Begnoche and Caleb Jackson.
The Ludington Daily News earned three awards in the contest, led by the first-place spot in the best editorial category for LDN editor David Bossick. Bossick also earned second place in the news photo category for his photo “Filled with joy”. Bossick also earned third place, along with former LDN staffer Justin Cooper, in the photo story category for their efforts covering Mason County Central’s 2021 homecoming.
“Congratulations to Andy and his team at the White Lake Beacon as well as our teams at our sister newspapers, the Oceana’s Herald-Journal and the Ludington Daily News,” group publisher Mike Hrycko said. “I’m extremely proud to be able to work with such a talented group of journalists. They truly care about their communities and do their very best to get fair and unbiased news out to our readers.”