Newspaper honored for use of photographs

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The Frazee-Vergas Forum received first place in the category of Use of Photography as a Whole during the annual Minnesota Newspaper Association Better Newspaper Contest. Award winners from across the state were honored during the 155th annual Minnesota Newspaper Association Convention, which was held at the Minneapolis Marriott Northwest Hotel from Jan. 27-28. 

There were over 3,200 entries in the contest from newspapers of all sizes in the state. The annual contest is held annually for both college and professional newspapers. 

The awards handed out on Thursday, Jan. 30 was for work completed between September 2020 and August 2021. The Frazee-Vergas Forum competes in the category of non-multi day newspapers with a circulation between 1,001-1,500.

“Photos were very clear and clean, every story had at least one if not two pics. I like the way the photo was incorporated at the top of each cover page,” judges wrote about the Frazee-Vergas Forum.

Second place in the category went to the Tracy Area Headlight Herald and third place went to the Pine Knot News in Cloquet. 

The Frazee-Vergas Forum’s sister publications, the New York Mills Dispatch and Citizen’s Advocate, Henning, were also honored at the annual MNA Better Newspaper Contest. 

The Citizen’s Advocate received four awards, including first place in the Use of Photography as a Whole, second place in General Excellence, third place in Typography and Design and third place in General Reporting. The New York Mills Dispatch received second place in Use of Photography as a Whole and third place in General Excellence. 

Frazee-Vergas Forum Publisher Chad Koenen received five awards individually at the Citizen’s Advocate, including three first place finishes as best columnist, best local breaking news story and best sports feature story.

Graphic artist Carly Johnson received first place in the category of best advertisement, as well as third place for the best self-promotion or house ad.