The Tooele Transcript Bulletin won 22 awards for journalism, advertising and design excellence in the Utah Press Association’s 2017 Better Newspaper Contest.
Of those awards, six were for first place, eight for second place, and eight for third place. The awards were presented Saturday night during a banquet at Jordan Commons in Sandy.
The Transcript Bulletin’s six first-place awards include:
• Best Sports Column by sports editor Darren Vaughan. The contest required three sample columns of local sports interest to be submitted for judges’ review.
• Best News Coverage by staff. The contest required three complete editions from March, August and September to be submitted for review.
• Best Feature Photograph by photo editor Francie Aufdemorte. Winning photo was the lead art from a Hometown that featured concrete artist Phil Jones.
• Best Front Page by graphic designer Liz Arellano. The contest required three sample front pages to be submitted for review.
• Best Sports Page by sports editor Darren Vaughan. The contest required three sample front pages to be submitted for review.
• Best Special Section by staff. Winning entry was the 2017 edition of Tooele County Magazine.
The Transcript Bulletin’s eight second-place awards include:
• Best General News story by staff writer Tim Gillie. Gillie’s story entailed Tooele County government signing deal to provide funds for Country Fan Fest concert
• Best Digital Breaking News Story by staff writer Steve Howe. Howe’s story entailed the Fassio Egg Farm fire.
• Best News Series by staff writer Tim Gillie. Gillie’s four-part series covered suicide prevention and awareness efforts in Tooele County.
• Best Feature Series by staff writer Steve Howe. Howe’s three-part series delved into Stansbury Lake’s features, ecosystem woes and management.
• Best Lifestyle Page by graphic designer Liz Arellano. The contest required three sample pages to be submitted for review. Samples were of Hometown sections.
• Best Community Event by staff writer Mark Watson. Watson’s story covered the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new telescope at Stansbury Park Observatory Complex. Photographs of the event were taken by staff photographer Sue Butterfield.
• Best Advertising Idea by graphic designer Liz Arellano. Ad was a promotion announcing the Christmas Coloring Book.
• Best In-House Self Promotion by creative director John Hamilton. Ad featured “Don’t miss all your local news.”
The Transcript Bulletin’s eight third-place awards include:
• Best Editorial by editor David Bern. The contest required three sample editorials to be submitted for review.
• Best Feature Story by staff writer Steve Howe. Howe’s entry was a Hometown story about creating a community library in the basement of Stockton Town Hall.
• Best Sports Story by sports editor Darren Vaughan. Vaughan’s entry was his coverage of the Grantsville High School girls’ softball team winning state championship
• Best News Photograph by photo editor Francie Aufdemorte. Photo was of the Fassio Egg Farm fire.
• Best Sports Photograph by photo editor Francie Aufdemorte. Photo was of wrestler Logan Gustafson winning 3A state championship
• Best Use of Ad Color by graphic designer Liz Arellano. Ad featured the annual Bit ‘N’ Spur Rodeo at Deseret Peak Complex.
• Best Circulation Promotion by graphic designer Liz Arellano. Ad promoted readers to give a gift subscription at Christmas called “Give the gift they’ll use all year.”
• Best Website by John Hamilton. Judges reviewed the Transcript Bulletin’s news website called tooeleonline.com.
The Transcript Bulletin competed against eight other weekly newspapers across the state with circulations of 6,000-plus. They include Crossroads Journal, Davis Clipper, Emery Telcom, Intermountain Catholic, Intermountain Commercial Record, Iron County Today, Park Record and Salt Lake City Weekly.
The Utah Press Association was founded in 1893 by a small group of publishers to represent Utah’s newspapers and to function as a collective voice and a legislative watch for all Utah member newspapers, according to UPA’s website.
The organization also provides a variety of other services, including news release and advertising placement, electronic clipping service and print media training. UPA also claims to be the state’s oldest trade association.
The Transcript Bulletin routinely competes in the UPA’s contest every year, in addition to competing in the Society of Professional Journalists’ Utah Headliners annual contest.