DAVENPORT, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mary Junck, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Lee Enterprises, Incorporated (NYSE:LEE), announced today the winners of 2014 Lee President’s Awards for outstanding journalism, innovation, exceptional achievement and spirit.
“These awards touch only the tip of wonderful achievements every day in each of our 50 daily newspaper markets,” Junck said. “In print and all forms of digital delivery, we provide inspirational journalism, vital community leadership and innovative services for audiences and advertisers – an indispensable role that makes this business so meaningful.”
EXCELLENCE IN NEWS
The news award recognizes outstanding achievement in any aspect of print and online journalism, from reporting and writing to photography, video, graphics and presentation.
Receiving awards:
- Arizona Daily Star in Tucson, for uncovering how lax record-keeping has blurred the impact of a controversial, toughest-in-the-nation law intended to standardize local immigration enforcement. Perla Trevizo and Carli Brosseau share the award. Details
- Napa Valley Register in Napa, California. On August 24, 2014, at 3:20 a.m., a 6.0 earthquake caused significant damage to the community, the Napa Valley Register itself and many employees' homes. Despite severe challenges, the staff began coverage within minutes and kept the news flowing to the community and around the world. Details
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch for comprehensive, authoritative, world-leading coverage of the circumstances and continuing aftermath surrounding the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The Post-Dispatch has been praised nationally and internationally for its exclusive reporting, dramatic photography, in-depth investigations, meticulously balanced perspectives, inspirational editorials and constructive community leadership. Details
- The Daily Herald in Provo, Utah, for “Our year with the Campbells: A story of hope, love and strength” – a family’s struggle with a debilitating disease that ultimately ended in tragedy. The award is shared by Spenser Heaps, Genelle Pugmire, Lisa Kane, Jennifer Durrant, Doug Fox, Michele Bates, David Kennard and Stacy Johnson. Details
- The Post-Star in Glens Falls, New York, for “Heroin Hits Home” – a sobering revelation of local heroin use and the destruction it has caused in the community. The series inspired community forums and led to increased state funding for drug enforcement and stiffened penalties. The award is shared by Don Lehman, Will Doolittle, Ken Tingley, Rhonda Triller, Meg Hagerty, Amanda May Metzger, Scott Donnelly, Jason McKibben, Michael Goot, Megan Farmer and Bill Toscano. Details
- The Times-News in Twin Falls, Idaho, for “Never Again” – an extensive, six-month investigation unveiling the policies, cultural issues and methods that lead to continued wildland firefighter fatalities. The award is shared by Billie Stanton, Ashley Smith, Dan Warner, Kimberlee Kruesi and Autumn Phillips. Details
Honorable mentions were awarded to the Rapid City Journal in South Dakota for a report on uranium mining and to the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison for detailing the impact on tribe members who receive a windfall of money at age 18. Details of those entries and other finalists may be viewed at lee.net/2014awards/news.
Judges for Excellence in News were Richard Cole, dean emeritus of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and John Thomas Kerr Jr. Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Mike Leary, senior vice president and editor of the San Antonio Express-News; and Rick Thames, editor and vice president for news of The Charlotte Observer.
INNOVATION
The innovation award recognizes an individual or team for creating or significantly advancing an idea that drives revenue, builds audiences or serves customers better.
Receiving awards:
- Arizona Daily Star in Tucson, for creating a series that engaged their community in choosing 100 objects to tell the story of Tucson over 100 days. The story of one object was added each day and revealed to readers through print and online photos. This project reinforced the Star’s reputation as the authoritative source for news and information about the history, culture and traditions of Tucson. The online photo slideshow generated nearly 500,000 page views and more than 28,000 people clicked, liked or commented on Facebook. The project was so successful it was replicated in all 50 Lee newspaper markets. The award is shared by the news and advertising teams.
- Arizona Daily Star in Tucson, for creating an interactive weekly magazine designed for tablet devices. The Sports Insider immerses readers in the excitement and thrill of college football. The richly interactive content includes quizzes, polls, live chats, a team logo matching game, robust video and slideshows, dynamically updated Twitter and blog feeds. Virtually all of the news and advertising content is exclusive to the magazine, which also uses very creative and interactive advertising messages. This award goes to the advertising, news and audience development teams.
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Billings
Gazette in Billings, Montana; Lincoln
Journal Star in Lincoln, Nebraska; Wisconsin
State Journal in Madison; St.
Louis Post-Dispatch; and Arizona
Daily Star in Tucson, for exceeding sales expectations and
leading efforts in a Big Pitch initiative, targeting midsize and large
businesses with data-supported proposals for extensive digital and
print campaigns. These five enterprises played essential roles in
driving substantial year-over-year growth and accelerating efforts to
immerse sales organizations companywide in the rapidly expanding area
of digital media capabilities. They charted the work to be done,
established expectations and developed a consistent approach to
building customer campaigns for all to follow. Judges commented on the
major effort it took to pull off this collaboration and the flawless
execution.
- Lincoln Journal Star, in Lincoln, Nebraska, and The Journal Times in Racine, Wisconsin, for creating successful events and promoting them through their powerful reach to deliver results. The team in Lincoln produced a variety of events from recognizing high school sports standouts with a Prep Sports banquet to hosting First Bite, an opportunity for consumers to sample dishes from participating restaurants in support of Restaurant Week. One of their events, Game Day Garage, was recognized by judges for the creative venue and twist on reaching sports fans. The award is shared by the news, advertising, marketing, finance and operations teams. In Racine, the staff created two new events this year in addition to their successful Ladies Night Out event, which doubled in size. Their Bridal Expo included a fashion show and groom’s room, and the positive approach to the new Retirement & Lifestyle Expo added to its success by attracting more vendors and people.
Judges for the innovation category were Brad Harmon, vice president of sales and marketing at GateHouse Media, Inc.; Barbara Cohen, president and founder of Kannon Consulting; and Herbert W. Moloney III, an independent director of Lee and longtime advertising and publishing executive.
EXCEPTIONAL ACHIEVEMENT
The Lee President’s Award for Exceptional Achievement recognizes outstanding leadership, collaboration and execution benefiting all of Lee.
Receiving the award is Mark Bullard, Lee’s director of digital business development, for creating and managing an innovative, data-driven approach to optimizing the sale of non-local digital advertising inventory, resulting in spectacular growth in national digital advertising revenue in 2014. As a member of project teams, he shared Exceptional Achievement Awards in 2009, 2011 and 2012.
LEE SPIRIT
The Lee Spirit Award recognizes outstanding personal commitment to our company and the people we serve.
Being honored are:
- Larry Mayer, chief photographer for the Billings Gazette in Montana. He is a longtime, award-winning photojournalist and a leader in the local aviation community. Larry has flown numerous search and rescue operations, many occurring over some of the most rugged terrain on the continent. One August afternoon Mayer quickly recruited nine other pilots to search for a young student pilot reported missing on her first cross-country solo flight. The extraordinary story was beamed into homes by The Associated Press and across the country as an NBC’s Dateline report titled ‘Into the Wild.” Details
- Mark Ylen, head of photography for the Albany Democrat-Herald and the Corvallis Gazette-Times in Oregon. He and his wife, Andrea, received an award from the city of Albany for pulling a man and his daughter out of a burning house last winter. A longtime volunteer dedicated to helping others, Mark put together a team of four people in February to travel to a remote area of the Dominican Republic to support 280 desperately poor rural children and their Fountain of Living Water School. Details
Details of all the Lee Spirit finalists may be viewed at lee.net/2014awards/spirit.
Lee Enterprises is a leading provider of local news, information and advertising services in its markets, with 46 daily newspapers and a joint interest in four others, rapidly growing digital products and nearly 300 specialty publications in 22 states. Lee's markets include St. Louis, Missouri; Lincoln, Nebraska; Madison, Wisconsin; Davenport, Iowa; Billings, Montana; Bloomington, Illinois; and Tucson, Arizona. Lee Common Stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LEE. For more information about Lee, please visit lee.net.