The Dublin Citizen is one of the best small weekly newspapers in the state after earning multiple awards at the Texas Press Association’s annual Better Newspaper Contest.
Awards were presented at the annual TPA Convention and Trade show held June 18-20 at the Hyatt Regency DFW Airport Hotel. Journalists from Washington State newspapers judged the competition.
The Citizen earned a second place Sweepstakes award based on the total number of points calculated based on winning awards.
“It begins to be difficult to offer ever more superlatives to the outstanding work of the team at the Dublin Citizen,” said Brett Wesner, owner of the Citizen. “First, at the regional level earlier this year, and now at the state level, our work on behalf of you, the reader, continues to be recognized for excellence and dedication to our community. I continue to be awed by our team’s work and cannot thank them enough. Dublin deserves a great newspaper, and we certainly have one.”
Managing Editor Paul Gaudette earned first place in the advertising division for Dublin Bottling Works and Blackjack Coffee advertising in the Visitor’s Guide magazine.
Content Editor Wyndi Veigel-Gaudette earned first place in the news writing division for her writing regarding animal cruelty in the death of an emu and the initial reporting of the arrest of former DISD IT director Craig Parks after allegedly stealing more than $1 million.
Judges commented on the stories, praising both as strong writing.
“Regarding the emu story, it shows both the oddity of the situation and the overall consequences of some very poor decisions on the part of the suspect. The investigation, responses involved, variety of sources and detail in crisp, to-the-point writing is phenomenal. GREAT WORK. On the story regarding the [alleged] money laundering by the IT director, the detailed information was great. Again, there were multiple sources and the timeline explaining the case was amazing,” judges said.
A first place in column writing was also received by both Paul and Wyndi for columns about the importance of community journalism after Kerrville flooding and a humorous column regarding affecting the city’s water pressure by leaving water on all night long to water a new tree.
The judges touted, “The first is hilarious, the second leaves you with a serious lump in your throat and serves as a reminder of how tenuous life is. Great range, both wellwritten.”
Other awards include a second-place award in headline writing with “clever and fun headlines used appropriately. I could read the headline and know what the play on words was about,” the judges stated.
A third-place award was received in General Excellence, based on two complete editions. Judges were extremely complimentary to The Citizen team calling the newspaper ‘absolutely lovely, with a great use of photos and an approachable layout.’ They complimented the use of color on the sports page, cited thorough governmental reporting and easy to read local event coverage.
“Great coverage of the community. This is very much an asset for them,” the judges said.
A third-place page design award was received and Paul received a fourth place award in sports coverage.
“Nice effort to present a good sports section. I am sure the readers appreciate the fine work here. All good-writing, photos, layout-and deserving of an award,” the judges stated about the newspaper’s sports coverage.