Southwest Regional Publishing wins top General Excellence award for nondaily newspapers

Southwest Regional Publishing earned first place for General Excellence among nondaily newspapers in its circulation class, the Illinois Press Association announced last week.

Judges praised The Regional News for “excellent community coverage through a plethora of stories, photo stories of events and sports, as well as its clean layout and local advertising designs.” They also noted the category was highly competitive.

“This is a prestigious honor bestowed by our peers,” said co-owner Mike Thiessen.

“It recognizes strong local journalism by a locally owned company — and it’s a credit to the entire Regional team: designers, reporters, editors, press operators, and Ad sales staff.”

Southwest Regional Publishing co-owner Mike Thiessen (right) accepts the Illinois Press Association's top General Excellence Award for non-daily newspapers on June 5. Credit: Provided — Southwest Regional Publishing co-owner Mike Thiessen (right) accepts the Illinois Press Association’s top General Excellence Award for non-daily newspapers on June 5. Credit: Provided

Thiessen said the award reflects the company’s ongoing transformation into a more modern media outlet that serves longtime readers and reaches new audiences.

“The whole organization has been working with an award-winning consultant to rethink how we serve our readers,” he said.

“We’ve expanded coverage and invested in delivering more meaningful local news — and while we improve, everyone can read for free thanks to growing support from local businesses who believe local news matters.”

“We’re just getting started,” Thiessen added.

The Greater Southwest News-Herald in Chicago, also published by Southwest Regional Publishing, placed fourth in the same category. Judges praised it for its “mix of local and regional news coverage as well as clean layout design.”

The Illinois Press Association’s annual editorial contest was judged by members of the Georgia Press Association and included nearly 85 daily and nondaily papers competing across 39 categories.

Click here to subscribe FREE to Ray Hanania's Columns

Author
Recent Posts

Ray Hanania

Ray Hanania is an award-winning opinion columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.

His award winning columns can be found at www.HANANIA.COM Subscribe FREE today

Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

Email Ray Hanania at [email protected].

Follow RayHanania at Twitter