First Place - Kentucky Kernel, Adam Sichko
This editorial was the most opinionated and thorough of all the entries.

Second Place - Murray State News, Melissa Kilcoyne
Kilcoyne’s editorial took the college to task with questions concerning interim president’s whereabouts. The editorial took a lot of guts to write.

Third Place - College Heights Herald, Wes Watt
The end of this editorial needed a stronger opinion than “changing policies if needed.” Goats in fraternities seems over the top and changes are needed.

Category 2 - Best Spot News Coverage

First Place - Kentucky Kernel, Sean Rose
Another impact story of the two women drowning in a tragic flooding was a tough read because of the grief.

Second Place - Kentucky Kernel, Sean Rose
This top story of a plane crash that killed three UK associates was a heavy impact story.

Third Place - College Heights Herald, Corey Paul
Paul covered this fire story like a pro. Nice quotes and covered all the bases.

Honorable Mention - Kentucky Kernel, Shannon Mason

Category 3 - Best General News Story

First Place - College Heights Herald, Amber Coulter

Second Place - Kentucky Kernel, Megan Boehnke, Adam Sichko

Third Place - Kentucky Kernel, Dariush Shafa

Category 4 - Best Feature Story

First Place - Kentucky Kernel, Tim Wiseman
“A Family’s Plea for Honor”

Second Place - College Heights Herald, Tavia Green
“Straight Grillin’”

Third Place - Kentucky Kernel, Adam Sichko
“Same Drive, Different Spin”

Category 5 - Best Column

First Place - Murray State News, Elizabeth Cawein

Second Place - Eastern Progress, Chad Hutchison

Third Place - Murray State News, Rockelle Gray

Category 6 - Best Sports Column

First Place - Eastern Progress, Steve Fohl

Second Place - Murray State News, Nathan Clinkenbeard

Third Place - Eastern Progress, Lance Melching

Category 7 - Best Sports Story

First Place - College Heights Herald, Beth Wilberding

Second Place - Kentucky Kernel, Jonathan Smith

Third Place - The Louisville Cardinal, Clypie Grider

Category 8 - Best Sports Feature Story

First Place - Kentucky Kernel, Derek Poore
Wow!! Poore really poured himself into this Tubby Smith piece.

Second Place - Murray State News, Tommy Dillard
Well written feature story about women’s basketball player.

Third Place - Kentucky Kernel, Chris Miles
Nice transitions between goalie and his dream of being a fighter pilot.

Category 9 - Best Enterprise or Analytical Story

First Place - Kentucky Kernel, Crystal Little
Totally humbling story of survival in Africa.

Second Place - Kentucky Kernel, Sean Rose
“Tore Down” Rose hits the night beat with police and all they have to deal with.

Third Place - College Heights Herald, Jake Mitchell, Corey Paul
Mitchell and Paul tackle the negative attention arrested athletes bring to their college.

Category 10 - Best Investigative Story or Series

First Place - Murray State News, Elizabeth Cawein, Janet Robb
“Sex and the University” was a story of rape, culture, lifestyles and gender. Great job!!

Second Place - Kentucky Kernel, Katheran Wasson
Transportation van story was very interesting and took lots of research.

Third Place - Kentucky Kernel, Megan Boehnke
3-part series about an understaffed college police force gives students and the public insight into squads challenges.

Category 11 - Best On-Going/Extended Coverage Story

First Place - Kentucky Kernel, Sean Rose
Plane crash story was followed up with solid pieces on why.

Second Place - College Heights Herald, Kelly Richardson, Amber Coulter
Discrimination lawsuit story was very thorough and well planned.

Third Place - Kentucky Kernel, Staff
Staff pay inequities story looked at quite a few angles to come up with a solid extended coverage story.

Category 12 - Best Business/Agribusiness Story

First Place - Kentucky Kernel, Ryan Evans
“Farm Fresh” a pilot food program for the college cafeteria was well presented.

Second Place - Kentucky Kernel, Megan Boehnke
Photo, layout and graphs really spuced up this story.

Third Place - Kentucky Kernel, Adam Sichko
Very informative.

Category 13 - Best Headline

First Place - College Heights Herald, Ashlee Clark
“Toilets fixed, many relieved.” Easily the top choice.

Second Place - The Louisville Cardinal, Chris Brown
“What the puck?” Great college headline about hockey.

Third Place - Kentucky Kernel, Adam Sichko
“Of mice and south campus” nice play on phrase.

Category 14 - Best Spot News Picture

First Place - College Heights Herald, Nick Adams
Frame shows intensity of event.

Second Place - Kentucky Kernel, Eric Thigpen
Not a whole lot of information is included in this frame, but it stood out among rest.

Third Place - Kentucky Kernel, Brad Luttrell
Needs better moment within photo, but good among rest.

Category 15 - Best General News Picture

First Place - Kentucky Kernel, Keith Smiley
Nice spot to get photo at peak moment. Photog was ready.

Second Place - Kentucky Kernel, Ed Matthews
Good emotion. In front of couple may have been better composed.

Third Place - College Heights Herald, Jim Winn
Good that photog got on a high spot to capture all the important elements.

Category 16 - Best Feature Picture

First Place - Kentucky Kernel, Keith Smiley
This was the best moment of the bunch. Nicely composed.

Second Place - College Heights Herald, Nick Adams
Liked the quiet moment and depth of information included within frame.

Third Place - College Heights Herald, Christian Hansen
Well framed. Light works well with quiet moment.

Category 17 - Best Picture Essay (Spot, General or Feature)

First Place - Kentucky Kernel, Jonathan Palmer
Close call between first and second. Good emotional impact and clean composition.

Second Place - Kentucky Kernel, Tricia Spaulding
Some great, emotional images within package. Especially like inside bottom right. Would like to see her (the wife’s) “emotional impact” photo played large.

Third Place - Kentucky Kernel, Keith Smiley
Good range in coverage and emotion.

Category 18 - Best Sports Picture

First Place - Kentucky Kernel, Keith Smiley
Best action shot. Love to see it bigger and slightly tighter.

Second Place - College Heights Herald, Tyler Pelan
Nice wider-shot action that fills frame.

Third Place - College Heights Herald, Greg Barnette
Shirt over head makes this picture a step above other happy vs sad images.

Category 19 - Best Sports Picture Essay

First Place - College Heights Herald, Justin Fowler
Lots of work went into this to make unique compositions to fit together.

Second Place - College Heights Herald, Nathan Morgan
Three photos work well together and capture different elements of event.

Third Place - Kentucky Kernel, Keith Smiley
Could use more variety overall, but still better than the rest.

Category 20 - Special Sections

First Place - Kentucky Kernel, Cassie Stokes
This section would rival most large dailies. The stories were moving, the photo beyond outstanding!

Second Place - College Heights Herald, Justin Fowler
Another section with lots of good stuff. Loved the cover and the fan feature.

Third Place - College Heights Herald, Michael Casagrande
“100 Years of Tradition” was well produced.

Category 21 - Best Graphic

First Place - College Heights Herald, Kat Wilson
Sometimes less is more. Simple graph clearly shows data reader needs to understand story. Probably not the designer’s fault, but there’s a color registration problem on the right side.

Second Place - College Heights Herald, Kat Wilson
A bit too busy and not enough contrast between colors to clearly follow which line represents which school. Might have worked in a bigger size.

Third Place - Kentucky Kernel, Cassie Stokes
Pie chart is simple, but easy to follow and understand.

Category 22 - Best Sports Page/Section

First Place - College Heights Herald, Michael Casagrande
Great sports section. Photos were played well and were excellent quality and stories were well written.

Second Place - Murray State News, Nathan Clinkenbeard
Good selection of stories and photos makes this a winner.

Third Place - Eastern Progress, Lance Melching
Really nice section.

Honorable Mention - Kentucky Kernel, Annie Dames

Category 23 - Best Business/Agribusiness Page
No Entries -

Category 24 - Best Lifestyle Page

First Place - College Heights Herald, Danny Schoenbaechler
A really diverse range of topics, writing, photos and layout made this a clear winner.

Second Place - Murray State News, Casey Northcutt
Really liked the whole package of all three pages.

Third Place - Kentucky Kernel, Keith Smiley
A lot here. Nice fresh layout.

Category 25 - Best Editorial Page

First Place - Kentucky Kernel, Staff
Good layout and nice mix of editorials, columns and letters. Column logos are graphically pleasing. You need contact info for reader response if they disagree with your opinion.

Second Place - Murray State News, Rockelle Gray
I like having cartoons that relate specifically to content. The problem here is that you have one-note pager. Columns, letters, etc. would enliven this page and provide more substance.

Third Place - Eastern Progress, Staff
Content is pretty thin. It can’t be that hard to find people on a college campus willing to express an opinion.

Category 26 - Best Front Page

First Place - College Heights Herald, Kat Wilson
Effective use of white space and clean layout style made this the winner.

Second Place - Murray State News, Elizabeth Cawein
A close second. Nothing really wrong with this entry at all. Keep up the good work!

Third Place - Kentucky Kernel, Annie Dames
Another really good entry. Solid work.

Category 27 - Best Newspaper Website

First Place - College Heights Herald
Excellent flash multimedia photo essays with audio. Well-used editor’s blog helps explain paper to readers. Good quantity of news; quality is less exemplary. Podcast is a plus, as is pdf of print. Good attempt to keep ads out of forums. Design is basic but effective. Reasonable attempt is made to extend abbreviated publishing schedule inprint.

Second Place - Murray State News
Good volume of coverage. Interesting range of content, particularly editor’s column. Basic design is ok. Lose the all caps heads. Forums relatively active. Lack of multimedia is noticeable.

Third Place - Kentucky Kernel
Web 2.0-inspired design is welcome variant to College Publisher standards. Blog is rarely used. Forums have devolved into an ad bulletin board. Sparce multimedia has several dead links. Volume of content unimpressive.

© Kentucky Press Association