Category 1 - Best Editorial

First Place - Kentucky Post, Dan Hassert
Good and effective use of quotes from “wilderness” book. Lovely, smooth writing style. Makes point without clobbering reader. Very clever final sentence.

Second Place - Messenger Inquirer, Steve Vied
Excellent research to portray the damning contrast between governor’s words and his actions on local tech center. Solid and convincing conclusion.

Third Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Jacalyn Carfagno
Outstanding presentation of valuable data in effort to stall “Schlocky commercial development” near airport. Writer makes strong case to block the plan.

Category 2 - Best Spot News Coverage

First Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Staff
I wish all disaster coverage could be this great. The overwhelming task of collecting “Passengers in the Crash” stories puts this coverage in a class by itself. The reporting and writing was excellent.

Second Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Staff
Not one angle missed in this excellent package. Amazing depth to human impact angles and great access to survivor’s stories. No detail of past and present mine issues left untouched.

Third Place - Kentucky Post, Shelly Whitehead
Writer turned routine fire story into one with multiple angles and emotional depth. Her access to famil members and the information they gave her made this story good read.

Category 3 - Best General News Story

First Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Steve Lannen
An amazing, almost fiction-like yarn about the tragedies that befell winners of a $65 million lottery. Story told with detail and grace.

Second Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Jennifer Hewlett
Another near fiction like tale. This one about the life and times of the “Queen of Mountain Bootleggers.” There were more enterprising pieces in this category, but few as sanely compelling as this story.

Third Place - Kentucky Enquirer, Brenna Kelly
Well done bio/background on pilot of ill-fated Comair flight 5191.

Category 4 - Best Feature Story

First Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Mary Meehan
Not too many writers could impart majesty upon creatures that many folks refer to as “flying rats.” The story offers a great flimpse into the lives of a few men trying to save a bygone activity. Wonderful read!

Second Place - Kentucky Post, Paul A. Long
The story avoids the common problem of good-prisoner-bad-system stories by showing the convict for the flawed person he is. This was a great idea for a story that needs to be told. Another damaged ex-con leaves prison with questionable future.

Third Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Mary Meehan
Writer gives an entertaining glimpse into the attitude and grit of the demo derby heroes. Allowing them to speak for themselves keeps the piece from being condescending. A fun read!!

Category 5 - Best Column

First Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Henry Riekert
The column humorously exposes the unnecessary complexities of the drug plan and holds its architects up to the ridicule they deserve. Its biting commentary pushes all the right humor buttons

Second Place - Kentucky Post, Nick Clooney
This column was the best of the three on the writer’s Darfur journey because it dealt with the after effects of the trip on his continued attempts to spread the word about Darfur.

Third Place - Messenger Inquirer, Sarah Haney
Using the courage of the child as an example for a community facing its violent side was an interesting angle. Well written and easy to read.

Category 6 - Best Sports Column

First Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Mark Story
Whew! The column about the rise and fall of Taylor’s special is as good as it gets. Mark Story is a gifted writer. Oh, and the column about Tubby’s stare is a hoot. Great concept, well executed.

Second Place - Messenger Inquirer, Jim Pickens
There can be no middle-aged guy who ever played ball in the backyard as a kid who would not weep over the column about home plate. I know I did. Nice touch.

Third Place - Lexington Herald Leader, John Clay
Nice mix of topics. Particularly good read was the “Clemons and Kid” column.

Category 7 - Best Sports Story

First Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Jennifer Smith
Great story capped by a great lead-in.

Second Place - Kentucky Enquirer, Ryan Ernst
Great, detailed information I’ve never seen before. Good “news you can use” for any parent/player hoping to play in college. Very well presented by the layout person, a beer!

Third Place - Kentucky Enquirer, Shannon Russell
Sometimes a great story falls into your lap and the challenge is just not to mess it up. You captured it well.

Category 8 - Best Sports Feature Story

First Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Jennifer Smith
Great narrative that puts basketball and life in perspective.

Second Place - Kentucky Enquirer, Shannon Russell
Nice light touch. Thank you for resisting urge to bog this down in career stats and tell us about the person instead.

Third Place - Kentucky Enquirer, Shannon Russell
Nice profile, good use of info boxes for additional info.

Category 9 - Best Enterprise or Analytical Story

First Place - Kentucky Enquirer, Shannon Russell
Exhaustive reporting about the cost of keeping kids in sports at a high level. This is an issue everyone can relate to because it is going on everywhere.

Second Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Staff
Fascinating reading. The vignettes and insights into the Comair crash provide readers with a real sense of what happened.

Third Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Cassondra Kirby
Excellent reporting on crime. Readers want this type of information and this story delivered. This was another category where it was almost impossible to pick just three.

Category 10 - Best Investigative Story or Series

First Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Valarie Honeycutt Spears
Incredible investigative package well told through the lives of real people. Good supporting illustrations/graphics and lists. Plus an online presence and poll!

Second Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Linda Blackford
Fascinating story told through powerful narrative that keeps you engaged to the very end. Great effort at localizing a national story.

Third Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Brandon Ortiz, Beth Musgrave
Too often we miss great stories right before our eyes because we don’t ask why. These reporters asked.

Honorable Mention - Kentucky Post, Dan Hassert

Category 11 - Best On-Going/Extended Coverage Story

First Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Staff
Outstanding coverage of a heartbreaking accident. The depth of coverage put it clearly in the lead in the contest, but it was the skillful writing and apparent digging for information that put it over the top. This story had to claim readership, even in a day when technology is chiping away at circulation. From the vignettes of the 49 who died, to the detailed investigation, this staff and its leadership demonstrated a preparedness to cover disasters and answer the pertinent questions that have traditionally compelled readers to buy newspapers.

Second Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Barbara Isaacs
Second place could have gone to any of the writers who produced the following pieces: State’s worst mining disaster; Child services underfunded: Concrete crushes pregnant woman or Iraqi burn patient. It’s a shame that the four had to be compared because each strong talent, jump-started by different types of events -- two breaking news, one investigative and one feature. Clearly a strong staff. But since only one can take this place, it will go to Barbara Isaacs for her storytelling efforts about Waghdan Aljayashee, a young girl burned in a fire on an Iraq farm, who comes to the U.S. for skin grafts. Isaacs did a wonderful job of describing the procedures while capturing the fright and pain that this young girl experiences. The entire package from the writing to the photos, was captivating.

Third Place - Kentucky Post, Staff
Massive amount of submission. Solid court coverage. When the reporters got in ‘real’ voices of the people, the coverage was stronger. Particularly liked the piece on the wives, girlfriends who were pickets outside the jail, the background on the builder, and I liked the piece on the immigrant population increases since 2000. All of the pieces outside the courtroom serve to connect with the reader. Look for more of these opportunities.

Category 12 - Best Business/Agribusiness Story

First Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Scott Sloan
Thorough, transparent treatment of newspaper’s future with Knight-Ridder sale. Lots of information readers need to know.

Second Place - Kentucky Enquirer, James McNair, Jeff Kinney
Fascinating, popular subject. Sidebars, charts, and maps make it a lot less intimidating than the normal housing-market yawner.

Third Place - Messenger Inquirer, Karen Owen
Excellent story idea that doesn’t get explored much. Very sensitive and well written.

Category 13 - Best Headline

First Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Will Scott
Sirius money and Cartoonists Inc. headlines made me smile. Very clever without being cliche. As for the tomato one, it has been done before but still strong enough to get you first place.

Second Place - Kentucky Post, Mark Neikirk
A close second. My favorites are “Say Wattt?” and “For thieves, copper is golden.” All three fit the stories well and do their job of attracting this reader to read them.

Third Place - Messenger Inquirer, Hunter Reigler
“Mystery festival” or “Whofundit” is what got you third place. Fits story and creatively. The other two are ok but just not as unique.

Category 14 - Best Spot News Picture

First Place - Messenger Inquirer, John Dunham
Great body language and somber composition brings the tragedy to readers.

Second Place - Kentucky Enquirer, Patrick Reddy
Shows impact of accident on driver even though he was not seriously injured. Nice mood.

Third Place - Messenger Inquirer, John Dunham
Epic “man vs. nature” drama. Good reaction when weather becomes news.

Category 15 - Best General News Picture

First Place - Messenger Inquirer, John Dunham
Like the overall feel of photo. The colors even work for it.

Second Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Charles Bertram
Lots of emotion. Foreground slightly distracting.

Third Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Matt Goins
Love how the photographer saw the frame and used it.

Category 16 - Best Feature Picture

First Place - Lexington Herald Leader, David Stephenson
Fantastic light, nice composition with shadow makes a great picture from common scene.

Second Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Charles Bertram
More great light and nice “slice of life” from the lake.

Third Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Janet Worne
Quiet moment between displaced couple from Katrina aftermath story. Stronger composition would have placed higher.

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

First Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Janet Worne
Photographer invested time and themselves and the pictures prove it. Great access and pictures!

Second Place - Lexington Herald Leader, David Stephenson
Great moments and pictures from simple subject.

Third Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Charles Bertram
Good moody, pictures but more essay than story. Needs some moments.

Category 18 - Best Sports Picture

First Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Matt Goins
Fantastic catch. Easily moved to the top.

Second Place - Kentucky Post, Jason Geil
Excellent action shot, composed perfectly.

Third Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Charles Bertram
Great peak emotion.

Category 19 - Best Sports Picture Essay

First Place - Messenger Inquirer, Jenny Sevcik
Nice look into the lives of minor league baseball players.

Second Place - Kentucky Post, Jason Geil
Fun pics of community sports league.

Third Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Charles Bertram
Very public moments of Lexington’s favored son. Wished for something unexpected “behind-the-scenes” type photo.

Category 20 - Special Sections

First Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Brian Simms
What an effort and done so quickly and so well. Most impressive was the effort to put a face and a story with all of these names. Well written throught out and nicely displayed with awesome graphic.

Second Place - Kentucky Enquirer, Staff
So much information, so well displayed and you still found time to have a little fun. And four-color on all 112 pages, I’m jealous!

Third Place - Paducah Sun, Staff
Some good features and photos, but a bit lacking in consistency. How about a few small bites, info boxes, liftout quotes etc. Long features get tedious after awhile, help your readers.

Category 21 - Best Graphic

First Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Charles Bertram , Brian Simms, Camille Weber, Chris Ware
Wow! This tells it all. Great organization and lively despite the lack of color.

Second Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Brian Simms
Graphic based on central timeline makes sense of a very complex story.

Third Place - Kentucky Enquirer, Ron Huff

Third Place - Kentucky Post, Ryan Ostrander
Two different, yet equally compelling efforts.

Category 22 - Best Sports Page/Section

First Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Gene Abell
As a whole, these sports pages stand out. Good white space. Clean pages that are easy to take in. Of the sections entered, number one in Kentucky, by far.

Second Place - Kentucky Enquirer, Staff
As a section, good overall. A lot to read and dive into. Headlines are a bit out of wack, too many, and not enough size variance.

Third Place - Messenger Inquirer, Harold Martin, Sports Staff
This is the third place sports section. Others entered better individual pages but they weren’t wonderful enough to make me bump this section. The Messenger Inquirer has room to improve designwise, but the sports coverage is good, especially local.

Category 23 - Best Business/Agribusiness Page

First Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Brian Simms
Wow! What a refreshing change from the typical man or woman in suit photo of Biz pages. Great planning and art. And you still got plenty of info out front.

Second Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Brian Simms
Well, Brian, you edged yourself out just barely. Another three fun pages. Full of news nuggets and good art. You know white space and fonts (size, etc.).

Third Place - Kentucky Enquirer, Staff
Pages pack too much on them. Try building focus with a dominant image/package, more like your Sept. 2 issue. It caught my eye and had me readily.

Category 24 - Best Lifestyle Page

First Place - Kentucky Enquirer, Bill Cieslewicz
A clear first place. Easy to red. Great white space. simple, clean fonts choices. Nice details such as the ‘E’ in sweet falling behing the honeycomb. I wanna look at this paper!

Second Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Kim Coleman
I love the Dips page. Good color choices. Nice headline placement, the lead and deck. Mozart page looks nice but I think it’s overplayed. Pet page is good/ok, shows nice use of varying size of photos.

Third Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Marilyn Cecil
My favorite page is the “Fancy Plants.” It helped you secure third place. I think overall, you need to consider size/strength of your main headline.

Category 25 - Best Editorial Page

First Place - Kentucky Enquirer, Staff
Great illustrations and design. Good use of web tie-ins.

Second Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Vanessa Gallman
Great variety and quality of columns written locally on local issues.

Category 26 - Best Front Page

First Place - Kentucky Post, Staff
A close first place. This one edged out a pack of strong contenders because of its well-designed packages. Some may not like illustrations on the front page, but I was reading it and wanted to keep going. Lots of good info on these pages without getting messy.

Second Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Brian Simms
A close second. Many others worthy of first, second and third. Great hard-news pages with a clear heirachy. Once again, I want to keep reading this paper.

Third Place - Lexington Herald Leader, Jeff Bowen
Once again, a close third. Hard to choose. I love the Turbulent at Takeoff page. White space works great. Even refers look good. Could have used some variety in entries, three page with vertical packages.

Category 27 - Best Newspaper Website

First Place - Kentucky Enquirer
Very newsy without overwhelming the readers. Design, menus and typography seem carefully thought out for just this purpose. (But some heads are so short (to fit design?) that they can’t sell the story.) Nice to see good local photo “above the fold” every day. Great use of tabbed browser navigation in center of nyk.com page. Superior use of interactivity with readers - right on the homepage where it should be. Overall feels newsy, full of info, but easy to navigate.

Second Place - Kentucky Post
There is a great deal of content here, but a little lost in a sea of ads, promotional tiles, menus, links. etc. Just too much stuff on one homepage for this site to be as good as it could be with the quality of content it has. Should the online poll really be the dominant feature, especially same poll two days in a row? More interactivity with readers would be good, and help give the Post more personality. Phto blogs a good idea but not getting much traction; maybe they should be moved onto homepage in place of something else less fun!

Third Place - Lexington Herald Leader
Attractive, but news seems a bit overlooked. The “Find It Now” bar at top (good idea) is the same a lot when it sounds like something that ought to be updated often. All news stories have same weight headlines (so are all stories equally compelling and important?) Often saw large block of empty white space above the fold; some automated process needs fine-tuned here. Homepage has so much content in so many layers; readers must feel a little overwhelmed.

© Kentucky Press Association