March 4, 2015 at 4:05 p.m.
Northwoods River News, Lakeland Times win association awards
Northwoods River News, Lakeland Times win association awards
In addition to the opportunity to rub elbows with folks from across the industry, representatives of The Lakeland Times and Northwoods River News also had the chance to take in educational workshops that provided ideas and promotions that have been shared with fellow staffers at the two Northwoods newspapers.
In addition, both newspapers were fortunate to be recognized with awards earned in the Better Newspaper Contest judged by representatives of the Michigan Press Association.
The top individual award presented to the two newspapers went to reporter Marcus Nesemann of The Northwoods River News.
He won first place in Division D of the Open Records/Freedom of Information category.
The entry was a story he compiled from records he received surrounding the termination of former Rhinelander High School activities secretary Deb White.
"It all started with a phone call from ... Deb White," Nesemann said. "She had just had her employment terminated, but did not feel it was warranted. That phone call set off a series of open records requests and interviews with White and district officials to get all sides of the story.
"The stack of emails received as a result of the open records request was the largest I had seen up to that point in my time at the paper," Nesemann added. "Thankfully, I believe we got them on a Thursday or a Friday, so it provided me with some great weekend reading. Going through that stack, I truly enjoyed the investigative side of it. It made me realize I chose the right thing to do with my life."
In addition to the nuts and bolts of producing the story, Nesemann acknowledged people behind the scenes who have helped him reach this point in his career.
"I'm incredibly honored. I was shocked when I first found out and it has since sunk in as to what an incredible honor this is. I'm extremely grateful to have been chosen and very thankful to everyone who helped me as I wrote the article," Nesemann said.
"A lot of that credit goes to Heather Schaefer, my editor. At the time, this was the largest open records request I had ever dealt with ... and I would have been lost in a seemingly never-ending stack of emails and opposing viewpoints without her guidance. I also have to thank Gregg Walker for giving me the opportunity to follow my dream of becoming a journalist. He was the first person to take a chance on me and hired me with very little experience and I will forever be grateful for that. And I probably would have become a huge bust within those first couple of months without the guidance of Ray Rivard, my first editor. He sat down with me often during that time to show me the ropes and teach me how to improve my reporting. Without him, who knows where I would be today. Then there's my fiancée, Katie Piper, who provided constant encouragement and many much-needed meals throughout the process of investigating and writing the article. The love and support she provides me is equal to the oxygen I breathe."
General Excellence
In addition to the first place earned by Nesemann, The Lakeland Times was awarded a second place in one of the more prestigious of the newspaper awards - General Excellence.
For the second straight year, The Lakeland Times earned a second place for the award in its division.
This year, the Hudson Star-Observer earned first place.
"To be honored for this award is a testament to the hard work and dedication that our staff puts in day in and day out," Lakeland Times Publisher Gregg Walker said.
"We here at The Lakeland Times pride ourselves on representing the community each and every day, telling the continuing story of our communities and being ever-vigilant for all who live and visit our communities. We will continue that and it's great to see that the judges of the contest recognize it. We're honored."
Other awards
Two jointly-produced publications - the annual Progress edition and Snowmobile/Winter Times - were also honored with awards. Both entries were submitted by The Northwoods River News.
The Progress edition received a first place and the Snowmobile/Winter Times received a second place.
Two other awards completed solely by and presented to The Northwoods River News were a third place for a special section focusing on the Hodag Country Festival and an Honorable Mention for the Holiday Recipes and Songbook.
In addition to the awards mentioned above, Lakeland Times photographer Dean Hall was presented Honorable Mention for a photograph he submitted and River News associate editor Jeremy Mayo, who received a first place last year in the Local Sports Column category, was presented an Honorable Mention in the Sports Pages category.
Raymond T. Rivard may be reached at [email protected].
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