Northwoods River News wins Best in Division award from WNA

Scoring 25 total awards and four first place awards, The Northwoods River News was named Best Newspaper in its circulation division at the 2023 Wisconsin Newspaper Association convention last week.

It was an all-around team effort, with the combined staff of the newspaper claiming two of the four first-place awards. Especially notable, the entire newspaper staff was awarded as the River News earned first-place for general excellence in Division E.

Division E includes non-daily newspapers with a circulation of 2,249 or less.

Individual efforts stood out, too, as River News editor Heather Schaefer captured first place in environmental reporting and Renee Draszkiewicz and Madeleine de Fore teamed up for another first for Best Use of Humor.

The newspaper hauled in nine second-place awards, with those honors going to Jeremy Mayo, Schaefer (two second-place awards), and Jake Schexnaydre individually. Mayo teamed with Brett LaBore for another, while the team of de Fore and Draszkiewicz continued their winning ways with a second finish, too.

Schaefer and Draszkiewicz also teamed with Bob Mainhardt for a runner-up award, and overall staff combined for two more seconds.

The staff won eight third-place awards and four honorable mentions as well.

The 2023 WNA contest received 2,144 entries from 102 newspapers. Eligible entries were published between Sept. 1, 2022, and Aug. 31, 2023, and were judged by members of the Kentucky Press Association.

River News publisher Gregg Walker praised the entire River News team.

“I’m extremely proud of my staff and the effort they put in every week to cover our communities,” Walker said. “Being recognized by your peers in your division as the best is very humbling.”  

Walker said he is optimistic about the future of local journalism, even in a time when many local newspapers have disappeared.

“I believe we will rebound because citizens want to know what’s going on in their communities, and they want local newspapers — people who know their neighbors and live in those communities — to deliver that news,” he said. “There is an appetite for local journalism.”

Fortunately, Walker said, both The Northwoods River News and The Lakeland Times (which Walker also publishes) have talented and dedicated staffs committed to filling that filling that appetite: “Just look around at these journalists and photojournalists and design and salespeople,” he said. “They are the future of local journalism, and, looking at their body of work, it’s a very bright future indeed. I am very grateful to all of them.”

The Lakeland Times also scored big at the awards, winning the WNA’s Best Newspaper of the Year award for weeklies for the fifth time in eight years. The Times also won the honor in 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2022. 

In addition, The Times won Best in Division honors in Division C, a category that includes non-daily newspapers with circulations of at least 4,500.

The individual awards

In individual awards, Heather Schaefer won first place for environmental reporting in the division for her reporting on PFAS contamination in the town of Stella.

The judges were appropriately impressed both with the quality of journalism and Schaefer’s importance to the area: “Excellent ongoing coverage! This writer made the easily confusing content more digestible and relatable and made sure the readers were able to stay up to date on this issue. Great mix of data and practical application of the information. Very well done and this writer is no doubt an asset to this community.”

Schaefer says that last sentence means the world to her.

“To me, there’s no higher honor than to be recognized as an asset to the community that built you,” Schaefer said. “This is the highest compliment of my professional life. I’m especially pleased that this body of work was recognized as, in multiple ways, the PFAS issue poses a very real threat to the place I call home.”

Meanwhile, Renee Draszkiewicz and Madeleine de Fore (designer/graphics for both the River News and The Times) won first place in the division for the Best Use of Humor for an ad for Mel’s Trading Post. The judges deemed the work “hilarious” and said they “love the creativity.”

For de Fore — who also landed an award for her work this past year at The Times — it was her inaugural foray into the WNA awards universe.

“This was my first year attending the WNAs and it was quite an experience — exhilarating and educational,” de Fore said. “It’s incredibly fortunate to work with such a talented group. I’d call them a family vs. ‘coworkers’ as each person has their own, very unique style, fabulous humor, and expertise.”

The staff of the newspaper also came out on top for Best Niche Product for its Waterfront publication.

“This publication caught my attention from the cover and kept it throughout,” the judge wrote. “Nicely done from the front cover, to inside graphics and overall layout.”

Walker pointed out that the two newspapers’ success was a team effort involving the entire staffs of both The Lakeland Times and the Northwoods River News.

“As stellar as the first-place awards are, and the winners should be proud of the work they doing, these newspapers could not have won Best in Division without the devoted effort of our entire staffs at both newspapers, and they should be proud of their effort, too.”