Messenger Wins Several Awards at TPA Convention
By Greg Ritchie
Messenger Reporter
ROUND ROCK – The Messenger, along with Nicol Publishing, won big at the Texas Press Association’s (TPA) annual convention and trade show awards ceremony in Round Rock on Saturday, June 3. The Messenger came home with seven separate awards, including second place in sweepstakes, or overall newspaper score in its category.
Being a semi-weekly newspaper, The Messenger competed with some big cities in its categories, the closest being Nacodoches, which edged out The Messenger for first place overall by only 25 points.
The Messenger’s copy editor Cheril Vernon took home one of the most prestigious awards, first place in page design. Page design is the long and often unnoticed work of making all the stories, ads and pictures into a finished product – the “tetris” of the newspaper industry. Vernon was recognized officially for what many already knew to be true – she is one of the best in the business.
“I’ve worked in the journalism field for more than 20 years and my favorite part has always been what I call “laying out the newspaper,” Vernon said. “It’s pure magic sometimes when you have a great photo that ‘pops,’ a great story and a great headline that makes for a nice design or page, whether it’s the front page, sports or a feature page. I love what I do and I’m grateful for the opportunity to do what I love.”
The Messenger’s photographer Jon Hobson (www.studio15photo.com) – known for his amazing pictures of everything from festivals, fires and local sports – brought kudos from the TPA with first place in feature photography, first place in sports photography and second place in news photography.
“Jon is an incredible photographer and we are lucky to get to showcase his talents in our newspaper with photos of our local athletes and events,” Vernon said. “Some of his sports photos look like they were taken for the cover of a sports magazine!”
Messenger veteran Will Johnson, along with Hobson and Vernon were honored jointly with second place for sports coverage from 2022.
Messenger reporter Greg Ritchie received third place community service award, third place news writing and fourth place feature story writings for various stories published last year.
“For my first year working at a newspaper, I didn’t expect to win anything! I am really humbled, since I just write about our little communities and our people. It was flattering to be recognized,” Ritchie said.
Messenger publisher Kelly Nicol, Vernon and Ritchie attended the TPA brunch and were surprised and flattered by winning so many accolades in such a competitive division. Not bad for a little newspaper nestled between Elkhart and Latexo.
The Houston County Courier’s recently-retired sports editor Larry Lamb won fourth place for sports photography.
The Messenger would like to thank our readers, supporters and advertisers for standing with us and helping us to work for our community to report the goings-on in Houston and southern Anderson counties.
TPA promotes the welfare of Texas newspapers, encourages higher standards of journalism and plays an important role in protecting the public’s right to know as an advocate of First Amendment liberties. TPA is one of the nation’s oldest and largest newspaper trade associations, founded more than 140 years ago. As of 2023, TPA represents 328 paid-circulation newspapers in publication — 40 dailies and 288 non-dailies.
Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]
