NEWS RELEASE
DO NOT RELEASE UNTIL
10:00 P.M. FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 2013
Contact:
Oklahoma Press Association
(405) 499-0028
Jennifer Gilliland, Creative Services Director
jgilliland@okpress.com
Press Association presents awards
during annual Convention
Ten newspapers receive top honors in annual contest
The Oklahoma Press Association presented its annual Better
Newspaper Contest Awards during the OPA Annual Convention, June 1315, 2013, at the Reed Center in Midwest City.
Also announced during the awards banquet were recipients of the OPA
H. Milt Phillips Award and the Oklahoma Newspaper Foundation’s Beachy
Musselman Award.
Willis Choate III, publisher of the Marietta Monitor, received the Milt
Phillips Award. Choate is a third generation publisher of the Monitor. He
joined his mother, Wilma Choate, as co-publisher after graduating from the
University of Oklahoma in 1960, and took over as publisher and editor after
her death in 2005. In addition to running the Monitor, Choate has been
active in city government for 22 years, serving as a councilman for 10 years
and as mayor for 12 years.
Receiving the ONF Beachy Musselman Award was Ed Darling,
publisher of The Duncan Banner. Darling has served as publisher of The
Banner since 2011, but has spent 46 years in the newspaper business. He got
his start at the Tuscaloosa News in Alabama. He later worked at papers in
Alabama, Oklahoma and Mississippi. He was named Outstanding Alumnus
in Journalism by the University of Alabama, his alma mater, and has served
as president of the Associated Press-Oklahoma News Executives (ONE).
This year’s Sequoyah Award winners, presented to the sweepstakes
winner in each circulation division, were Enid News & Eagle, McAlester
News-Capital, The Daily Elk Citian, The Purcell Register, Oologah Lake
Leader, Wagoner Tribune, Drumright Gusher, Sequoyah County Times,
OKLAHOMA PRESS ASSOCIATION AWARDS
EMBARGOED UNTIL 10 PM FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 2013
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Broken Arrow Ledger and Oklahoma State University’s The Daily
O’Collegian.
The Sequoyah Award, which is the highest honor in the OPA Better
Newspaper Contest, is determined by the amount of points accumulated in
the contest’s 12 events: News Content, Layout & Design, Advertising, Sales
Promotion, In-Depth Enterprise, Editorial Comment, Personal Columns,
News Writing, Feature Writing, Sports Coverage, Photography and
Community Leadership.
Members of the South Dakota Newspaper Association judged the 895
entries from 96 Oklahoma newspapers.
In addition to the 10 Sequoyah Award winners, 120 first place plaques
were presented during the awards banquet. Newspapers receiving second,
third or fourth place in the contest received certificates.
A complete list of winners in the 2012 OPA Better Newspaper Contest
is available on the OPA website at okpress.com/2012-better-newspapercontest-results.
Three professionals who have dedicated 50 or more years to the
newspaper industry were inducted into the OPA Half Century Club during
the banquet. Half-Century inductees were John B. Martin, Barb Walter and
Bill Walter. In addition, five members of the newspaper industry were
inducted into the Quarter Century Club. Inductees were M. Scott Carter,
Darla Cline, Susie Harjo-Clifft, Mark Rogers and Elaine Welch.
Several additional awards were presented during the June 13-15 OPA
Convention including:
• Editorial Sweepstakes Winner, sponsored by ONG, presented to
David Burgess, Vinita Daily Journal.
• Column Sweepstakes Winner, sponsored by ONG, presented to
Steven James, South County Leader.
• Daily Photo of the Year, sponsored by OGE Energy Corp., presented
to Brandon Neris, The Lawton Constitution.
• Weekly Photo of the Year, sponsored by OGE Energy Corp.,
presented to Dixie Colquhoun, The Newkirk Herald Journal.
• ONF Joseph H. Edwards Outdoor Writer of the Year presented to
Kelly Bostian, Tulsa World.
• Print Quality Contest awards presented to The Journal Record (daily
division) and OKC Friday (weekly division).
• Website Contest awards presented to The Journal Record (daily
division) and The Bigheart Times (weekly division).
OKLAHOMA PRESS ASSOCIATION AWARDS
EMBARGOED UNTIL 10 PM FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 2013
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