Daily Leader garners 22 LPA awards
Staff photo The Ruston Daily Leader staff displays the many awards won at the Louisiana Press Association’s Better Newspaper Competition, announced in Baton Rouge Thursday. Among the awards won was first place for General Excellence for overall quality of newspaper, in the state’s second largest division.
The Ruston Daily Leader took home first place in its division for General Excellence as a newspaper Thursday from the 2021 Louisiana Press Association annual awards, as well as five other first-place finishes and a host of top-three placings.
The General Excellence award is given to a publication that displays overall quality in its news, sports and advertising offerings throughout the year.
“That was the greatest honor to our paper and our community,” Leader Publisher Jerry Pye said. “It reflects the quality of our people and product across the board in all aspects of the newspaper. We have a quality staff doing very good work for our readers and advertisers.”
In addition to General Excellence, Leader staff members achieved first place in Best Single Editorial, Best Regular Column (the Sam Hanna award), Best Multiple Advertiser Page, Staff Generated Ad and Best Photo Package.
Entries were judged by members of the Georgia Press Association.
In total, the Leader garnered 22 placings, compared to 9 in 2020.
“It’s a reflection on how hard the entire newspaper staff works day-in and day-out to produce the news and content that our readers want and deserve,” Editor Brian Trahan said. “We work hard for our readers and our local communities, and we will continue to honor our pledge to uphold the ideals of journalism with integrity and dedication.”
Trahan swept the editorial category with first, second and third-place entries urging levelheaded reactions to various developments in the community, such as violent crime and the high-profile lawsuit filed against Ruston’s Cedar Creek School.
News Editor Caleb Daniel kept the Sam Hanna award in Ruston for the second year in a row. He followed up Nancy Bergeron’s 2020 win with another first-place result, depicting both the levity of a bird encounter in November and the gravity of the Cedar Creek suit in September.
The Leader swept this category as well, with Bergeron placing in second and Trahan in third.
Advertising Director Celeste Holley and graphic designers Charlotte Rainwater and Kailyn Dollar earned first place in Best Multiple Advertiser Page for their efforts on the Women’s Equality ad page.
Holley and Dollar also earned top billing for a Staff Generated Ad for Supermovers in the Lincoln Life magazine.
The judges’ notes on the Leader’s advertising entries included descriptions like “eye-catching,” “clever” and “timeless and priceless.”
“I am thrilled that our love for our clients, our family, shown brightly at the LPA awards,” Holley said. “The staff and I love creating ads for digital and print that keep our clients’ businesses top of mind.”
Holley encouraged local businesses to give the Leader a call so theirs can be the next award-winning ad.
Other top-three finishes for the newsroom included second place in Best Layout and Design for Trahan’s efforts on the July 25, 2021 edition focusing on food insecurity.
Trahan picked up two third-place honors for Best Sports Column and Best Sports Story for his coverage of Choudrant High School’s baseball state championship run.
Daniel also added two third-place results in Best Breaking News Story for his initial coverage of the Cedar Creek lawsuit and Best Feature Story for his spotlight on Eli Watson’s being accepted to all three military officer academies.
The Leader claimed first and third in Best Photo Package for coverage of Ruston’s Monster Mash and Louisiana Peach Festival events, respectively, as well as second place in Best Front Page for the June 11, 2022 edition.
Other advertising placings included second and third in Best Ad Campaign and third place in Staff Generated Ad.
Finally, the Leader also claimed second place for Best Overall Website.
In the scoring notes for the General Excellence category, the judges had this to say about the Leader:
“The Ruston Daily Leader seems to be very connected to its community. There is a nice blend of hard news and engaging feature writing. There are lots of local faces throughout the newspaper, strong sports coverage and local editorials on the opinion page. These are essential elements of a good community newspaper.”
