Free Press brings home INA awards

Area Shaw Media-owned publications were pleased to receive awards in the top 3 of several categories at the Iowa Newspaper Association Awards Banquet during its annual convention, held Thursday, Feb. 6 in Des Moines.

The Adair County Free Press brought home second-place awards in three categories:

• Best Continuing Coverage

• Best Editorial Pages

• Master Columnist for Caleb Nelson’s regular column, “The List”

The Free Press was third in the category of Best Government Coverage, with its entry focusing on a series of articles relating to board of supervisors coversation on a proposed data center south of Adair.

All three entries that received second place were entries mostly relating to the May 21, 2024 tornado. Entries contained stories written by editor Caleb Nelson, contributing writer Grace Britten and others. Some stories entered were also accompanied by photos taken by Dan Dickinson.

“The story line came full circle from the aftermath of the event to the rebuilding,” judges said for the Best Continuing Coverage entry. “Great job illustrating how the community came together and letting those individuals that were most impacted tell their story.”

Editor Caleb Nelson commented that he’s pleased he and the rest of the newspaper’s team are able to keep a small newspaper on the map in Greenfield and Adair County. The newspaper enters these contests for the feedback received from the process and for keeping the small town newspaper, which has a rich history dating back to the Sidey family, as an integral part of the community and small town journalism landscape.

In addition to these, the Creston News Advertiser received the following awards at the INA Awards Banquet:

• News editor Cheyenne Roche earned third place in the Best Sports Columnist category

• The newsroom staff won the Best Coverage of Court and Crime category

• The staff won the Community Leadership Award

• Roche took home second place in the Best Breaking News Story for her coverage of a tornado that struck Creston in April

In addition, Roche earned the Genevieve Mauck Stoufer Outstanding Young Iowa Journalist Award. This award is presented every year to a journalist who must be under 30 years old, have worked at least one year for their current employer and has submitted a nomination form that includes a statement from the journalist’s publisher, six examples of the journalist’s work and a personal statement. Only two Iowa journalists received the award this year.

“I was really surprised when I won,” Roche said. “I thought it was a long shot.”

Roche stepped away from journalism for six years but said returning to it has been like returning home.