Moapa Valley Progress
The Moapa Valley Progress won two top awards in the 2012 Better Newspaper Contest held by the Nevada Press Association (NPA). The awards were announced last weekend at the annual NPA convention held in Las Vegas.
The Progress won a first place award for the Best Editorial Page. This is the second Best Editorial Page distinction for the Progress. The newspaper won the award in 2010 which was the last time it had entered the contest before this year.
In addition, Progress Editor Vernon Robison won a first place award in the state for Best Editorial Writing. Of the Editorial columns entered, the contest judges stated, “Excellent knowledge of topic, engaging and well-organized writing style. The conversational tone kept me reading to the end.”
Progress writers were also recognized with several second and third place awards in the statewide contest.
Progress sports reporter, Dave Belcher, won a second place award for his 2011 coverage of the MVHS Pirates’ win over Show Low High School of Arizona in the Sollenberger Classic. This story was published in August of last year.
Former Progress columnist and reporter, Mike Donahue also took a second place award in the Best Local Non-staff Column category for his popular Rural Rants column about life in small rural areas. Of Rural Rants judges commented, “Interesting columns written in an approachable style that probably suits his readership well.”
Donahue also won a third place award in the Best News Feature Story category for his coverage of the St. Thomas Alive event and youth handcart trek which took place early last spring. Regarding Donahue’s story, judges commented, “Interesting story that sheds light on the state’s history and heritage in earlier years with a recreational event used to highlight it.”
Several of Donahue’s photos also received third place awards. In the Best News Photo Coverage category, Donahue’s photos of kids participating in the Muttin’ Bustin’ event at the 2011 Clark County Fair took a third place award. Also taking third place honors were photos of children visiting the Roos N More Zoo in Moapa. These were entered in the Best Multiple Photo Essay category.
Donahue no longer works for the Progress having taken a position as Editor of the Desert Valley Times newspaper in Mesquite, Nevada.
In the NPA Better Newspaper Contest, the Progress competes in the Community division. This division includes publications throughout the state of Nevada which distribute weekly or monthly and have a distribution of less than 10,000.
