Independent wins four awards in Michigan Press Association contest

The awards in the 2018 Michigan Press Association Better Newspaper Contest were released late last Thursday.
The Belleville-Area Independent received four awards in the Class C category, which is for weekly papers with circulation between 3,001 and 7,000.
The entries were judged by members of the New York Press Association, who reviewed 3,065 entries submitted by 99 Michigan newspapers and individual members this year.
Better Newspaper of the Year contest chairman David Green said there were more than 100 more entries than the previous year and participation in the college division was strong with 765 entries.
Green said since those in Michigan obviously submitted their entries because they thought those entries were worthy of prizes, “… now you can see if someone in New York agrees… Congratulations to the winners and don’t stop creating exemplary work.”
The Independent’s awards were all written by Editor Rosemary K. Otzman. They are:
• Third Place in News Enterprise Reporting – “VB School Board settles lawsuits with 4 Savage teachers.” The judge wrote: “What is happening in our schools is such an important story, and listening to residents when they don’t feel something is right is where some of the best reporting comes from. This was a great story about a superintendent who wasn’t being fair, and the reporter really got to the bottom of that.”
• Third Place in Spot News Story – “Belleville Fire Fighters sue city, mayor, clerk.” The judge wrote: “Great job by the writer to keep everything well organized and easy to read. There is a lot going on in this story and sometimes it’s easy to get lost in all the back and forth. This writer didn’t.”
• Third Place in Feature Story – “Retired Chief Gene Taylor saves teen from getting hit by train.” The judge made no comments on this story.
• Honorable Mention in Government / Education News – “Van Buren Township Trustee arraigned for shoplifting.” The judge wrote: “What might have been a mere local-court proceeding story became much more with the revelation that the person being arraigned was a local government official – apparently one with a history of prior allegations against her. Although the story is relatively short, it reflects diligent digging through use of FOI requests, mentions details from state law, and includes comments from the township supervisor, in addition to the court developments. But it lacks some key details of the past allegations. The story states that ‘this is the third time’ the individual ‘has been detained for shoplifting,’ according to police reports. However, it only goes on to relate a May 25, 2009, incident, apparently during which a store manager told the woman that she had attempted to steal on another, earlier occasion as well. A little more clarity on the chronology and exactly what happened in these one or two previous incidents would have been helpful.”