Commercial-News wins 4 awards in state press contest
Aug. 18—Jennifer Bailey, a longtime reporter for the Commercial-News, won first place for government reporting in the Illinois Press Association annual newspaper contest. The awards were announced last week during the association's conference in Springfield.
Bailey's winning entry consisted of coverage of Danville's District 118 schools and the controversy that erupted in 2021 over alleged harassment of district administrative officials by a school board member and lack of action by another board member to deal with the allegations. Both school board members resigned over the matter and a large financial settlement was given to the administrative officials involved.
The award was one of four received in the contest by Commercial-News staff members.
A second-place award was received by Editor Max Jones for the Commercial-News editorial page. Jones was also awarded third place for editorial writing.
Sports Editor Chad Dare received an honorable mention in sports news reporting for nondaily newspapers. His story, "Lady Buffaloes snap 7-year losing streak" won him the honor.
The Commercial-News competed in a circulation division that features medium-size nondaily newspapers. Nearly 100 daily and nondaily newspapers competed in 40 editorial categories.
The Alabama Press Association judged the more than 1,725 editorial entries for work done in 2021.
The Chicago Sun-Times won the Stuart R. Paddock Memorial Sweepstakes Trophy for large dailies.
The Sweepstakes Trophies are awarded to newspapers earning the most points in five different circulation divisions. Points are awarded for first place through honorable mention in most contest categories, including general excellence, photography, news writing, opinion writing, design, community service and editorial page.
Runner-up for the Paddock Trophy was the The News-Gazette of Champaign. In third place was the Daily Herald Group in Arlington Heights.
In the small to mid-sized daily newspaper category, The Pantagraph of Bloomington took top honors. It was awarded the Patrick Coburn Award of Excellence Trophy. The Daily Chronicle of DeKalb claimed second place, and The Telegraph of Alton placed third.
In the large, nondaily newspaper category, The Hinsdalean of Hinsdale claimed the Will Loomis Memorial Trophy. The Journal-News of Hillsboro received second place. The Republic-Times of Waterloo received third place.
The Mabel S. Shaw Memorial Trophy is awarded to a medium-sized nondaily newspaper. The winner this year was The Woodstock Independent. Second place went to the Cass County Star-Gazette of Beardstown. And in third place was Downers Grove Suburban Life.
The Ford County Chronicle in Paxton claimed ownership of the David B. Kramer Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the best small, nondaily newspaper in Illinois. The Oakland Independent received second place. And the third-place award was won by the Panhandle Press in Raymond.
