News-Capital wins top newspaper award again
Jun. 10—The McAlester News-Capital won the Oklahoma Press Association's award as the state's top newspaper in its division for the fourth time in the last five years.
The News-Capital won the Sequoyah Award at Saturday's OPA Awards Banquet — marking the news outlet's sixth time winning the award for its division in the last 11 years.
"I'm so proud of our team for everything they do everyday to make this paper one of the best in the state," MN-C Publisher Reina Owens said. "Our staff works hard to cover our community and ensure their local paper shines a light in the darkness and a light on the good things."
"This is such an honor for our staff to be recognized again as the top paper in the state in our division," Editor Adrian O'Hanlon III said. "Journalism is vital to a thriving society to hold government accountable and highlight the good things in our community. That's why we do this. We are a news outlet."
The News-Capital won the OPA's Division 2 categories for layout and design, sports coverage, editorial writing, community leadership and photography. The News-Capital also placed second in news content and third in advertising.
OPA judges noted the News-Capital's design entry "had a great use of photography and design elements," "large pictures throughout broke up what could be gray pages" and more.
Judges said the MN-C editorials were "well-structured, persuasive, authoritative and well-sourced on a variety of issues important to readers.
The paper's photos were "solid throughout" with "no weak images and a couple of very nice ones," judges said of the selection.
OPA judges said the papers's sports coverage was "Excellent work across the board" that handled big games and regular season contests well.
Judges awarded the News-Capital with the top recognition in community leadership for its partnership on an Angel Tree. The newspaper partnered with the McAlester Lions' Club to provide clothes and a toy for local children in need during the holiday season.
Jana Weddle won the small space ad category and third in large space ad.
O'Hanlon placed second in education story and news story, third in feature story and education story.
Derrick James and O'Hanlon placed second in in-depth reporting, and James placed second in news photograph and sports photograph.
Dawnyal Hill placed third in front page design.
Managing Editor James Beaty placed third in business story.
The News-Capital was also named the 2022 Newspaper of the Year in its division by its parent company, CNHI.
CNHI is based in Montgomery, Alabama, and owns and operates dozens of newspapers spread across 23 states. Judges cited the News-Capital's "sweeping local coverage with a strong sense of community featuring enterprise reporting on a variety of topics."
The News-Capital won CNHI's Public Service in Journalism award in 2016 — for its investigation into nepotism, excessive travel and questionable credit card spending at the administrative office at MPS — and 2017 — for the paper's extensive investigation into the misuse of a municipal credit card in the city of Hartshorne.
