Dateline: April 1, 2004

Enterprise sweeps regional press contest

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

Web master Ashlee Kidd and publisher Roger Estlack display the General Excellence and Ken Towery Community Service awards presented to the Enterprise by the Panhandle Press Association.  Photo by Derrol Wells / Eagle Press

The Clarendon Enterprise received nine first place plaques en route to winning the Panhandle Press Association’s “General Excellence” award during the PPA’s 94th annual convention Saturday in Amarillo.

The local paper swept the Division I category of the 2003 PPA Better Newspaper Contest, placing in 13 out of 15 categories. The contest was judged by members of the Gulf Coast Press Association.

“This has been a banner year for the Enterprise, celebrating our 125th anniversary and redesigning the paper itself. We’ve tried to make the paper better than ever before, and it was nice to have that recognized by our peers,” said publisher Roger Estlack. “As always, it’s important to note that we couldn’t do it without our dedicated staff and the support of our readers and advertisers.”

The Enterprise received first place honors for Feature News Photos by Roger Estlack and Cheryl Johnson; Feature Stories by Estlack, Ashlee Kidd, and Carrie Helms; Front Page Layout; Headline Writing; News Writing; Online Newspaper; Society Section; Special Edition; and Sports Writing by Sandy Anderberg, Tangela Copelin, and Estlack.

“This was our first time to win the top award in Sports Writing,” the publisher said, “and we were excited to win the Online Newspaper award since this was the first year for that category. Ashlee Kidd does a great job keeping the Web site up to date for us.”

The paper also received second place awards for Best Editorials and for News Photos and third place honors for Sports Photos and in the Serious Columns category for Helms’ “Life’s Lessons.” Estlack received an honorable mention for Serious Columns as well.

Judges said Helms’ column was “well written,” “excellent,” and “very original.” Enterprise feature photos were praised for their composition and reproduction, and local news stories were recognized for being very descriptive and for a strong use of quotes. The society page was praised for its range of coverage.

“The society page is a group effort,” Estlack said. “We put it together in the office, but we rely on our regular columnists - Gail Shelton, Peggy Watt, and Peggy Cockerham – to keep us up to date on all the community news.”

The Enterprise also received the Ken Towery Community Service Award for its support of the proposed paving project and related bond election, which was narrowly defeated by city voters last September.

“This paper tried its hardest to improve the community,” said PPA Vice President Doug McDonough.

The Towery Award is named after former Floydada publisher Ken Towery, a man who was devoted to community journalism during his career. Each year the PPA Board of Directors selects two recipients of the award, one in the weekly division and another in the semi-weekly/daily division. The winners receive a plaque and a $250 cash award.

The Enterprise has previously received the Towery Award in 2002, 2001, and 1999.

In other convention news, four journalists were inducted into the PPA Hall of Fame, including the late Ed Eakin of Quanah, who was a former part owner of The Clarendon Press; former Clarendon resident Jeane Bartlett of the Amarillo Globe-News, Rose Watson of the Moore County News-Press, and Carol Ellis of the Friona Star and Bovina Blade.

Other papers placing in the quest for General Excellence were the Floyd County Hesperian-Beacon (second), The Eagle Press of Fritch (third), and the Hansford County Reporter-Statesman (fourth). The Clovis News-Journal was the top paper in the Division II category for semi-weekly and daily newspapers.

Attending this year’s convention and accepting the awards on the Enterprise’s behalf were publisher Roger Estlack and Web master Ashlee Kidd.