The Taylor Press, “your award winning community newspaper,” earned some top honors recently from one of the oldest newspaper trade associations in the nation.
On June 3, The Taylor Press took home 11 awards from during the 2022 Better Newspaper Contest Awards Banquet at Kalahari Resorts in Round Rock from the Texas Press Association, including the prestigious Sweepstakes Award.
“The many awards, especially the coveted Sweepstakes Award, received by the Taylor Press at the recent Texas Newspaper Association convention is a further validation of the great work and great stories produced by the team at the newspaper,” said Thomas Edwards, executive editor of Granite Media Partners, which owns the Taylor Press.
TPA is an organization that “promotes the welfare of Texas newspapers, encourages higher standards of journalism, and plays an important role in protecting the public’s right to know as an advocate of First Amendment liberties,” according to its website.
“We have done well in the contest in previous years,” said Taylor Press Area Editor Jason Hennington. “I am just really proud of my team because they have done an excellent job. They work hard, and it shows. It paid off with those awards.”
Hennington was also personally honored with first place for his opinion writing including about the dueling parade controversy that pitted religious leaders against LGBTQ plus activists against each other in his regular “On My Soap Box” column.
“That was the first time I have won first place in column writing,” Hennington said. “It felt good to know that I wrote something about my community that piqued the interest of the judges.”
Fernando Castro, the former senior reporter for Taylor Press and general editor for sister newspaper Elgin Courier, won third place with Hennington for newswriting for their coverage of Samsung Austin Semiconductor’s arrival to Taylor, as well as first place for Elgin Courier for newswriting for his coverage on a human trafficking ring in Elgin.
“I was really surprised and honored to get this award,” Castro said. “I have submitted articles and photos to this contest for the past 15 years and have received some recognitions in the past, but I had never received first place in a category before, and to win it for newswriting was definitely an honor and privilege. Most of all it was gratifying to realize that I did a good job.”
In addition, the Taylor Press received additional first-place recognitions, including in feature photography and advertising, as well as in second place in feature writing and sports coverage, third place in general excellence, news photography, sports photography, and headline writing and fourth place for a special section. But the top honor was the Sweepstakes Award, which Castro said, “in a sports analogy would be the season points champion.”
Hennington agreed. “To win sweepstakes, you have to get a lot of first second or third place awards,” Hennington said. “A couple of years ago, we won first place in the category of general excellence. I thought that was a big deal, but this is even better with where we are headed with our editorial content. It feels great to know that our newspaper is amongst the top newspapers in Texas, and we are being recognized.”
