MINNESOTA’S BEST

In its most stunning performance yet, the Steele County Times has been named Minnesota’s best.

The Times captured the Mills Trophy, which is awarded to Minnesota’s most outstanding weekly newspaper. The award came at the end of the Minnesota Newspaper Awards Banquet Jan. 30 in Brooklyn Park.

Top awards are given out to newspapers in both the weekly and daily divisions. It’s the first time a newspaper in Steele County has ever won either award.

“I am incredibly proud and humbled by this tremendous honor,” said Rick Bussler, publisher of the Times. “We’re in this to provide our readers the best possible local news coverage, and this honor reinforces what we’re all about.”

Besides the top honor, the Times earned 24 other awards, including 12 first place, six seconds and six thirds. Of the first-place awards, the Times won in some of the most coveted divisions of the contest: General Excellence, Lynn Smith Community Leadership, Press Photographer’s Portfolio, Freedom of Information Award, Category X and Government Affairs Reporting.

In awarding first place General Excellence, the judges commented, “All-around outstanding coverage of local news with terrific photos and beautiful ads completing the package. Very thorough sports coverage. The staff wrote a good selection of "good news" stories for the Christmas issue and the addition of scholarship winners and other related stores boosted the graduation issue. Many local people featured each week. Great to see locally written editorials as well as a variety of columns.”

The Times’ extensive CFC sex scandal coverage won multiple awards in the contest. Among them was the Lynn Smith Community Leadership award, which is a single honor given out to newspapers of all sizes, including both weekly and daily publications.

“A stunningly deep dive into the problem of sexual abuse in organized religion. I was impressed with the in-depth reporting on the victims and their pain after the problem is finally being addressed. Good writing and good graphic presentation,” judges said in awarding the Times with the Community Leadership award.

Kay Fate was honored with a first place in investigative reporting for her CFC coverage. Judges said, “Kudos to the Steele County Times and Kay Fate for this carefully reported series on how allegations of sexual abuse can be minimized by religious institutions that often take a "we know best" and "let's keep things quiet" approach rather than believing victims and adopting zero-tolerance policies. Investigating a local church isn't easy. Churchgoers are brought up to view their pastors as an extension of the Almighty. But leaders of these tax-exempt organizations need to be held accountable for the considerable public trust we give them, especially when it comes to children. Readers should appreciate when a local newspaper, dealing with the financial stresses that are obliterating so many newsrooms, invests considerable resources as in its function as a community watchdog. In addition to meticulous writing, the newspaper did a good job of pointing out the role of clergy members as mandated reporters. The use of timelines also was helpful. Also helpful was the narrative format employed when Sierra Krause described her experiences. Excellent community journalism!”

Another judge added about the CFC coverage: “Wow! Incredible work by this newspaper and staff to continue to follow a very difficult, but important story. Great job!”

“This was an incredible performance by our staff,” Bussler said. “I am especially thrilled that judges are noticing the on-going quality of journalism that our staff members provide readers every week.”

The Times also picked up a first-place award in Category X, which focused on coverage of community events. The Times entered its extensive coverage from last summer of the Steele County Free Fair.

For a complete list of this year’s award-winning entries and judges’ comments, see page 12A.

Over the past 13 years, the Times has achieved 138 state awards and 55 national awards.