Times receives awards at 2017 Missouri Press Association convention


photo courtesy of Missouri Press Association Missouri Press Association president Jeff Schrag, left, presented Ozark County Times staff members with award plaques during Saturday’s Missouri Press Association convention in Springfield. From left, Times reporter Jessi Dreckman, Times advertising manager Jenny Yarger and Times owner and publisher Norene Prososki. Times editor Sue Ann Jones was unable to attend.

The Ozark County Times brought home two first place awards, five second place awards, four third place awards and one honorable mention at the 2016 Missouri Press Better Newspaper Contest awards luncheon held at University Plaza Hotel in Springfield Saturday.

“I’m extremely proud of the staff at the Times,” said Times publisher Norene Prososki. “Jessi Dreckman’s design talents and top-notch reporting, along with Sue Ann Jones’s experience as writer and editor are real blessings to a small weekly paper like ours, and I’m thankful to have them.”

First place awards

The Times took first place for the best front page, which is judged on design, photography and quality of writing.

Jessi Dreckman also took first place in the best page design category for the Times’ Memorial Day tribute to fallen veterans.

Second place awards

The Times staff won second place in the best overall page design category, which is judged on consistent quality of design and layout of the entire newspaper, including typography, photography, use of white space and all design elements. 

Sue Ann Jones took second place in the best humorous columnist category with her column “Grandma’s lesson of the underpants.” “Wonderful reminiscing in a neighborly way,” a judge said in the written comments accompanying the award. “It reminds us that doing the right thing matters even if no one else will know. Quality stuff.”

Jones also won second place in the best news or feature obituary category for her story on  teenager Tyler Hickerson’s tragic death; she also brought home second place in the best story about religion category for her  “Gale Wooten retires from Mammoth” story.

Dreckman brought home second place in the best photo illustration for her “Some sacrificed all” design in the Times’ Memorial Day issue.

Third place awards

The Times staff brought home third place in the general excellence category, which is judged on breadth of news coverage, quality of writing, advertising design and layout, general layout, use of photos and artwork, editorial page, front page, sports page, headline language and treatment of public notices.

The Times received third place in the community service category for its coverage and sponsoring of a project for free smoke alarms following a tragic fire that killed a young Gainesville student, Jesse Sims, and his family.

Jones won third place in the best news or feature obituary category for her story on Clifton Luna’s  funeral in Dora.

The Times’ Ozark County Cookin’ earned third place in the best special section category.

Honorable mention

Jessi Dreckman’s photo of a house fire earned an honorable mention.

Ozark County Times

504 Third Steet
PO Box 188
Gainesville, MO 65655

Phone: (417) 679-4641
Fax: (417) 679-3423