Times’ staffers take home multiple statewide awards; The Real Ozarks magazine wins best in show in state competition

The 2025 Missouri Press Advertising and Marketing Executives meeting was held last week in St. Louis. Ozark County Times staff members were  honored at the meeting with six advertising awards including best in show of all Missouri class 1 and class 2 newspaper submissions - and Times owner Norene Prososki was named the “2025 Dee Hamilton Old Pro of the Year.”

Best in Show for The Real Ozarks magazine

The Real Ozarks magazine won first place in the special sections category. The annual glossy-covered guide to all things Ozark County features dozens of vibrant ads from local businesses and information on dining, hiking, lakes and rivers, natural areas, fishing, historic mills and more. The guide was judged for originality, layout, copy and creativity.

The real honor though, which was a surprise to Ozark County Times staff prior to the meeting, was that The Real Ozarks was chosen as the “Best in Show” of all newspaper submissions from class 1 and 2 publications in Missouri. A specialized plaque featuring the 2024 magazine cover was presented at the meeting and now sits in the Times lobby. 

The magazine is a labor of love and an office-wide effort each year with staff coming together to complete the over 100-page publication each spring. Advertising Manager Jenny Yarger starts selling ads early in the year, working with each advertiser to develop a specialized plan for maximum impact. Times Graphic Designer Regina Mozingo uses the customers’ information and requests to design attractive and creative ads, unique to each customer. Times Editor Jessi Dreckman takes the editorial side of things, providing updated information each year about all of the wonderful things there are to do here. She also handles The Real Ozarks photo contest, which had 436 photos submitted this year. The Times staff works together to choose a winning photo for the cover of each year’s magazine, and other submitted photos are used throughout the guide.

Four other ad awards

Designer Regina Mozingo also took home four other ad awards at the statewide contest. She snagged another first place win for her design on the Rockbridge Fall Fest ad. 

She won second place for an ad designed for Deb’s Diner and Bakery and took two third places for an ad for the Ozark County and Theodosia Area Chamber of Commerces and a classified display ad for four-wheeler repair.

Times owner is ‘Old Pro of the Year’

Ozark County Times owner Norene Prososki was named the 2025 “Dee Hamilton Old Pro of the Year” at the conference. She was nominated for the award by Webster County Citizen owner Dan Wehmer, a longtime friend and colleague.

“I’ve known Norene Prososki for nearly 30 years...[and] as long as I’ve known [her], she’s truly been an ‘Old Pro’ when it comes to advertising sales. On numerous occasions, I’ve ‘borrowed’ her special-section and promotional-sales programs at my newspaper, all to great success. 

“As a fellow group publisher with her when our newspapers were owned by Dalton Wright, I can say without hesitation that Norene’s newspaper always was profitable; frankly, it annually was the most-profitable newspaper in a group of about 10 papers. That was because of her talents in advertising sales. She’s implemented publication products that made and still make phenomenal profits, such as an annual Ozark County guide, an annual cookbook, even a historical publication. This is done in addition to month-by-month, year-by-year robust sales of her core product, the newspaper itself.

“In an era when newspapers are losing circulation and, in turn, advertisers, Norene’s newspaper is doing the opposite. At the end of the day, for a newspaper to continue to stay in business, it must have advertising sales. That’s never been a problem for Norene Prososki. Over the past three decades, she’s been the person I’ve turned to when I’ve needed to enhance or increase advertising revenue. In this regard, she’s the wise expert to a group of many newspaper publishers and owners who seek her counsel when times are tough or when advice is needed. I can’t think of a better recipient of this award...”

Norene began her career in the newspaper industry in 1992, when then Times General Manager Walt Sanders hired her to sell ads. 

In 1995, she went to work at the Baxter Bulletin in Mountain Home, Arkansas, where she spent three years as advertising manager. She enjoyed her time there, but she found that working at a daily paper owned by a large corporation was not as satisfying as being involved in the kind of community journalism the Ozark County Times offered. 

In January 1999, Prososki returned to the Times as general manager, and Wright later named her publisher of the newspaper.

In 2015, she purchased the paper from Wright. She continued for many years in a full-time capacity, but in recent years has worked part-time, handling billing and accounts receivable, putting together the weekly school page, picking up the printed edition in Springfield each week and otherwise lending a helping hand where needed. 

Prososki and her husband Tim live just over the Ozark County line in Protem. They have two grown daughters who live nearby – Jessica Workman, who works at Ozarks Healthcare Pharmacy in Gainesville, and Jenny Yarger, who works with Prososki at the Times as advertising manager.  Prososki’s mother, Lorene Loftis, also pitches in, helping to deliver newspapers to the Tecumseh, Caulfield, Bakersfield and Mountain Home areas each week.