The Clermont Sun and its staff earned awards during this year’s Ohio News Media Association awards ceremony for the Osman C. Hooper Non-Daily Newspaper Competition.
The Clermont Sun and its staff earned awards during this year’s Ohio News Media Association awards ceremony for the Osman C. Hooper Non-Daily Newspaper Competition.
The Clermont Sun and its staff earned awards during this year’s Ohio News Media Association awards ceremony for the Osman C. Hooper Non-Daily Newspaper Competition.
The annual Hooper Awards recognize the talents of the state’s top non-daily newspaper editors, writers, photographers, designers, and their colleagues.
The winners of the 2024 Osman C. Hooper Non-Daily Newspaper Competition and the 2024 Collegiate Newspaper & Website Competition were presented on April 4 at the annual Ohio News Media and Collegiate Fellowship Day in Columbus.
Representatives from newspapers and college journalism programs attended the Fellowship Day event. In addition to the awards ceremony, roundtable discussions and networking sessions were held the afternoon, according to the ONMA.
Karen Brown, Ohio Regional Publisher for Champion Media, attended the Fellowship Day event, representing Champion Media’s newspapers from around the local region.
A total of 22 non-daily newspapers from across Ohio submitted more than 550 entries for the 2023 Hooper Awards, according to the ONMA.
Competing newspapers were divided into three divisions based on circulation information on file with ONMA. Division A – circulation of 3,500 and above, Division B – circulation of 2,000 – 3,500; Division C – circulation of 2,000 and below.
The Clermont Sun is in Division B.
“Entries were independently judged by a blue ribbon panel of experts in the fields of design, photography, advertising and journalism,” the ONMA stated.
Reporting the awards in the order that they were presented:
– Editor Megan Alley earned third place in the category of In-Depth Reporting for her story “Communities convene to share input on solar farms.”
The judge’s comments were, “The Clermont Sun provides a helpful overview on the ins and outs of solar power in Ohio, in the wake of new state legislation of the industry.”
– Sports Editor Luke Servello earned first place in the category of Best Sports Coverage.
The judge’s comments were, “The best thing about this sports section is that there is way more than just game stories. Some people get tired of those. These sections offer opinion and Q&A with athletes, which are perfect for those who don’t like sports as much.”
Of his win, Servello said, “It’s an honor to be recognized by the ONMA. Clermont County provides so many great storylines to cover, and I will continue to take pride in giving our readers coverage they won’t find anywhere else.
I would like to thank Regional Publisher Karen Brown, Sun Editor Megan Alley, and the Champion family for the guidance as well as opportunities they have given me. I also would like to thank Sun Sports Contributor Matthew McAdow for all of his hard work.”
Brown was honored to have her teams’ achievements recognized.
“As Regional Publisher for Champion Media’s publications in Adams, Brown, and Clermont counties, I could not be prouder of the hard work and dedication of our editorial team. The Hooper Journalism Awards are presented to the best in their field. The Clermont Sun, News Democrat, Ripley Bee, and The Peoples Defender were all recognized as the best, with The News Democrat also earning second place as Newspaper of the Year in its circulation category.”
She added, “I am confident we will continue to bring our readers the very best in local community news coverage.”
Scott Champion, Owner of Champion Media, shared his words of gratitude and support.
He said, “We are so fortunate to have such viable community newspapers in today’s environment, this is in part because of the dedicated editorial staff at each of our newspapers. Our editorial staff are driven to provide quality content that is relevant to the readers. This is no easy task with the small editorial staff at each newspaper.”
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