Hot Pursuit

To say I was the least bit dumbfounded at our successful run in this year’s Minnesota Newspaper Association awards contest may be a gross understatement.
Astonished may be a more accurate description of how I came away after winning one of the most coveted journalism awards in the state last week. The News Enterprise’s sister newspaper, the Steele County Times, captured one of the four highest awards given out to any newspaper, weeklies or dailies, in the state Thursday night at the MNA banquet in the Twin Cities. 
We received the Lynn Smith Community Service Award for our outstanding series on sexual assault violence last May featuring Ann Anderson, a rape survivor and the advertising director for this newspaper. Anderson told her horrifying story of being raped three times during her teenage years, beginning with her own father, brother and finally a complete stranger and violent offender who broke into her bedroom one night. 
This is just as much a part of the News Enterprise as the Times because the series ran in both newspapers, but we could only enter it under one name. 
Capturing such a high honor is a major accomplishment, considering the fact that we’re considered a small weekly newspaper. In fact, the award has gone to daily newspapers for the past six years. 
While this is the first time the Times has won such a prestigious award, it’s the second time I’ve been involved with such work. In 1984, while I was a photographer and writer for my hometown newspaper, the Brownton Bulletin, we won the Mills Trophy, which is given to the top weekly in the state. 
There are a couple of things that made last week’s award so sweet. First, my former publisher, Chuck Warner, and his wife were sitting in the front row to see me accept the honor. At 90 years old, Warner hasn’t missed a newspaper convention for almost 60 years. Not only was it nice to see the person who gave me my start in the newspaper business at the awards ceremony, but he is really a big reason why the Times won the award. 
Most of you probably don’t know Warner, but he’s not afraid to express his opinions, especially when it comes to politics. His editorial or opinion pages won many awards for years in the state and national contests. He was never afraid to tell it like it is through his columns and editorials, often times offending many people. While that’s not always a good thing when you’re a newspaper publisher in a small town, it’s something I will always admire Warner for.  
Warner taught me the importance of community journalism. He, himself, could be the definition of community leadership, at least when it comes to the involvement of newspapers. He taught me how newspapers can play a vital role in providing leadership for the communities they serve through most notably editorials that don’t always take the most popular stand. He showed me how newspapers can engage readers and get them involved in their communities. 
Another reason the award is so special is because the subject I wrote about was in the audience. It’s not often the person you write about is at an awards ceremony. Anderson has been a valuable member of my staff for four years and received her own awards for the first time this year for designing advertising (News Enterprise) and photography (Times). 
Anderson provides us all hope that victims of horrible violent crimes can succeed in life and not go down a road of gloom and doom. She has already gone down a road, at no choosing of her own, where life meets evil. Through terrible human behavior, Anderson repeatedly saw a side of life where the devil reared its ugly head and caused her substantial heartache and scars that last a lifetime.
She shows us all that good can come out of really horrid situations. I am proud that Anderson shared her story of “invisible scars” and pray that this process has helped her heal from those awful scars.
Providing our readers with outstanding journalism is something we do not take lightly. We’re constantly striving to improve and make this publication even better. 
After all, there are always more awards to go in hot pursuit of winning. The Mills Trophy is calling our name!