STATELINE - Nevada Appeal writers F.T. Norton and Teri Vance took the top editorial spot in the Nevada Press Association's 2005 "Better Newspaper Contest" for their stories written about the Waterfall fire.
The Appeal awards are among many others earned by the seven-newspaper group known as the Sierra Nevada Media Group owned by Swift Newspapers Inc.
Other newspapers in the group include: The Record-Courier in Gardnerville; the Lahontan Valley News of Fallon; the Tahoe Daily Tribune in South Lake Tahoe; the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza in Incline Village; the Tahoe World in Tahoe City; and the Sierra Sun in Truckee.
Most of the awards are divided among five classes: Class I, daily newspapers with circulation of 15,000 or more; Class II, daily newspapers with circulation of less than 15,000; Class III, weekly newspapers with circulation of 6,000-19,999; Class IV, weekly newspapers with circulation of less than 6,000; and Class V, weekly newspapers with circulation of 25,000 or more. Advertising awards are divided into two classes of competition: daily newspapers and weekly newspapers.
Here is the list of Sierra Nevada Media Group winners announced Saturday night at the newspaper organization's annual convention:
General Excellence
First Place: Class II Tahoe Daily Tribune
Third Place: Class II Lahontan Valley News; Class III The Record-Courier
Community Service
First Place: Class II Lahontan Valley News; Class III Tahoe World
Second Place: Class II Tahoe Daily Tribune
Third Place: Class III The Record-Courier
Best Spot News Story
First Place: Class I Teri Vance and F.T. Norton, Nevada Appeal; Class II Jeff Munson and Greg Crofton, Tahoe Daily Tribune; Class III Merry Thomas, North Lake Tahoe Bonanza. Second Place: Class II William Ferchland, Tahoe Daily Tribune.
Third Place: Class III David Bunker, Sierra Sun.
Best Feature Story
First Place: Class III Erin Roth, North Lake Tahoe Bonanza.
Second Place: Class II Josh Johnson, Lahontan Valley News
Third Place: Class II Amanda Fehd, Tahoe Daily Tribune.
Honorable Mention: Josh Johnson, Lahontan Valley News; Class III Jack Carrerow, North Lake Tahoe Bonanza and Sheila Gardner, The Record-Courier.
Best Business News Story
First Place: Class II Susan Wood, Tahoe Daily Tribune.
Second Place: Class II Marlene Garcia, Lahontan Valley News.
Honorable Mention: Becky Bosshart, Nevada Appeal.
Best Business Feature Story
First Place: Class III Megan Michelson, Tahoe World.
Third Place: Class II Kim Lamb, Lahontan Valley News.
Best Explanatory Journalism
First Place: Class II Gregory Crofton, Tahoe Daily Tribune.
Second Place: Class II Josh Johnson, Lahontan Valley News; Class III Melissa Siig, Tahoe World.
Third Place: Class II Cory McConnell, Lahontan Valley News.
Honorable Mention: Class III Paul Raymore, Sierra Sun.
Best News Feature Story
First Place: Class II Susan Wood, Tahoe Daily Tribune; Class III Melissa Siig, Tahoe World.
Second Place: Class II Marlene Garcia, Lahontan Valley News; Class III Christina Nelson and Erin Roth, North Lake Tahoe Bonanza.
Honorable Mention: Class II Kim Lamb, Lahontan Valley News.
Best Investigative or In-Depth Story
First Place: Class II Gregory Crofton, Tahoe Daily Tribune; Class III Susie Vasquez, The Record-Courier.
Second Place: Class II Marlene Garcia, Lahontan Valley News; Class III Megan Feldman, Tahoe World; Class V Kate Silver, Las Vegas Weekly.
Honorable Mention: Class II Marlene Garcia, Lahontan Valley News.
Best Local Column
First Place: Class II Steve Lyon, Lahontan Valley News. Second Place: Class II Jim Scripps, Tahoe Daily Tribune. Honorable Mention: Class II David Henley, Lahontan Valley News.
Best Local Non-Staff Column
Second Place: Class I (TIE) Glen McAdoo, Lahontan Valley News.
Honorable Mention: Class III McAvoy Layne, North Lake Tahoe Bonanza.
Best Local Sports Story
First Place: Class II Jeremy Evans, Tahoe Daily Tribune; Class III Tripp Mickle, Tahoe World.
Second Place: Class I Dave Price, Nevada Appeal.
Third Place: Class II Steve Ranson, Lahontan Valley News; Class III Joey Crandall, The Record-Courier. Honorable Mention: Class III Tripp Mickle, Tahoe World.
Best Local Sports Feature
First Place: Class II Jeremy Evans, Tahoe Daily Tribune; Class III Joey Crandall, The Record-Courier.
Second Place: Class II Jeremy Evans, Tahoe Daily Tribune; Class III Tripp Mickle and Megan Michelson, Tahoe World.
Third Place: Class II Steve Yingling, Tahoe Daily Tribune.
Best Local Sports Column
First Place: Class III Tripp Mickle, Tahoe World.
Second Place: Class II Steve Ranson, Lahontan Valley News.
Honorable Mention: Class II Steve Yingling, Tahoe Daily Tribune.
Best Entertainment Writing
Third Place: Class II R. Keith Rugg, Tahoe Daily Tribune; Class III Tripp Mickle, Tahoe World.
Best Editorial Writing
Second Place: Class II Steve Lyon, Lahontan Valley News; Class III Kurt Hildebrand, The Record-Courier.
Third Place: Class II Rick Swart, Lahontan Valley News; Class III Megan Feldman, Tahoe World.
Best Editorial Page
Second Place: Class I Tahoe Daily Tribune; Class III Tahoe World.
Best Overall Design
First Place: Class II Tahoe Daily Tribune.
Second Place: Class III Tahoe World.
Third Place: Class III The Record-Courier.
Best Page One Design
First Place: Class II Lahontan Valley News; Class III Sierra Sun.
Honorable Mention: Class III The Record-Courier.
Best Page Designer(s)
First Place: Class III Travis Ambrose, North Lake Tahoe Bonanza.
Second Place: Class III Keith Sheffield, Tahoe World.
Third Place: Class III Tripp Mickle, Tahoe World.
Best Special Section Editorial
Second Place: Class II Lahontan Valley News; Class III North Lake Tahoe Bonanza.
Third Place: Class II Lahontan Valley News; Class III Sierra Sun.
Best Information Graphic
First Place: Class II Rebecca Enerson, Tahoe Daily Tribune.
Second Place: Class II Kim Lamb, Lahontan Valley News.
Third Place: Class III Kurt Hildebrand, The Record-Courier.
Best Illustration
Second Place: Class III Joni Hill, The Record-Courier.
Best Spot News Photo Coverage
First Place: Class I David B. Parker and Tim Dunn, Reno Gazette-Journal; Class II Debra Reid, Sparks Tribune; Class III Leila Navidi, Henderson Home News; Class IV Laura Tennant, Fernley Leader-Dayton Courier; Class V Ronda Churchill, Las Vegas Mercury.
Second Place: Class I Staff, Nevada Appeal; Class II Kim Lamb, Lahontan Valley News; Class III Belinda Grant, The Record-Courier.
Honorable Mention: Class III Belinda Grant, The Record-Courier.
Best General News Photo
First Place: Class III Belinda Grant, The Record-Courier.
Second Place: Class III Brian D. Schultz, North Lake Tahoe Bonanza.
Third Place: Class II Dan Thrift, Tahoe Daily Tribune; Class III Belinda Grant, The Record-Courier.
Best Feature Photo
Second Place: Class II Jim Grant, Tahoe Daily Tribune; Class III Brian D. Schultz, North Lake Tahoe Bonanza.
Best Multiple Feature Photos
Second Place: Class II Dan Thrift, Tahoe Daily Tribune; Class III Brian D. Schultz, North Lake Tahoe Bonanza.
Third Place: Class II Jim Grant, Tahoe Daily Tribune; Class III Court Leve, Tahoe World.
Honorable Mention: Class I Cathleen Allison, Nevada Appeal.
Best Portrait
First Place: Class II Jim Grant, Tahoe Daily Tribune.
Second Place: Class II Kim Lamb, Lahontan Valley News; Class III Court Leve, Tahoe World.
Third Place: Class II Kim Lamb, Lahontan Valley News.
Best Illustrated Photo
First Place: Class II Kim Lamb, Lahontan Valley News.
Second Place: Class II Dan Thrift and Rebecca Enerson, Tahoe Daily Tribune; Class III Belinda Grant, The Record-Courier.
Third Place: Class II Dan Thrift, Tahoe Daily Tribune; Class III Belinda Grant, The Record-Courier.
Best Sports Photo
Second Place: Class II Jim Grant, Tahoe Daily Tribune; Class III Belinda Grant, The Record-Courier.
Best Headline Writing
Second Place: Daily Newspapers Tim Parsons, Tahoe Daily Tribune.
Advertising General Excellence
First Place: Daily Newspapers Lahontan Valley News.
Second Place: Daily Newspapers Tahoe Daily Tribune; Weekly Newspapers The Record-Courier.
Third Place: Weekly Newspapers Tahoe World.
Best Large-Space Ad
Third Place: Daily Newspapers Staff, Lahontan Valley News.
Best Black-and-White Ad
Honorable Mention: Weekly Newspapers Lauren Shearer and Rebecca Kinelski, Tahoe World.
Best Spot-Color Ad
First Place: Weekly Newspapers Adele Hoppe, The Record-Courier.
Honorable Mention: Weekly Newspapers Chris Olesen and Adele Hoppe, The Record-Courier.
Best Multi-Color Ad
First Place: Weekly Newspapers Chris Olesen, The Record-Courier. Second Place: Daily Newspapers Mary Weaver and Diane Kneeland, Nevada Appeal; Weekly Newspapers Heidi Roessel and Travis Ambrose, North Lake Tahoe Bonanza.
Third Place: Daily Newspapers John Simon, Tahoe Daily Tribune. Honorable Mention: Daily Newspapers Mary Weaver and Rikki Glass, Nevada Appeal; Weekly Newspapers Eva Lipson, Sierra Sun.
Best Special Section Advertising
First Place: Daily Newspapers Tahoe Daily Tribune; Weekly Newspapers North Lake Tahoe Bonanza.
Second Place: Daily Newspapers Nevada Appeal; Weekly Newspapers The Record-Courier.
Best In-House Advertising Promotion
First Place: Weekly Newspapers Wendy Mason, Sierra Sun.
Second Place: Daily Newspapers Kent Hummel, Nevada Appeal.
Third Place: Daily Newspapers Kent Hummel, Nevada Appeal.