2008 Community Newspaper Awards

Junior Sports Journalist
Judge – Brent Edwards

C1 – John Lazo-Ron (Howick & Pakuranga Times)
C2 – Anika Forsman (Mountain Scene)
Overall – John Lazo-Ron (Howick & Pakuranga Times)

Anika Forsman (Mountain Scene) displayed a strong news sense to win class two. Her portfolio was enhanced by snappy, eye-catching headlines.

Senior Sports Journalist
Judge – Brent Edwards

C1 – Candice Reed (The Aucklander)
C2 – Ryan Keen (Mountain Scene)
C3 – Frances Malley (Northland Age)
Overall – Ryan Keen (Mountain Scene)

Ryan Keen (Mountain Scene) won class two with his follow-up coverage to a violent Chatham Cup football match between Queenstown Rovers and Queens Park, of Invercargill. Keen covered all the bases in his full-page report which was enhanced by action photographs of the brawl by freelancer Richard Jones. Keen also submitted an interesting article on Queenstown speed skier Dave Sullivan.
Garry Ferris (Mountain Scene) wrote an eminently readable column on a round of golf with New Zealand great Sir Bob Charles and his other entries, also columns, were well-written and varied. It is encouraging to see a community paper having the confidence to use one of its own staff to write sports columns.

Headline Writing
Judge – Stu Oldham

C1 – Bruce Munro (Dunedin Star)
C2 – Garry Ferris (Mountain Scene)
Overall – Garry Ferris (Mountain Scene)

Garry Ferris (Mountain Scene)
Garry’s headlines are short and sweet, but used a range of devices to cajole and tease while conveying an unshakable sense of drama. The “Game of Shame”/”Soccer Shocker” combination uses alliteration and rhyme to craft a simple, sharp, but tantalising lead to a package about a Chatham Cup match that turned violent, while “What the heli” cleverly appropriated an exclamation of disbelief to tell the story of a helicopter company apparently operating outside an Environment Court order. The inventive “Gates of Wrath” similarly twisted a well-known phrase to hint at a story about a man arrested in a locked alleyway, aptly rounding off an entry in which Garry uses the familiar for his own ends.

Community Involvement
Judge – Greg Treadwell

C1 – Dunedin Star
C2 – Mountain Scene (Save Our Cottages)
C3 – Gulf News (Rates)
Overall – Mountain Scene (Save Our Cottages)

Mountain Scene
When decay eating into historic buildings in the heart of Arrowtown had become too much to bear, Mountain Scene launched a highly effective campaign to retrieve them from their indifferent millionaire owner. The newspaper and heritage valuers were afraid Irish property magnate Eamon Cleary, who had bought the buildings on the quiet, would continue to do nothing towards their maintenance, despite the three cottages being on the Historic Places Register. Feisty news features and a strong plea for support from readers were key characteristics of the campaign. At one point one local chippie is ready to move in and renovate the cottages without authority. In the end a local developer stumps up $1.9m to buy the historic treasures, selling them just two hours later, for the same price, to the council. There is a street party of 900 people. A closing editorial is headlined Reader uprising did the trick.


OVERALL WINNER CLASS 3 COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT:
Mountain Scene – the Save Our Cottages campaign
For its success – a key component of Arrowtown’s history and identity (not to mention tourism income) has been safeguarded. For being unbowed facing the indifference of power and money. For doing it hand and hand with readers. For hiding a time capsule containing copies of the newspaper’s campaign stories inside the houses to be renovated. For then turning its attention to the garage, formerly the Methodist Church, owned by the same man.

Best Individual Advertising Portfolio
Judge – Steve McCaughen

C1 – Nor’West News
C2 – Mountain Scene
C3 – Waitomo News
Overall – Nor’West News

Best Advertising Feature
Judge – Steve McCaughen

C1 – Nor’West News (Fashion Spring/Summer ’07)
C2 – Mountain Scene (Winter Festival Scene)
C3 – Waitomo News (We Will Remember Them)
Overall – Nor’West News (Fashion Spring/Summer ’07)

Class 2 Mountain Scene
I really liked the flavour of the creative. Everything about the feature appealed to its younger target market. Also a very informative feature.

The Mountain Scene is lively, cheeky and well packaged. Its content is strong, the coverage balanced. The dropping of the breathless “exclusive” tag on ever story has improved the integrity of this publication